![]() ![]() It reinforces what Jeff has written in his article on smoked salmon. I wanted to pass on some new-found knowledge regarding smoking fish that I found out about on a recent road trip to the UP of Michigan, Door County Wisconsin and the Minnesota 1000 Lakes area. If you notice some of the albumin on the outside of the fish, simply wipe it off gently with a damp paper towel. 2 hours at 175 degrees or until it is finished cooking.The maple syrup and the rub go very well together and are a wonderful way to layer on amazing flavor while the salmon cooks.įinally, raise the temperature once more to 175 or so until the internal temperature of the fish reads 145 degrees with a tried and true accurate thermometer. This makes a very nice maple flavored glaze which also adds my rub to the salmon. Smoke the salmon at 100 degrees or as low and close to that as you can get, for 2 hours.Īfter 2 hours, raise the temperature to 150 degrees to continue the cooking process and allow the temperature to continue to climb.ĭuring this stage and the rest of the cooking process, you will want to glaze the salmon with the maple glaze once every hour or so. Here is a picture from my book (page 130) showing this in action: The edges will brown just a little and it looks nice and rustic. Parchment paper torn carefully by hand to fit the shape of the fish with about 1 inch excess on each side makes for great presentation. I often forget to do this and it is quite a feat to get the fish removed without tearing it up. I recommend placing parchment paper under the fish to keep it from sticking. Once the smoker is ready, place the Bradley rack with the fish into the smoker. With some smokers this is very difficult and may even be impossible but the point is to start out cooking as low and close to 100 degrees as you possibly can.īy cooking at 100 degrees for the first 2 hours or so, this allows the outside of the fish to dry further, and gives a gentle enough heat so that the moisture rich albumin is maintained inside the fish. With the fish dried, the pellicle formed, and the salmon seasoned up with rub (or not if you chose option 2), preheat your smoker to 100 degrees. My choice for fish is almost always the Bradley smoker as it can hold whatever temperature I throw at it with great accuracy and the wood pucks produce plenty of excellent clean smoke that goes really well with the salmon or whatever I am cooking. It will take 2 to 4 hours for the pellicle to form on the flesh of the fish. Some folks leave the fish out on the cabinet to dry with a fan on it and perhaps this is fine but I like to keep the fish refrigerated while it dries. Pat the outside of the fish dry with a paper towel or just lay a paper towel across the fish and let the moisture wick into the paper towel for a minute or two. Once the fish is finished brining, remove it from the brine and lay it on a Bradley rack or some other similar device to allow the fish to dry. The ultimate holy grail of salmon smoking is being able to smoke cook the fish without any of the white stuff oozing out.īrining and drying the fish is one of the ways to minimize this so take your time with this part of the preparation. This allows the flesh to form a pellicle or shiny, slightly sticky surface which helps to seal in the white fatty protein called albumin that likes to ooze out while you are cooking salmon. It is very important to dry the outside of the fish before smoking to. Place the pan with the bagged fish into the fridge and let it brine overnight or 8-10 hours. I recommend placing the bag of fish down in a foil pan or other container to contain any accidental leaks. Place the (2) halves in a gallon sized ziploc bag and pour in enough brine to cover completely. I cut my fish in half and I highly recommend doing so to make it easier to handle the fish. Take a little time removing these and everyone will be a lot happier once it's time to eat. Press down a little and they will pop through. ![]() If you run your hands across the top of the fish, you can usually feel them even if you can see them. Pin bones are the little white bones that stick up about 1/8 inch from the flesh of the fish. Lay the salmon on the cutting board and remove any pin bones using a pair of clean needle nose plyers. Add a quart of cold water to a plastic or glass pitcher then add the salt and stir to dissolve.Īdd sugar, rub and maple syrup and mix well. ![]()
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