DOES ANY HAVE A BRINE RECIPE FOR SMOKED SALMON?

Half salt
Half brown sugar

Add some soy sauce for a teriyaki flavor.

I like it simple.

 

I think smoke is involved. I don't think you necessarily have to brine it unless you're related to Rube Goldberg.
I can't see how adding anything to it would hurt it though.
Tell you what.. bring over all yer salmon and I'll show you my secret recipe.. yea, that's it.

 

The brine is what cures the fish, not the smoke. Smoke just adds flavor.

 

1 cup salt
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
pepper as needed.

mix the salt & sugar in a large bowl, rinse the fish and add to the bowl. Mix well the moisture from the fish will liquify the sugar and salt. Let stand for at least 1 hour in the fridge before smoking.

 

One of the most important steps after brining, is to rinse off all of the brine with clean cold water, pat dry with paper towels and then you must let it dry on a wire rack (the same ones that go in the smoker will work) until the flesh gets to a real tacky stage called (pellicle).
If you skip this stage, then the meat/fish never dries properly and it will get mushy, instead of that nice cured texture.
To speed up the pellicle stage, I use a small house fan to blow air over the racks of fish.
I have found that the simplest recipes from the Lil' Chief Smoker instructions are the best and easiest.
If you take real good care of the fish from the moment it leaves the water when caught (iced, handled with care), all of the way into the smoker, then your finished product will be delicious.

 

Well it's probably a matter of semantics.. last I heard, smoked fish, without "curing" lasts/holds longer than raw fish.

 

Well smoking is a way of curing.

 

1Hr???? wow no wonder it takes me so long, mine generally sit 12-24 hrs in the fridge. But I only use 1 part salt 3 part Brown sugar

 

This excerpt is from the Little Chief smokers manual:

"
When you really think about it, just how far back does the "curing" of meats go?
If you didn't have a refrigerator or a freezer, what would you do to preserve the necessary foodstuffs for your family?
One doesn't have to exercise this point very long to determine that the early day inhabitants of this grand planet earth must have given a lot of serious consideration to this question.
No doubt the earliest Neolithic methods were a simple drying process done by the sun and the wind.
As fire was used to aid the drying and cooking, it was discovered that the foods prepared in this manner tasted better and had greater lasting qualities.
At a later time, the process of "salting" the meat, prior to smoking, was discovered. The historical significance of this discovery cannot be overemphasized.
Salting or the infusion of salt into meat of various types is called "curing." Simply stated, this process causes the meat to undergo certain physical, chemical and bacteriological changes, which result in greatly extended
stability.
More specifically, salt (sodiumchloride) acts to suppress the growth of spoilage causing bacteria and to solubize the available meat proteins.
With the introduction of salt to a cut of meat, the meat proteins dissolve and the meat becomes tacky.
When heated, the dissolved proteins set up and "bind" the meat This phenomenon is most important in the manufacture of sausage or heavily cured meats such as pork or certain dried fish products.
Other chemical elements are sometimes introduced into commercially cured foodstuffs to control color and texture. We need not, quite happily in fact, bother ourselves with these extra and somewhat controversial chemicals.

The science (and art) of "curing" is simply the infusion of salt into your food products, which can be achieved by three different methods:

(1) THE COVER BRINE...which is the easiest of the three and most applicable to what we are trying to accomplish. Most recipes and suggested cycle times in this booklet use the cover brine system.

(2) THE DRY CURE...excellent for old-fashioned curing of hams and bacon. This process is still used by some specialty sales firms in the southeast. It is however, a time-consuming and rather costly process, unless done on a large volume or on a commercial basis.

(3) INJECTION CURE...used almost exclusively by commercial meat packers. It is fast and effective, allowing the processing firms to speed processing and lower in-house inventories.
It is, however, complicated and much too sophisticated for the home processor.
The cover brine can do it all for us. Making the assumption that our quantities of food are going to be processed in the "Little Chief" smoker, these same quantities can easily be "brined" in a glass, crockery or plastic container that will allow the brine solution to completely cover the food"

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=smoked+salmon+brine

 

Curing time for smoked fish, based on thickness of filet (for fatty fish, lean fish are a different story):
3/4" - 8hrs
1" - 9hrs
1.5" - 12hrs
2" - 14hrs
2.5" - 20hrs
3" - 22hrs

 

I tried smoking salmon last month, but I couldn't keep it lit.

OK, OK. I couldn't resist.

I am interested in this too.
I bought some Copper 'River salmon to smoke, and am ready to tackle that project.

From what I have read so far, salting it is the first (only) step if you don't want highly sweet (sugar) smoked flavor???

 

The problem with the thickness/times above is, if you talking dry cure, how much salt/sugar is on the meat? It really is an acquired talent. Boy, I've ruined some fish in my days! I even gave away my Little Chief and quit smoking fish for a number of years. If you are just starting smoking fish use the wet brine recipes in the Little Chief book would be my best advice.

After that if you're going for a dry cure, (my favorite), start easy with just non-iodized salt and brown sugar in equal amounts. I use pickling salt. I prefer to use less cure and soak longer, about twelve hours. After the soak there will be a change in the meat texture, some of the edges may be a little hard(candied). Too much of that on the meat and you may have ruined it. Just a little and you need to rinse/soak the meat in cold water to get the concentration of salt to even out. It's all in the feel of the meat.

Generally, when I'm doing fairly large salmon I'll keep pieces no thicker than 1.5". If it was a BIG salmon I'll cut the chunks narrower. I leave the skin on and scale well, I believe it helps to retain fat and moisture.

If you're going to dry cure the bolded part is the most important.

Mike

 

OK, you can delete all those others. Here's the stuff.
My Grandpa handed this down to me and it's in my head.
All items measured by soup spoons and how much you put in
depends on how you want it to taste. Sweet, more sugar, spicy more pepper.
I use it on venison and fish.
Brown sugar
Pepper
Worchester sauce
Soy sauce
Garlic powder
Salt
Tabasco
Liquid smoke
Pour it all in a bowl or ziplock bag. Add meat and fill with enough water to cover.
Soak overnight or longer, pat dry and smoke it...

 

My first attempt to smoke salmon went OK,I followed the recipe I "googled".
So I asked a guy who does SS for some of the B&Bs up here.He said use about 1/3 the salt most recipes call for.
So I took a package of brown sugar this is per his recipe,and a handful of salt,mix well.
Layer mix on bottom,fish ,mix,.........,leave down about an inch from the top as the moisture will be draw out of the fish by the salt.
Leave overnight,rinse off mixture and put in the smoker till it's done to your taste.
I eat sashimi so I don't let it go very long,3hrs or so

But you follow the recipes and your salmon will be too salty.
Plus the salt and the smoke should kill the bad stuff so you don't need heat.Cold smoke makes better smoked salmon

Edit: OK I forgot about the teriyaki .Teriyaki and a little salt and some brown sugar should be perfect
The smoke adds flavor but also robs the oxygen which kills bacteria in the food

 

The above times aren't a problem if you have the cure recipe.

 

"I am even more interested in hearing your brew if you are willing to share it. Thanks so much in advance, I am looking forward to seeing the replies"

will you share the salmon?.