Fish smoking recipes

[PV_Premier]

Doing some salmon this morning in the smoker and it got me thinking about recipe sharing. Here's mine, it's the recipe from Bradley for hot smoked salmon and it works great in my unit.

Ingredients for 20# of fish
Cure (white sugar & salt - approx. ratio of 500 g (1lb) salt to 60 g (2oz) sugar)
Vegetable oil
Garlic and onion salt or powder. Substitute dill or ginger or dry mustard for the
garlic and onion.
Coarse black pepper
Dried parsley or chive flakes

Preparation
Leave skin on salmon. If fillet is over 1" thick, slash the flesh every 2" to 3" about 1/2" to 3/8" deep, parallel and running in the direction of the rib. Pull pin bones - a hemostat works well for this.
Slather fish with a liberal amount of vegetable oil. Sprinkle cure heavily and evenly on the fillet. Use enough cure so that the cure does not wet out in the oil. Sprinkle a moderate amount of desired spices over fillet.
Rub the spices and cure lightly into the fillet including any cut surfaces.
Sprinkle a moderate amount of coarse black pepper onto the fillet.
Wrap two similar sized salmon fillets, flesh to flesh, with plastic wrap or a plastic bag then place in a cooler.
Cover fish to ensure air has no access and refrigerate 14 to 20 hours.

Smoking
Remove fish from cure and place skin side down on oiled racks.
Rub fillet to even out the residual cure and sprinkle parsley or chive flakes.
Place the racks in the Bradley Smoker.
Using Alder flavor bisquettes, start the Bradley Smoker at a very low temperature, 40°C to 60°C (100°F to120°F), for 1 to 2 hours.
After the first couple of hours increase temperature to 70°C (140°F) for 2 to 4 hours.
Finish at 80°C (175°F) for 1 to 2 hours.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Best smoked salmon I have ever had......

It was a gift from Walt Messer who was one of our wonderful old timers who are almost all gone now.

I was blessed to have several dozen of the Greatest Generation as my mentors and adopted uncles.

Walt use to do the cooking for the group of anglers that Joe Shirshac took to the Brooks River in Alaska for the July run of Sockeye salmon.

I guess many consider the fresh Sockeye or Red salmon to be the tastiest.

Walt smoked half or one side of a large Sockeye that he brought home fresh from Alaska.

I tasted it and thought I should hide it but then shared it with everyone at the shop.



**If you can get wild fresh salmon I am sure it will taste better than old spawners out of our rivers.

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[Sheepdog8404]

Your recipe sounds awesome PV! I don't have a smoker but I really want one. I usually "smoke" a trout or two when I'm backpacking/camping. I'll take a small metal pot and put shavings from a dead tree in the bottom, put a small amount of water in there to keep the chips moist. Then I will take a handful of the very tips of some pine tree branches, the bright waxy green looking needle bunches, and lay them ontop of the chips. Then place the cleaned trout ontop of the pine needles. Cover the pot with foil and poke a few holes in it. Finally, set the pot on the coals of your fire and let it smoke for about 15 min. That's about all a 10" brookie needs to be cooked. Take the fish out and enjoy. No seasoning needed. Just the tasty smoke from the chips and the tangy flavor from the pine needles is all that's needed.