Naldo Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 This weekend we did some smoked salmon. For the last 15 years, I have lived in Washington state, so, needless to say, on my old POSK, I did a lot of smoked salmon, and the recipe for it is so simple and the end product brings a lot of happiness! I used to get asked all the time to make this for other people's parties. First, the salmon is brined overnight in a simpe brine of orange juice, water, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, and Kosher salt. The planks are soaked for 4 or more hours in water. The salmon is pulled out of the brine, patted down thoroughly, rubbed with black pepper, then glazed with some maple syrup. Then the KK is set-up with the heat deflector, drip pan, and planks go on the upper grill. 200 degrees for about an hour per pound. This is fantastic with bagels and cream cheese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 Wow! You KNOW I'm going to try that one!! Woo hooo!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Beautiful Naldo, do you have the quantities for the brine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Brine recipe Naldo - i would also like to have the recipe for the brine, looks fantastic!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 I'm a big fan of brining salmon in a simple "light brine" consisting of 1/2 cup sea salt, 1/4 cup sugar per gallon water, for four hours or so. This can be "phoned in" with minimal effort on a busy day. For longer brines with more monumental pieces of meat, one does best to actually calculate the water weight of the meat, combined with the weight of the brine water, and weigh the salt to aim for an equilibrium percentage. Paul Bertolli likes 3% as a minimum for house-cured ham; we were very happy with 2.5% recently. For a quick salmon soak, with the weight of the water dominating the weight of the meat, one can ignore all this, and instead dial in one's definition of a light brine. This assumes that there's lots more water than fish, but Cambros work great for this, and sea salt and sugar is cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiarby Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Dave, How are you calculating the water weight of the meat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 How are you calculating the water weight of the meat? From Paul Bertolli's "Cooking by Hand", p. 174: Water content varies in raw meat between 60 and 70 percent. I've been using 70%. One should really also guess and subtract the weight of the bones, if any. In practice, I have a spreadsheet with past values that makes the salt calculation for me, and a text file in the same directory with notes, e.g. "less salt next time?". So if the spreadsheet for a given cut (bone-in pork loin) assumes 70% and ignores the weight of the bones, this is self-correcting over time, as we discover that we like 2.5% salt using this formula. In other words, any formula that's roughly right and responds in the right direction to changes is a good thing, if one takes notes. Estimating the water weight of meat as either 50% or 100% is still way ahead of ignoring the water in the meat, which dilutes the salinity of the brine. What I used to do was make up a light brine and throw in the meat, ignoring the proportions of meat and water. One can never get consistent results this way, and getting the salt exactly right is part of nailing the cook. Getting back to this thread, as long as the weight of the water is many times the weight of the salmon, this calculation doesn't really matter. With a ham, the weights could easily be half and half, and this calculation matters a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naldo Posted August 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 For brining salmon, I have always used the same method, and it has always come out just great. 1 gallon liquid---usually mostly water, 1 cup kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, other liquids, if desired (in this case---about 2 cups orange juice), and some spices---which I also add based on volume. I probably added 1TB each of garlic powder and onion powder. This is always done in a plastic, non-reactive container---no aluminum! A small cooler works well. Based on what I'm reading in the thread, brine quantity can really affect the meat and the process, but I've never had a problem, but that could be because I always do it the same way, and I always do two filets, and I'm sure their weight is always relatively close every time. I brine for about 4 to 6 hours---that's all. I have done overnight brining as well, and, if anything, the fish was slightly saltier, but not enough to make it taste bad. I keep my smoked salmon recipe very simple for consistency--as it always comes out good, and I know what the finished product will taste like. Don't get me wrong, I love to try new things. This was my second cook on my new KK, and second cook on a ceramic in over 5 years. Here'a pic of it next day from the side: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Haven't heard anyone mention allowing the fish to dry and pellicle to forum before smoking. Is that something most of you omit? I like the texture of smoked fish better by including this step. BTW, nice looking fish! -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naldo Posted August 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Hi DJ, Thnaks for the kudos! I'm not even familiar with what you mwntioned above---what is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Hi DJ, Thnaks for the kudos! I'm not even familiar with what you mwntioned above---what is that? Just a thin, shiny membrane that forms if you air dry the fish before smoking. It holds in the fats, makes the fish more moist and keep that white goo from forming on the outside of the fish. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Just a thin' date=' shiny membrane that forms if you air dry the fish before smoking.[/quote'] I've heard of this but I never seem to have the time. I've used a hair dryer successfully in similar application (Thai deep-fried duck, suckling pig), I wonder if a quick application would do it here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Just a thin' date=' shiny membrane that forms if you air dry the fish before smoking.[/quote'] I've heard of this but I never seem to have the time. I've used a hair dryer successfully in similar application (Thai deep-fried duck, suckling pig), I wonder if a quick application would do it here... I am not sure if time is also the factor in this formation. It usually takes about 2 hrs. I have heard of people using a box fan. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naldo Posted August 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Interesting. I'll try that next time, thanks. How long do you generally air-dry? When ever I do fish, moisture is never an issue, but the white goo---I could do without that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
