Smoked-canned & smoked/kippered salmon

[bogydave]

Cut into steaks that fit in the jars. I use 1/2 pint mostly & a few cases of pints.
Smoke for 1 hour for the flavor & not start to dry out.
Into jars & pressure cooked for 90 Min. Lasts for years ( well unless it gets ate fast)
I eat a 1/2 pint right out of the jar for a snack , make salmon salad, (1/2 pint smk salmon, 1/2 cup diced onion, 2 Tbl sp sweet relish, 2 Tsp mayo & mix) eat with saltine crackers.
Great side dish with many meals.
Bones are soft like M&Ms after pressure cooked, good calcium source.
Quick pic of the fish for canning in the smoker. (apple wood)
Today's pics: into jars & P cooker soon.

 

[bogydave]

Making the brine for the smoked/kippered salmon:
Mix 1 cup salt with 4 cups of brown sugar.
Make some slices thru the meat to the skin & push in the salt/sugar.
Cover each fillet with some of the mix, ad a layer of fillets & repeat.
Starts making brine in a few minutes.
Let it sit, it'll start brining & make a liquid that covers the fish.
12 hour or so in the brine,
I wipe off the fillets with paper towels & into the smoker for 12 hours or so. Smoker get around 140°. Then I peal the skin off, flip the filets & smoke another hour. That will happen tomorrow.
If you like it less salty, rinse the filets in water, let dry for a while (or pat dry with paper towels) then smoke.
I like the glaze from the brown sugar & salt , so I just wipe them off.
Fillets with the slit to the skin & the brine pics:

 

[StihlHead]

I smoke salmon, and I use mostly alder wood (traditional PNW smoked salmon wood of choice) with some apple (3:1 mix). I leave the skins on and smoke them skin down. I use a dry BC style brine with 1 to 2x the brown sugar to pickling salt, fresh minced garlic, fresh sliced ginger and powdered Worsteshire. I let them brine overnight. Some people brine them for days, but I prefer smoking fresher fish than that. I use my brother's Brickmann pellet grill to smoke them on. For Campbell River candied smoked salmon, I use 4x sugar to salt. You cannot really go wrong with any combination of wood or brine...

Back when I was commercial fishing on the Oregon coast (30 some odd years ago) we used to have our salmon canned at the cannery we sold the fish to. We also used to go to Campbell River to salmon fish in summer, where we fell in love with smoked salmon (Coho, King and steelhead). We were so ignorant the first year that we threw all the steelhead back thinking they were too small... doi!

 

[fossil]

I love salmon, I don't care how it's prepared. Probably my favorite fish, although a nice grilled swordfish steak is good, and a lightly seared tuna (Ahi) steak is heavenly. I really like lots of different seafoods, but always seem to come back to the salmon. Looks delicious, Dave. Rick

 

[StihlHead]

When I was a kid growing up around here, seafood was cheaper than beef. We were raised on salmon, clams and dungeness crab. There was no such thing as farmed salmon; all there was was wild caught. Now wild caught king salmon is a king's ransom, though dungeness is cheap here in winter some years.

I read that lobster in New England is really cheap this year. I do not know why it is not on the ice here at the stores if it is that cheap. I want to try and smoke a lobster (or at least slow cook it on the BBQ).

 

[fishingpol]

Dave, any trouble with bears trying to get into the smoker box? Looks great.

 

[ScotO]

Wow Dave, its only 6:30am and my mouth is watering looking at those fillets! Thanks for sharing the procedure how you do your fish, did you make your smoker box? Very nice setup you have there..

 

[velvetfoot]

Man, I love smoked salmon.

 

[thewoodlands]

Looks great bogydave, we have thought about some type of smoker but we are not sure we would use it enough.

zp

 

[DexterDay]

Very Nice Dave.... Them some damn fine fillets and steaks...

X2 on the Smoker Box. Maybe a build thread on it one day. That will be the next big craze (following Scottys pit design ).

 

[bogydave]

I built the smoker, simple ply wood box, 18" up from the bottom some tin foil. big skillet for the charcoal & smoke wood.
Few hole for some control of the air/smoke.
1/2" new, expanded metal for the racks. 6 racks, each can hold 4 fillets of the 12 lb'rs.
These fish are 6 - 8 lbs, about 6 fillets per rack.

Got this batch in th smoke this AM :

 

[bogydave]

Got the smoked canned batch done last night.

 

[DexterDay]

Mmmmmmmmm.......

 

[bogydave]

Very Nice Dave.... Them some damn fine fillets and steaks...

X2 on the Smoker Box. Maybe a build thread on it one day. That will be the next big craze (following Scottys pit design ).

Better pics of the smoker

 

[Jags]

Dave - you are killing me. Looks freakin awesome.

 

[Blue Vomit]

Dave, you are the man.
I have problems smoking a cigar, and I cut my finger the other day opening a can of tuna... stupid manual can opener.

 

[bogydave]

Smoker has a creosote problem. getting pretty black on the inside. (Moisture & smoke.) Seasoning I guess, for a smoker.

Finished product. Only 3 racks in this batch.
Sample ( (delicious) & vacuum pack then freezer.

 

[Jags]

And a block of extra sharp cheddar with a good stout beer...Ohhhh mannnn....YER KILLING ME. I'll bring the pickled crappie!

 

[lukem]

I thought I was pretty good at making smoked salmon, until I saw this thread. That looks amazing.

I'm seriously liking the wooden smoker. I have some cherry that we milled that wouldn't work worth a damn for furniture (too knotty), but might make an interesting smoker. Very intriguing.

 

[Jags]

Just a caution about wood...as the creosote builds it is applying a nice thick layer of highly combustible goo to the wood. Many old smoke houses were made from wood. Many burned down. They really do make a pretty good smokers because of the thermal qualities of wood, but I wouldn't be putting this on my porch deck. Just say'in.

 

[lukem]

Just a caution about wood...as the creosote builds it is applying a nice thick layer of highly combustible goo to the wood. Many old smoke houses were made from wood. Many burned down. They really do make a pretty good smokers because of the thermal qualities of wood, but I wouldn't be putting this on my porch deck. Just say'in.

For sure. If you build a fire in something flammable...you need to be extra careful.

 

[Eatonpcat]

Thanks for sharing...But you're killing me! Saw you catch, smoke and can that delicious bounty from the sea and still no fish for me!

 

[bogydave]

For sure. If you build a fire in something flammable...you need to be extra careful.

I use a cast iron skillet for the briquets & smoke wood.
Bottom 18" I line with foil. 140 to 150° temps mid way, but the bottom layer gets the most heat so I rotate the racks, bottom to top, during the smoking process.