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[lucky]

Every two years I look forward to the pink season as they are one of my favorite fish for smoking, my wife likes candied salmon so this time around I tried a new recipe.

The first few bits of fish are coming out of the smoker and they sure taste great! Thought that I would share the recipe.

1 cup coarse salt

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup maple syrup

fresh garlic and a few crushed chillies

Cut the fish into one inch strips, place in oven dish and cover with brine, put in fridge overnight.
In the morning rinse the fish for 10 or so minutes, let dry on racks for 5 or 6 hours, brush with maple syrup and put in smoker.
With my big chief I use three small pans of cherry, and if some of the larger pieces are still too moist leave in smoker without wood chips until done.

[marbles]

Im doing that real sweet indian candy recsipe from scoutre james but I cant geta hold of him,how many smoke cycles did you do with your salmon

[lucky]

My fish is done in a big chief smoker, usually I will do three pans of chips. If the fish is still too moist after that I just leave it in the smoker without chips to dry out a bit.

Before smoking I always dry the fish for 24 hours on racks, this cuts down on the amount of time needed in the smoker.

[marbles]

do you do 3 pans back to back??does anyone know how much  one of the pucks=to a pan???as I'm using a bradley

[Eagleye]

A pan lasts about 45 minutes.  I usually smoke mine for 2-3 hours, 4 hours max.  Most people smoke in the beginning then slow cook until done.

[marbles]

Nogs indian candy Im letting the brine mingle as we speak,the rescipe says to let sit for 12 hours,a tad longer but never short change.anyone here done his???how many hours would be too long maranating??

[dereke]

Nogs indian candy Im letting the brine mingle as we speak,the rescipe says to let sit for 12 hours,a tad longer but never short change.anyone here done his???how many hours would be too long maranating??

I used nogs recipe and I think I brined it for 12 hours. The key is the drying period for candy. I did 30 hours under a fan to get it completely dry. Smoked for around 8 because of the size of the pieces. It's a bitch to make but it is unbelievable when done. I did chum rum and used coho for the maple syrop recipe. Making some next week as last year it went pretty quickly, a delicious treat when vac packed in small packages and eaten while steelheading in the cold.

[Eagleye]

Nogs indian candy Im letting the brine mingle as we speak,the rescipe says to let sit for 12 hours,a tad longer but never short change.anyone here done his???how many hours would be too long maranating??

If I remember correctly I let mine soak for 24hrs once with his recipe and it was a bit too saturated with brine.  The pieces brined were small though and it is possible that other factors led to this.  With the recipe I am doing right now though I brine it for 48 hours but it is stictly a dry brine consisting of Kosher Salt and Brown Sugar.  I've got about 70lbs or more of pinks/coho/chum/white and red spring that I am going to smoke tomorrow for myself and a friend.   Will post pics later.

[BwiBwi]

Hi lucky just to be sure, so it's dry brine right?

[lucky]

Yup its a dry brine but makes juices as it sits in the fridge.

[marbles]

hey lucky could you send me an email I have a couple of questions for you

[Bill]

If I remember correctly I let mine soak for 24hrs once with his recipe and it was a bit too saturated with brine.  The pieces brined were small though and it is possible that other factors led to this.  With the recipe I am doing right now though I brine it for 48 hours but it is stictly a dry brine consisting of Kosher Salt and Brown Sugar.  I've got about 70lbs or more of pinks/coho/chum/white and red spring that I am going to smoke tomorrow for myself and a friend.   Will post pics later.

Eagleeye  how did your candy turn out, I will be smoking some this week and the dry brine sounds good.

thx Bill

[Eagleye]

It turned out great.  What kind of Salmon are you smoking?  This recipe calls for lots (last time I used 16 bags!) of Rogers Demerrera (this is what I usually use) or Best Brown Sugar (end product will come out lighter in color) .  Cut your salmon into strips like in the pictures below.  Belly sections and tail pieces are best left as larger pieces with 2-4 slits in them depending on the size of the piece. I generally make 2 or 3 slit pieces.  Be sure to slit the flesh all the way to the skin otherwise the brine will have a hard time penetrating the slit.  The strips and slits should be approximately 1 - 1 &1/2 inch wide.  In a large NON METALLIC container make a 1/2 inch layer of brown sugar and evenly sprinkle some kosher salt on it rather sparsely.  Place strips skin side down (if you do choose to leave the skin on which I usually do it will come out more moist but if you take the skin off it will cure more thoroughly) space them out so that there is ample room for brown sugar to be packed in between them.  First evenly sprinkle a fare bit of kosher salt onto the sides and top of the strips.  Then dump on lots of brown sugar (I use one full bag per layer for my container).  Pack it down in between and on top of the strips so that there is a rather thick layer of brown sugar covering all of the salmon.  Place more salmon skin side down and repeat the process.  Put a lid on the container and place it in the fridge. After about 12 hours the brine should be fully liquified.  Move the salmon pieces around in the brine to make sure they brine evenly every 6-12 hours.  Brine for 48 hours total  (I actually brined mine for 60 last time and it came out good).  Remove fish from brine (with gloves of course!) and in a farily cool place put salmon on elevated smoker racks with newspaper beneath them.  Have a fan or two rotating on them on low speed and dry them until they become tacky and a 'pellicle' begins forming which usually takes about 3-4hrs.  If you desire a dry product dry them overnight or so until they become mostly translucent.  My last batch I did overnight and the Pink pieces came out like jerky and the Red Spring was still rather moist.  I used a mixture of alder and cherry but maple (light flavor) and apple are nice too.  I usually only use about 3-4 pans but if I want it extra smokey I use more.  The pans burn for about 40 mintues (can vary between smokers) and it is a good idea to change the pans immediately after they burn through otherwise it will negatively affect the smoke flavour.  It usually takes about 6 hours in a Chief smoker but I check mine after about 4.5 hours to see where it is at because sometimes it is done sooner and other times it takes longer.  If you like your candy nice and sweet use a basting brush and baste the salmon with slightly watered down honey (just a very small amount of water to thin it out) at the 4.5 hr mark.  Fireweed honey is my favorite but any liquid honey will do.  Basting it also helps to keep the outside moist while the inside continues to cook which is very useful sometimes.  After it is done I let it cool off to room temperature then I Vaccum pack it.  I find the Vaccum packing helps to bring the moisture from the middle of the stips to the outside which is usually beneficial IMO and it helps me to ration it out.  Sometimes I find it necessary to put a piece of paper towel above the salmon to prevent the moisture from entering the vacuum sealer.  I unthaw what I will eat that day or within a few days not sure how long it lasts because it is not a heavily salted brine.  Good luck and let us know how yours turns out.

I forgot to take pictures of the finished product but here are a couple right after it came out of the brine.

                                                    

                                                    

[Bill]

Wow those pics look fantastic I will be smoking a red spring, I have a Bradley in the summer we did up some pinks in a wet brine they turned out OK just a bit moist so I'm going to try yours will let you know how it turns out.

Thx Bill

[Eagleye]

I have a Bradley too, both make an good but different product.  If you decide to check the fish part way through and/or baste it is a good idea to turn the racks around because the heat is stronger towards the back of the Bradley.  And of course put the thickest pieces on the bottom  and thinnest on top.  Also keeping the top vent open more will remove some moisture from the fish but it will also affect your heat. Keep in mind though that Springs retain their mositure well because they have such a high oil content.