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[Spawn Sack]

Here's a recipe I've been using for years and years, I'm hoping to try out some new ones that others use and love. I use this recipe with "smoking fish" normally: white spring, chum, and occasionally a nice pink. It seems to work best on white spring and chum.

First skin fish and cut into 1 inch-ish wide strips. Remove all bones.

Brine = 1/2 gallon water, 1 cup pickling salt, 2 lb dark br.sugar, 1 cup maple syrup. Half way through the smoking I'll baste salmon with honey dilluted with a little water.

Chips are ususally alder but I've mixed in applewood and others and it's all good!

I've heard of guys using cinnamon fireball wiskey and all sorts of other cool stuff in their candied salmon recipes. If I'm feeling brave I was thinking of using the nectar from a jar of canned peaches with a little chipotle pepper mixed in!

[Old Blue]

Try adding to the brine ground ginger, onion powder, garlic, ground pepper.  I'll even add in some montreal steak spice sometimes.  Molasses adds some great flavour.

[adriaticum]

Here is what I did,
I cut the amounts of honey and maple syrup by half.
I did chum and it was spectacular.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhef6s7uyk8&list=WL1CADF120589A6B03

[naka21]

Looks like a awesome brine. Did u rinse your fish after being in the brine? I usually do but noticed he didn't mention anything about that

[adriaticum]

Looks like a awesome brine. Did u rinse your fish after being in the brine? I usually do but noticed he didn't mention anything about that

No, not at all because there is not a whole lot of salt in there.
You just want to pat it dry and leave it on racks to dry for at least 12 hours. More is better.

[IronNoggin]

Couple of my better ones here: http://fishbcforum.com/index.php?showtopic=48342

[adriaticum]

Couple of my better ones here: http://fishbcforum.com/index.php?showtopic=48342

Oh lord, 4 KG of honey. That's a glaze.
Something similar to what I did with chum.
Turns out awesome every time!

[Ambassador]

I have been making pretty incredible Indian candy in my dehydrator.
Here is my no-longer-secret recipe (quantities are a bit of a guess - I go by taste):
* 2 cups of Ponzu sauce
* 5 or so crushed cloves of garlic
* a couple tablespoons of liquid smoke
* 1/2 cup of maple syrup.
Blend those together and let sit for a little while. I usually strain out the garlic as I find the flavour better without small chunks. Cut your salmon and let it marinade for a couple hours. Place on your trays and dehydrate for 6-9 hours - depending on how dry you like it. I also baste it twice with just maple syrup during the first 4 hours for a bit more sweetness. Melts in your mouth!

[Spawn Sack]

Thanks for the ideas guys! I'll be trying out some of these recipes for sure in the upcoming months for sure. I think I like the youtube recipe the best posted by Adriaticum. I also like the idea of suspending the fish by toothpicks instead of laying it on the racks. I spray my racks with PAM but find several pices always still stick.

Anyone tied a unique glaze that turned out well? I've tried a few basic ones (dilluted honey, etc) but I'd like to find one that really stands out. I have a can of peaches in my panty that I have plans for but not sure excactly what. Perhaps just the nectar with a pinch of chipotle pepper?

Another idea I got from a buddy is to keep a fish smoking journal. I've tried various recipes over the last couple years and can't really remember which ones I liked best, what kind of chips I used etc. My plan is to write it all down and eventually perfect just the way I like.

I'll report back later after I make a batch or two

[cutthroat22]

I have a can of peaches in my panty

  Sorry couldn't resist

[Spawn Sack]

Haha whoops!!! I meant p-a-n-t-r-y, of course

So I'm going to smoke a batch up next days off with my little chief using the video posted by Adriaticum. It's similiar-ish to one I have tried and liked in the past, only the drying process is MUCH longer (I usually only dried for an hour or so until a sticky film was present on the fish).

To recap the video it says:
 
Mix together...-1/2 gallon water - 1L maple syrup - 2L honey - 3/4 cup coarse salt - 2kg demerara sugar

Adriaticum you said you cut the maple syrup and honey in half which I would probably try at first too as even that seems PLENTY sweet.

From here video says soak salmon 12ish hours, then dry 24-36 hours (strips toothpicked and on racks). The guy also said he did about 3 sockeye/6lbs of fish. In the end he smoked is for 4 hours with apple chips.

Just a few quick questions....

1- Do you think my little chief will hold this much fish?

2- I'm assuming the smoking takes place with the door on? (in the video he had off)

Also I plan to use some chum and some white spring. The misses will NOT let me use our coho and besides I find white spring and chum smokes up really nice if done correctly.

Any final tips? This is a pretty expensive brine and I am really hoping it turns out delicious I think down the road I'd like a big chief or maybe even a Bradley. All the work for the amount my little chief yeilds per batch hardy seems worth it at times...

[DanL]

Mix together...-1/2 gallon water - 1L maple syrup - 2L honey - 3/4 cup coarse salt - 2kg demerara sugar

Adriaticum you said you cut the maple syrup and honey in half which I would probably try at first too as even that seems PLENTY sweet.

From here video says soak salmon 12ish hours, then dry 24-36 hours (strips toothpicked and on racks). The guy also said he did about 3 sockeye/6lbs of fish. In the end he smoked is for 4 hours with apple chips.

Just a few quick questions....

1- Do you think my little chief will hold this much fish?

Today I smoked a set of 3 average size pinks filleted in 1-2 inch strips and it filled all three racks of my little chief and just a bit more which I hung between the racks with toothpicks.

Any final tips? This is a pretty expensive brine and I am really hoping it turns out delicious

I used a dry brine of six cups of demerrara (maybe ~0.5kg) and about a cup of pickling salt and it was enough for 3 pinks. The recipe you list is on a pretty large scale IMHO, you could probably scale it down by a factor of 5 or even 10 fold for one load of the little chief.

and it is delicious 

[Spawn Sack]

Alright guys, I've done two batches now with the recipe originally posted by adriaticum. The first batch I followed the recipe and instructions exactly (cutting honey and maple syrup in 1/2 from utube video, as per adriaticum's advice).

The recipe I used was : 2 litres water, 1 litre honey, 3/4 cup salt (I used kosher salt), 2kg demerara sugar, 1 litre pure maple syrup. I filleted, skinned, and de-boned the fish (chum) and cut into strips and brined the fish for about 18 hours. From here I removed from the brine, did NOT rinse the fish just  put each thin piece on a toothpick and hung on the rack. I let it dry about 30 hours, then smoked for about 4 hrs in my little chief. I used a 50/50 mix of apple/alder chips and burned 3 pans.

The results: not bad...a little too gummy on the outside for my liking, kind of like sour keys. Flavor is alright could be a bit better. Overall happy but needs some tweaking.

SECOND TIME AROUND!!


I reduced the amount of brine by 1/2 as it was way more than I needed for the amount of fish my little chief will hold. So this time it was 1 litre water, 250ml maple syrup, etc. This was the perfect amount of brine for the l/c. I used chum again prepared the same way. However this time I brined it for MUCH longer about 4 days (94hrs). Then out of the brine and onto the racks the same way (no rinse). I decided to dry the fish only overnight about 8hrs.

From here I smoked it about 8ish hours with 3 pans of the same chip mix in the first 3 hrs ghen just let it dry out to my liking. I also glazed it twice, once near the beginning and once near the end with honey dilluted with a bit of water.

The results were amazing! Best smoked salmon I've ever made and some of the best I've ever had. N9t gummy at all like the last batch it flakes off nicely and melts in your mouth. The only thing I would change is perhaps reduce the water by just a hair, say use 750ml, as there is a tad more brine than needed and cutting the water would make it a bit more potent. I would also like to experimemt with some glazes. Anyone have any solid ones?

Some ideas I have are instead of adding water to the honey add the juice from a can of peaches or some liquer like apricot brandy etc. I've also heard of guys using fireball wiskey. Once I get the glaze dialed in I'll post an update.

[Spawn Sack]

PS. I should add that this time of year it is a MUST IMO to have some sort of insulation for your little/big chief. I used to use the box the smoker came in and it worked well. A bit of a pain to take on/off though if you want to remove the door to access/glaze the fish etc. Now I have a wooden bix a buddy gave me custom built for the l/c. It works great!! If average cold out I leave the roof cracked a bit to let some heat out, if really cold like today I'd shut the roof. You can also buy blankets for the chiefs from Cantire etc or online. If you dont have in the winter the chiefs will never heat up and your fish will be raw even after 10+ hrs.

[Suther]

PS. I should add that this time of year it is a MUST IMO to have some sort of insulation for your little/big chief. I used to use the box the smoker came in and it worked well. A bit of a pain to take on/off though if you want to remove the door to access/glaze the fish etc. Now I have a wooden bix a buddy gave me custom built for the l/c. It works great!! If average cold out I leave the roof cracked a bit to let some heat out, if really cold like today I'd shut the roof. You can also buy blankets for the chiefs from Cantire etc or online. If you dont have in the winter the chiefs will never heat up and your fish will be raw even after 10+ hrs.

A fire blanket is a good option for covering your smoker.

http://www.amazon.com/MICHIGAN-FIRST-AID-Emergency-Blanket/dp/B001B9RNMC

These things have a million and one uses - used one as a stretcher between two long sticks before even! Lay blanket flat, lay sticks about 1/3 of the way in from each side, fold over sticks so it is triple-layered (one under sticks, two over sticks) and the friction of the blanket on itself keeps it from falling apart.

Also very good to have in case of a grease fire on your stovetop, or when camping.