probably tried 10 different recipes over the past 35 years and as always the simplest seems to be my favorite. mix 5.5 cups of best brown or demerrera sugar with one cup kosher coarse salt and grind in some fresh pepper. place thin layer of sugar mixture in bottom of lasagne type pan and place fish skin side down. cover pieces completely with sugar mix and cover dish with tight fitting saran wrap and refrigerate over nite. keep fish in single layers in pan...by morning the sugar mix has mostly liquified and i take fish out and give pieces the quickest rinse possible with sink sprayer and place all the pieces on drying racks and place a fan to blow directly on the fish.
after a good pellicle has formed (about an hour) its smoking time. i start with low temps and increase temp slowly...sockeye have a tendency to form the white scummy stuff on the fish which seems to be the higher fat content of the fish combined with increasing smoker temp to fast. we all like fish smoked to different dryness levels so i usually have one small piece in the smoker that i take tasting samples from . eaten enuf fresh salmon in my life i dont get too excited anymore but can still enjoy the smoked stuff....my doctor chimed in a few years ago about salt and blood pressure in us old guys..used to use way more salt in my brines but found the 5.5/1 ratio is the best for me
This is also what I do. It’s the simplest and turns out so good. I use a bit of garlic powder in the mix also. But make sure it’s glass plastic or ceramic. Do not use metal. It gives it a taste !!! And choose your wood. They all give different flavors. I do a double smoke. I like it like that way
I do 4 cups of the darkest brown sugar you can find that gives it the color and sweetness to one cup sea salt or kosher salt. Do not use iodized salt !!!!!! It’s simple amd tasty !!! Enjoy. Lots of YouTube videos showing this dry brine. And lots on wet brines that take a lot of space in your fridge lol
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Topic: Smoked Sockeye (Read 5019 times)