Timings in salt and temp in smoker

[Fishster]

Hi. I am new to smoking and have built a double whisky barrel smoker. I have an outside smoke source generator. 

I salted a 500 gm fillet of salmon for 4.5 hrs and left to dry for 12 and smoked it for 12 hrs. My smoker temp was 16 degrees cel. The salmon has been in brown paper in fridge for the last 12 hrs. Do you think it is going to be edible. 

[Fishster]

Hi. How long would you salt 500 gm side of salmon and how long in a smoker. My smoker is a home made whisky barrel on top of another one. And a cylinder smoke generator that goes in bottom one. 

Temp around 15 16 degrees. Advice be help ful. 

Fisher. 

[Smokin Monkey]

@Wadewould be the best person to answer this question.

[Wade]

12 hours ago, Fishster said:

Hi. How long would you salt 500 gm side of salmon and how long in a smoker. My smoker is a home made whisky barrel on top of another one. And a cylinder smoke generator that goes in bottom one. 

Temp around 15 16 degrees. Advice be help ful. 

Fisher. 

Make a 50:50 mix of granulated sugar and fime cooking salt. Rinse the fillet and shake off surface water. Cover both sides of the fillet with salt/sugar mix and lift it up and gently shake. What sticks is sufficient for the cure. Lay the fillet on top of a cake cooling rack (skin side down) over a roasting pan and cover with clingfilm. As the salt and sugar pulled the water out of the fish it will drain away into the pan preventing the fish from becoming too salty. Leave in the fridge for ~16-18 hours.

Rinse off fillet well under cold water and pad dry with kitchen paper.

Place in smoker (hang vertically if you can - use a skewer through the thick end if the fillet to support the weight) or place directly on the smoker grate. Place a pan underneath as it will continue to drip.

Smoke for ~18 hours at about 20C ensuring a good flow of air/smoke through the smoker throughout. When ready,  the fish will be firm to the touch and you will usually begin to see small droplets of oil in the pan underneath.

Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 12 hours before slicing.

[Wade]

Make a 50:50 mix of granulated sugar and fime cooking salt. Rinse the fillet and shake off surface water. Cover both sides of the fillet with salt/sugar mix and lift it up and gently shake. What sticks is sufficient for the cure. Lay the fillet on top of a cake cooling rack (skin side down) over a roasting pan and cover with clingfilm. As the salt and sugar pulled the water out of the fish it will drain away into the pan preventing the fish from becoming too salty. Leave in the fridge for ~16-18 hours.

Rinse off fillet well under cold water and pad dry with kitchen paper.

Place in smoker (hang vertically if you can - use a skewer through the thick end if the fillet to support the weight) or place directly on the smoker grate. Place a pan underneath as it will continue to drip.

Smoke for ~18 hours at about 20C ensuring a good flow of air/smoke through the smoker throughout. When ready,  the fish will be firm to the touch and you will usually begin to see small droplets of oil in the pan underneath.

Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 12 hours before slicing.

[Fishster]

Thanks. Will give a go. I dont have a direct heat source in the smoker as it's a cylinder with an air flow pump smoke source. 

Suggestions of getting temp up to 20.currantly at 14-16.?

[Chef Kevin]

Really well described Wade. In traditional Scottish smokehouses they use butchers meat hooks to hold the salmon. The attached photograph is taken by John Ross Jr in his family's smokehouse.  In other countries like the Canada and Norway, they remove a couple inches of salmon flesh from the tail, exposing the skin and then make a knot from the skin to hang the salmon from.  Inverawe Smokehouse (also in Scotland) used to cut a whole salmon lengthwise in half and leave the bones and fins in place, then cure and smoke. I presume they did this to give the meat hooks something more to hang onto and perhaps increase their yield?

 I have even seen people use crocodile clips to hold the sides of salmon vertically.

[Wade]

4 hours ago, Chef Kevin said:

Inverawe Smokehouse (also in Scotland) used to cut a whole salmon lengthwise in half and leave the bones and fins in place, then cure and smoke. I presume they did this to give the meat hooks something more to hang onto and perhaps increase their yield?

I learned my salmon smoking technique from Forman and Field in London and adapted their technique to suit smaller batch and home smoking. The step-by-step method can be found here www.woodsmokeforum.uk/topic/23-traditional-smoked-salmon-and-trout/ . I use this method for my commercial smoked salmon and it is also very easy to use at home. The gill plate is usually left in place to help support the weight of the salmon as it smokes - however this isn't usually possible with ready filleted sides. The skewer passes through the skin and the thicker meat and the hanging string (or butchers hooks) pass under the skewer.
Leaving in the rib cage also helps support the structure of the fillet and is very easy to remove once the fish has been smoked.

    

 

[Wade]

On 8/31/2020 at 9:35 AM, Fishster said:

Thanks. Will give a go. I dont have a direct heat source in the smoker as it's a cylinder with an air flow pump smoke source. 

Suggestions of getting temp up to 20.currantly at 14-16.?

A heat source would help raise the temperature and the resulting convection would also ensure the air flow through the smoke chamber. I use a cheap temperature controlled socket and a couple of ceramic infrared heaters. I have wired two 150w heaters together for my large smoker and put them in a stand however you will probably be OK with just one in the bottom of the smoke chamber

Search online for them - Here are a couple of links showing what to look for

Heater lamp holder with bracket
Ceramic infrared heater

Inkbird Digital Temperature Controller with dual relay

 

[Justin]

 

[Fishster]

9 minutes ago, Wade said:

A heat source would help raise the temperature and the resulting convection would also ensure the air flow through the smoke chamber. I use a cheap temperature controlled socket and a couple of ceramic infrared heaters. I have wired two 150w heaters together for my large smoker and put them in a stand however you will probably be OK with just one in the bottom of the smoke chamber

Search online for them - Here are a couple of links showing what to look for

Heater lamp holder with bracket
Ceramic infrared heater

Inkbird Digital Temperature Controller with dual relay

 

 

[Fishster]

Thanks for that. Some good points to look at 👍

[Chef Kevin]

On 9/1/2020 at 3:41 PM, Wade said:

I learned my salmon smoking technique from Forman and Field in London and adapted their technique to suit smaller batch and home smoking. The step-by-step method can be found here www.woodsmokeforum.uk/topic/23-traditional-smoked-salmon-and-trout/ . I use this method for my commercial smoked salmon and it is also very easy to use at home. The gill plate is usually left in place to help support the weight of the salmon as it smokes - however this isn't usually possible with ready filleted sides. The skewer passes through the skin and the thicker meat and the hanging string (or butchers hooks) pass under the skewer.
Leaving in the rib cage also helps support the structure of the fillet and is very easy to remove once the fish has been smoked.

    

 

I know Forman and Field, a very well respected maker and seller of smoked salmon in London. I believed that had to relocate to make way for the redevelopment of the East End of London for the 2012 Olympic Games.  If you are able to buy your sides of salmon from a wholesaler like M and J seafood you might be able to ask them to leave the gill in.  As always I find your posts Wade to be very informative, thank you.

[Wade]

Yes, they were relocated to a brand new building as part of the London Olympics construction. I used to go to college in that area 40 years ago and it was an area you did not want to walk around alone at night. What a transformation... it is a lovely area now.

I learned my smoking and slicing from Daren - here he is being challenged to a salmon slicing contest by Gordon Ramsey 

 

 

[Elecrafter]

I've just made a cock up. Got the Salmon, salted /cured and in the fridge last night.

Then I remember <newbie head =ON>  I dont have the Cold Smoke attachment for the Bradley. Sod paying £120!! I started making one this morning, and its now looking like I an not going to get it finished today. So far just cost me some sweat and elbow grease. Not quite finished yet.

So how long can the Salmon stay in the fridge? Should I wash off the salt, or add more?   Any tips on delaying the smoke would be appreciated.

Ele.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Elecrafter

[Wade]

Leave it in the fridge for 24 hours then rinse it off well. Wrap it back in film or vac pac and it can stay in the fridge for another 24 hours or so before smoking.

[andy narddun]

On 8/31/2020 at 8:58 AM, Wade said:

Make a 50:50 mix of granulated sugar and fime cooking salt. Rinse the fillet and shake off surface water. Cover both sides of the fillet with salt/sugar mix and lift it up and gently shake. What sticks is sufficient for the cure. Lay the fillet on top of a cake cooling rack (skin side down) over a roasting pan and cover with clingfilm. As the salt and sugar pulled the water out of the fish it will drain away into the pan preventing the fish from becoming too salty. Leave in the fridge for ~16-18 hours.

Rinse off fillet well under cold water and pad dry with kitchen paper.

Place in smoker (hang vertically if you can - use a skewer through the thick end if the fillet to support the weight) or place directly on the smoker grate. Place a pan underneath as it will continue to drip.

Smoke for ~18 hours at about 20C ensuring a good flow of air/smoke through the smoker throughout. When ready,  the fish will be firm to the touch and you will usually begin to see small droplets of oil in the pan underneath.

Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 12 hours before slicing.

 

[andy narddun]

1 minute ago, andy narddun said:

Make a 50:50 mix of granulated sugar and fime cooking salt. Rinse the fillet and shake off surface water. Cover both sides of the fillet with salt/sugar mix and lift it up and gently shake. What sticks is sufficient for the cure. Lay the fillet on top of a cake cooling rack (skin side down) over a roasting pan and cover with clingfilm. As the salt and sugar pulled the water out of the fish it will drain away into the pan preventing the fish from becoming too salty. Leave in the fridge for ~16-18 hours.

Rinse off fillet well under cold water and pad dry with kitchen paper.

Place in smoker (hang vertically if you can - use a skewer through the thick end if the fillet to support the weight) or place directly on the smoker grate. Place a pan underneath as it will continue to drip.

Smoke for ~18 hours at about 20C ensuring a good flow of air/smoke through the smoker throughout. When ready,  the fish will be firm to the touch and you will usually begin to see small droplets of oil in the pan underneath.

Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 12 hours before slicing.

Sorry for 1st quote. Newbie error

Can i ask how much 50\50 mix you would use for 1kg side of Salmon. Andy

[Wade]

You do not need to use a lot of the cure. For a single side of salmon just make a mix if 250g salt and 250g sugar and mix well.

Wash the salmon fillet and allow to drain dry for a few minutes. Cover both sides of the salmon with the mix and then lift it up and shake gently. What remains on the salmon surfaces is sufficient.

Dont forget to place it on a wire rack in the fridge to cure to allow the brine produced to drain away. This prevents the final salmon from becoming too salty.