Salmon is Brining!

Just put a salmon and a steelhead in the brine. Mixture of water, salt, brown sugar, soy and pineapple juice.
Smoking tomorrow. Cant wait.

Here it is.

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I’ve had excellent success smoking salmon. Steelhead though……not so much.
Curious to hear how they both turn out for you.

So, did my invitation get lost in the mail???

Joel Ballweg wrote:

I’ve had excellent success smoking salmon. Steelhead though……not so much.
Curious to hear how they both turn out for you.

Hands down the salmon has better flavor. However if I had only done the steelhead I would be happy. Its good. Funny when we were fishing we told the captain to avoid steelhead at all cost. He didn’t like that because they were biting and those guys live by their reputations and daily numbers. Luckily we only landed one but you should have seen him when I lost one! LOL

Awesome! I smoke lake trout every August after my Canada trip. It is wonderful – some of the best fish I have ever had. We used to do a salmon trip on Lake Michigan every May and that fish was great but I never smoked it fresh.

My Canada trip is coming up and I’ll post some pics and reviews of the lake trout again when I smoke them. I wonder if anybody has thoughts on Lake Trout versus Salmon smoked? I love that trout.

Lake trout is a different matter entirely. I didn’t get any this trip but I know they are better than steelies. Except those fat white meat ones out of superior.

What are the ratios in your brine? Love the idea of soy and pineapple. I get rave reviews from a simple salt/brown sugar/white sugar recipe. Would love to kick it up a notch!

Joel

Both Lake Trout and big Kings from Lake Michigan taste fabulous when smoked.
As for Steel head, they tasted fantastic right on the grill. Better than King Salmon and 2nd only to Coho in my opion.
Giant steel head, those are definitely not the best eating but they are a blast to catch.
Hard to imagine why anyone would tell a captain to avoid the steel head. Generally, they count on those as a huge part of their daily catch.

Joel Ballweg wrote:

I’ve had excellent success smoking salmon. Steelhead though……not so much.
Curious to hear how they both turn out for you.

Joel, the key to steelhead is smoking the males. The females tend to have mushier meat. The males smoke perfectly and I prefer them over salmon

I am heading back to Michigan tomorrow for a couple of weeks to visit friends and relatives and have a Lake Michigan charter booked for one day for salmon and trout. I was wondering which fish were the best to smoke and which were the best for grilling, so this was a timely post. Thanks

I have about 80lb’s of King Salmon and would like to try the smoking thing. Any chance you could share the recipe?
I would certainly be grateful.

Randy Wieland wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>joel-ballweg wrote:</div>
I’ve had excellent success smoking salmon. Steelhead though……not so much.
Curious to hear how they both turn out for you.

Joel, the key to steelhead is smoking the males. The females tend to have mushier meat. The males smoke perfectly and I prefer them over salmon

Interesting….first time I’ve heard that. Guess I learned something new today.

Joel Ballweg wrote:

Hard to imagine why anyone would tell a captain to avoid the steel head.

Did not mean for that to sound so harsh. Sorry about that!

At the same time though, I would have loved to have seen the captains face when you told him to avoid steel head at all cost.

belletaine wrote:

I have about 80lb’s of King Salmon and would like to try the smoking thing. Any chance you could share the recipe?
I would certainly be grateful.

Saw a couple of tasty looking recipes for smoked salmon over in the recipes forum.

Here are my ratios. I added extra brown sugar and brushed the filets with pure maple syrup every hour. That kicked it up an awesome notch! First time I tried that. I brined for about 18 hours. I think I would go more with the thick salmon filets. I read somewhere 24-36 but not over 48. Sounds about right for this recipe.
1 GAL Water
1/2 Cup pickling salt
1 Cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1 Cup terriyaki sauce (any brand, I use kikkoman)
1 Cup brown sugar

4walleye wrote:

I am heading back to Michigan tomorrow for a couple of weeks to visit friends and relatives and have a Lake Michigan charter booked for one day for salmon and trout. I was wondering which fish were the best to smoke and which were the best for grilling, so this was a timely post. Thanks

In my opinion Coho’s are the best for eating but run small and they are infrequent. Kings cook up nice. We baked a slab fresh the other night and I froze several fresh slabs for future baked/grilled salmon. Kings do it all.
Lakers are good too. Especially if you get the natural ones with deep red meat.
I think any fresh fish would taste good but those are the top 3 great lakes fish for me.

As for steelhead. I cant stop eating it so I can safely say it is very good smoked.

I found this site on the web and was impressed with the information on how to smoke salmon. I’m a novice and it helped a lot. Though I use my own brine recipe.

http://honest-food.net/2012/08/12/how-to-smoke-salmon-recipe/

belletaine wrote:

I have about 80lb’s of King Salmon and would like to try the smoking thing. Any chance you could share the recipe?

My new favorite is a dry brine.

4 cups brown sugar
1 cup kosher or pickling salt
15 cloves garlic (finely chopped or pressed)

Cover fillets for 4 to 6 hours, rinse lightly with cold water and pat dry. Let air dry for a few hours until the pellicule sets up. Then slow smoke. I go 130 degrees for the first two hours, 150 for the next two, and then 175 until they are as done as I want them. Internal temp between 145 and 160 depending on how moist I want them to be. I also baste them with real maple syrup every hour after the first two hours.

Thanks guys!

John Schultz wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>belletaine wrote:</div>
I have about 80lb’s of King Salmon and would like to try the smoking thing. Any chance you could share the recipe?

My new favorite is a dry brine.

4 cups brown sugar
1 cup kosher or pickling salt
15 cloves garlic (finely chopped or pressed)

Cover fillets for 4 to 6 hours, rinse lightly with cold water and pat dry. Let air dry for a few hours until the pellicule sets up. Then slow smoke. I go 130 degrees for the first two hours, 150 for the next two, and then 175 until they are as done as I want them. Internal temp between 145 and 160 depending on how moist I want them to be. I also baste them with real maple syrup every hour after the first two hours.

X2 This is how I do mine now with excellent results. The only difference is I let them sit in the brine longer (overnight). Made a batch last Sunday that turned out great.

My new favorite is a dry brine.

4 cups brown sugar
1 cup kosher or pickling salt
15 cloves garlic (finely chopped or pressed)

Cover fillets for 4 to 6 hours, rinse lightly with cold water and pat dry. Let air dry for a few hours until the pellicule sets up. Then slow smoke. I go 130 degrees for the first two hours, 150 for the next two, and then 175 until they are as done as I want them. Internal temp between 145 and 160 depending on how moist I want them to be. I also baste them with real maple syrup every hour after the first two hours.
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I do mine very similarly except i skip on all the garlic. I also “season” my filets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and minced onion BEFORE brining them. Also, instead of maple syrup, I glaze with a soy sauce/ hooney mixture.