• General food and cooking questions, discussion, and recipes. To blog your food or to create (or post in) a community food thread, please post in Post Your Eats!

smoking TB's Notorious Smoked Salmon

Hey ya'll! Been a good while since I whipped out a batch and truth be told, I had promised DickT some salmon as a trade for nuts. Then I got busy blah blah blah, and mrs. blues pilfered my stash, excuse excuse excuse, there was a flood, boohoo boohoo...anywhoooo...the wx is much cooler now so I feel good about shipping the stuff to him. mrs. blues has requested I do some up anyhow.

I even wrote down the marinade recipe...normally I just start throwing stuff in a bowl.

The marinade...

30 oz. soy sauce
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed.
7 oz. my habanero hot sauce
1 oz. minced ginger
1 oz. minced garlic
2 1/2 cups brown sugar

I cut the tails and set those aside to do separately along with the belly's which I strip out. The rest of the flanks I cut straight across the grain for pieces about 1" - 1 1/2" wide. I then put them into ziplocks, pour in some marinade, squeeze out the air and then seal up. Into the fridge they go, the belly strips and tails need only 24 hours on the marinade. The thicker pieces up to 3 days. I check on them every so often and turn them to get an even brine all over. I started these yesterday and just popped the belly's and the tails into the mini-chief smoker over some hickory chips. I'll do a second smoke with apple.

Here's some pics of the prep....fish courtesy of Costco..damned price went up $2 a pound.

IMG_1628.jpg


Got 'em all up in the marinade....

IMG_1630.jpg


First tails out of the marinade onto the rack...dig that crazy color...not even smoked yet!

IMG_1637.jpg


Smoke just starting.....

IMG_1638.jpg


As these are small and thin pieces, I reckon 6-8 hours on the smoke will be enough. I'll check the larger pieces in the marinade and may start some of those tomorrow and update as the chaos and mayhem unfolds.

Cheers ya'll!
 
This gets my highest Smoked, Orange, and Fantabluous rating.
 
Novacastrian said:
$100 bucks worth of salmon, you wouldn't want to screw it up TB!

Yeah, I was getting it just 4 months ago for $5.99 a pound. Now $7.99. Ouch! Trust me, I've screwed the pooch on many dishes but no way no how on this one. Had some folks at work that were not satisfied with samples and so I was charging $10 bucks for half a pound. After labor and ingredients, I was coming out a bit ahead. Now...if I raise the price they'd all balk. I have thought about going commercial with it but in this economy....Stuff in the store that is just shite goes for $7 -$8 for a 4-6 oz piece. What a ripoff. I may do up some gravlox later toward December for the holidays. Great stuff.
 
It's like that, people want the goodness but don't want to pay the $ for the said goodness. I say screw em, let em pay for the shite stuff and save the goodness for your friends, yourself and Mrs Blues!
 
Novacastrian said:
It's like that, people want the goodness but don't want to pay the $ for the said goodness. I say screw em, let em pay for the shite stuff and save the goodness for your friends, yourself and Mrs Blues!

Thanks for the support Nova. Can I get a point removed?
 
If you work out kgs to Lbs and the Aussie $ compared to the US $ the salmon is still a fair bit cheaper than it is here I think..
 
Way past my bedtime but here is some goodness...

Belly strips...like candy!

IMG_1641.jpg


And the tails....the bestest!!

IMG_1642.jpg


More mayhem to come tomorrow..

Cheers ya'll.
 
Damn that looks mouth watering TB! I can get some here already smoked for $4.37 per 250g. Think it comes straight from Norway.

DSC02164.jpg
 
I'll have 2 smokers going this evening for the larger pieces and probably go 10 hours. Also vacuum packing last nights goodness. All that and making steelhead cakes. Hardly leaves time for beer......nah! There's always time for beer. Piccy's later ya'll.
 
TB, that is some fantastic smoked salmon. I have never tried it before, but yours looks absolutely outstanding. How much would it cost to send a sample my way?
 
Novacastrian said:
:drooling: Looking superior there Mr Blues. I will take a point away and add it to pips..... :rofl:

I was not 5 minutes ago wondering what the hell I did to deserve a point....and now I find out I did nothing as usual......:lol:

I really need to get a cold smoker....That's what you use isn't it???? What temps do you smoke at?
 
moyboy said:
I was not 5 minutes ago wondering what the hell I did to deserve a point....and now I find out I did nothing as usual......:lol:

I really need to get a cold smoker....That's what you use isn't it???? What temps do you smoke at?

Actually dude, this is an electric smoker, but you can cold smoke in it. Google Luhr-Jensen Mini-Chief Smoker. They also make a Big Chief. They are used alot around the pacific northwest and especially in Alaska. They don't do well for say brisket or heavy ribs. Perfect for fish and lighter thin cut meats, like jerky. You might be able to go and checkout BassPro.com, I believe they may carry them online or possibly Cabelas.com

I'll try and remember to take a pic of the unit.

Cheers, Leslie.
 
Back
Top