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Preparation:
Dry brine mix: 3 cups of dark brown sugar to 1 cup of rock salt,
mix and multiply relative to the amount of salmon. Place
serving size pieces of salmon, skin side down on the bottom of a
plastic bucket and sprinkle enough of the dry brine mix to just
cover the flesh of the salmon. Continue to layer salmon in the bucket,
again, skin side down, and apply the brine mix to each layer until
all of the salmon is in the bucket.
Store in cool
area (40-60 degrees) for 10 hours.
Rinse each piece
of salmon and place on smoker rack. Allow the salmon to air-dry
for at least overnight. The longer the fish sits on the smoker rack,
drying, the deeper the "glaze" or color of the final product.
Smoking:
Begin smoking, adding smoke chips every two hours. Fruit wood
chips such as apple or cherry seem to give the best flavor.
Depending on
outside temperatures, begin checking the salmon after four hours.
This is a critical part of the smoking process. Temperatures and
individual heat from smokers will affect the cooking time. Also,
do your smoking outdoors to prevent fire. Successful batches of
smoked fish are usually removed from the smoking process when the
fish is considered "cooked" in the early stages. Caution:
Do not overcook. Overcooked smoked salmon is dry and hard. Also,
overcooking a northwest salmon borders on a criminal offense.
Bon appetit
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