Hey SS, I need your help!

[Erik]

I stayed up late the other night smoking salmon. Had two large filets from a male I caught the other day. Any ways, I spent alot of time on it and it came out tasting a bit like "dirt". Now, it wasn't some tired out old specimin thats been on the gravel so I figured it would taste better than it does. Is there anything I can do to fix it? If nothing else, is there something I can do to the next one that I smoke to make it taste better? I believe in eating what I kill so I've been choking this one down with lots of beer and crackers! But geeze, one salmon goes a long ways!!! Especially when no one else in the house wants any :(

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Phish

[Salmonsmoker]

Eric,

I need a few more details:

What kind of wood did you use?
What temperature did you use?
How did you control the temp?
How long did you smoke the salmon?
What brine did you use?

The last batch of cheese that I smoked (a 15 pound horn sliced).... my wife said that it tasted like characoal (not the results that I anticipated - however, my wife is my best, and most critical, critic) . I had all of the dampers closed down to keep a low temperature. The resulting "reduction" smoke environment (smouldering in an oxygen defficient environment) did not bring out the real falvor of the wood. Rather, it made a smouldering wood flavor.

Go back to the steele's recipe that you used and see how this one differed. Certainly, Salmon has a different taste that Steelhead, but not that different. To my taste, Salmon is a better, but slightly stronger falvor than trout.

Give me some more details. Don't like to see anyone not liking smoked salmon.

ss

[Salmonsmoker]

Eric,

I overlooked part of your questin. Can you fix it. Yes. Use it in a recipe.

I have found that strong or heavy smoke flavor when eaten directly, may be too much. However, when mixed into a "Smoked Salmon Sandwhich Spread" or used as an ingredient in a "Salmon-noodle Casserole" (sp?), or a pasta salad, the heavy smoke will add a lot of flavor.

One of the first batches of smoked cheese that I made was in the smoker for 6 hours. Way too strong. However, it was excellent in a pasta salad or as an addition to a green salad. It also made excellent cheeseburgers and omlets.

One of the batches of jerkey that I made got much too dry. Solution - dry it even more and then grind it into a powder and use it as a soup base, mix it with Mayo and make a sandwich, use it as a gravy base. Now, I make some extry dry jerkey two or three times each year - just to have the powdered jerkey.

The other solution - buy more beer.

ss

[Erik]

I used maple, sugar maple to be exact. Cut from last year. 160 degress for 6 hours. Same brine as I used on my steelhead. Brined for twelve hours. I don't really think it was anything I did, I just think it was the fish. Is there any kind of brines that you would recamend for doing a strong fish such as this one? My cousin says he soaks the fish in milk. Ever hear of such a thing? I was thinking maybe if I soaked it in cider vinigar before I brined it that might help.

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Phish

[Salmonsmoker]

Eric,

In the recipe section - and back on 8/23 I posted a recipe on cooking Salmon in the Microwave. If you have a piece of that particular fish that is not cooked, try that recipe (primarily as a test to see if it is the fish or the cooking.) I know that that recipe makes an excellent flavored Salmon filet.

Also, six hours may be too much smoke - that depends on your smoker. I found out that my new smoker is much more efficient than the old one. 6 hours in the old one would give a medium smoke flavor. 6 hours in the new one is way too much. Normally, cheese can be done in 1 hour now, it used to take 3.

How long did you smoke the Steelhead and the Lakers when they turned out so well?

It certainly may be just that particular fish. However, it is best to rule out other variables before concluding that (a few tests of the process could save a future reoccurance of the same results.)

This afternoon, I will look up brines and other liquids for soaking fish to see if anyone has referenced milk or vinegar as a way to reduce strong flavors. Will post more at that time.

ss

[Salmonsmoker]

Erik,

I did some checking today - no referrence to any kind of milk bath for fish. Maybe it works, but it is a well kept secret if it does.

What I found is that there can be a strong flavor in older fish or in fish too long from catching to cooking. The ways to get rid of this strong falvor are two.

1. If frying or grilling, use lemon juice in stead of olive oil. This will nutralize some of the fish falvor.

2. (And this one is an excellent find) - in primier restaurants and gourmet stores they have a food item called "Lox". It is smoked salmon - only smoked by a particular process that removes much of the fish flavor. (Have never tried this one, but be assured I will.)

Put the alsmon in a brine solution and let it sit for 4 to 6 hours - then bring the brine to a boil and cook the Salmon to a point where it is almost done. Then, carefully remove it from the brine and finish cooking in the smoker.

This process cooks the oil out of the fish (where most of the stronger flavors are held) and......, "The salmon that results can be sliced wafer thin; it has a buttery richness, subtle salt-smoke flavor, and a bright salmon color." Sounds good to me however, will need some experimenting to perfect.

With all of that it is my feeling that you ended up with too much smoke. Try reducing the time to 4 hours when you do another salmon. Also, keep in mind, some of our best lessons come from things that do not turn out as we had hoped.

ss

[This message has been edited by Salmonsmoker (edited 09-13-2000).]

[Erik]

Thanks for all your effort SS. One thing about this "lox" though. Are you suposed to leave the skin on or remove it?
I do think that I may have went to long between catching and cooking. I caught this one last wed. I landed him around noon and kept him on the stringer till I left the river at around 6:00pm. Upon leaving the river I drove to pappys bait to get the official weight on their scales. They have a certified scale that is always open for people to use, even after hours. Pappys didn't have their cleaning station open yet so I cleaned them on the bed of my truck. I was prepared for this with garbage bags and zip locks. Packed the filets in plastic zip lock bags and covered them in ice in my cooler till I got home. Upon arriving home (about three and a half hours later), I pulled them out and compleatly washed them. I was unable to do that at pappys. Now it was very late at night and I was whooped to say the least. I stuck the filets in a big pot and covered them in water. Added a little salt as a perservative, put the whole pot in the refer and went to bed. Well almost, I still had to take care of the eggs I got from the female. Yes I was seeing crosseyed from lack of sleep. Any ways I had to work the next day so I left the fish in the refer. Worked late that day and was so tired from the previous days outing and then a full days work that when I got home I went straight to bed. The next morning (fri), I made up my brine before work and let the fish soak in it all day. A good twelve hours. Fri eve, I smoked it. The rest is history!

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Phish

[Salmonsmoker]

Erik,

Sounds like you have been busy.

The Lox process is one I have never tried. However, it sounds like a good one - do not know about skin on or off. Probably the quickest way to find out will be to go to a store and look at some, but I won't have time to do that till this weekend.

One thing that I learned while looking up info on the milk thing is that gourmet restaurants keep their fish fresh by packing them in ice, then putting the iced fish in the firge. Most firg's are set at about 40 degrees so that the vegie's don't freeze. That is not cold enough for fish. Fish need to be kept at 33 degrees for maximum freshness for the longest time.

Will keep you posted.

ss

[This message has been edited by Salmonsmoker (edited 09-14-2000).]

[Salmonsmoker]

Erik,

Apparently there are many processes that are called Lox. However, what I have found is that the original Lox was a Sweedish way to preserve salmon from a few hundred years ago.

They took 2/3 Cup of sugar (most likely brown sugar from that time), 1/3 Cup of salt and 1 tsp pepper and rubbed this into 2 lbs of salmon - halved with the bones removed (usng tweesers (sp?) of all things) and the skin on. Then the havles were placed in a container just large enough to hold them - the bottom half placed skin down, the other half skin up on top of the first one - then a heavy bowl or something like that was placed on the fish for weight and the whole thing was kept it cool for 48 hours (turning it every 12). Between the surar/salt mixture replacing the natural fish juices and the pressing the juice out of the fish as the meat was "cured" with the sugar/salt, it became a semi-dried food. In 48 hours, the fish was covered with the juices that had been removed from the meat. It was then boiled in that juice, then taken directly to the smoker.

No doubt, they had a way to preserve salmon meat but that works out to be 1/6 Cup of salt per pound of fresh-fish (stronger in the final dired product. That may have been necessry back then just to preserve the meat but that is very salty.

Many people have made variations of that process and called it Lox, and been able to use it to make an excellent flavored food. The first one that I came across was boiling the fish in brine to remove oil. There are many others, and each seems to be a well-guarded secret.

Maninly, it is a way for us, now, to experiment with making Smoked Salmon. There are many possible combinations of processing that this idea offers. As per past experiments, I will start with something beside prime salmon meat until I know what is going on with the processing.

Will keep you posted.

ss

[Erik]

I think I might have that recipe here somewhere. It sounds familar. I'll have to look through some of my cookbooks.
Just for the record, we got another male (chinook) this past weekend. I brought it home and we ate it for dinner sat eve. Did this one on the grill with butter, lemon juice, onions, worchestershire sauce, and garlic. made a little trough out of tin foil and cooked it in that on the grill. Also I fileted and skinned this one. Don't know if it was just the fact that we were so hungry from fishing all day or what, but that fish was excellant! With dinner rolls and fresh dug taters straight from our garden, man I could get used to that!!!!
Thanks for your time SS. Have a good one!

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Phish