Smokin'

Smoking Salmon Ala Bruce
I love to smoke salmon though it is awfully hard to keep lit

A few folks have asked me how I smoke salmon, so I thought I would write up a blog to share what I have done.

The best suggestion for making great smoked salmon, is hit up a friend who has done a bunch of salmon smoking already. In my case, my smoked salmon sen sei is my friend Tim Stephan. A life long Alaskan, if it can be hunted or fished for, Tim has probably shot, hooked, cleaned, cooked and eaten it. Needless to say, I hold him in very high regard.
The picture below shows Tim filleting up a few salmon we dip netted together on the Kenai. Though we had a number of fits and starts that day, including engine troubles and me forgetting my dip permit and fillet knife, we did manage to put about eighteen fish in the freezer. Not a huge haul, but not bad considering the run was hit by an emergency closure just a day or two later.


Tim playing Fillet o' Fish

So the following is a step by step process I take to smoked the fish. I'll probably add pictures from a future smoking session.

Materials
Smoker - (duh) I use the Luhr Jensen Big Chief.
Five gallon plastic paint bucket and lid from a hardware store.
One bag each of alder and apple wood chips
A Room Fan
Two days to be around or near the house

Instructions
Wood Chips
-Into a kitchen size garbage bag, empty both bags of chips and mix thoroughly to ensure a good blend.
-Store these in a dry place

START OF DAY ONE
Prepping Salmon
Using the frozen fillets still in bags, lay out on smoker racks to determine how many fillets will fit. Make sure to account for spacing between pieces.
-Defrost salmon at room temperature. Defrosting too fast (e.g. food saver bags in warm water) will cause the salmon texture to be compromised.

Checking for proper spacing


Defrosting on the counter

Prepping Brine
Mix thoroughly in clean plastic five gallon paint bucket
-1 quart tap water
-1 cup kosher salt or sea salt (do not use iodized salt - it will ruin the
fish)
-Three cups brown sugar (firmly packed, loosely packed, whatever...)
-1/2 cup molasses (this item can be a substitute of a variety of seasonings i.e. honey, bbq sauce, orange juice, wine, whiskey, beer)
-1/2 tbs garlic powder (same as above, any spices you want to emphasize like Tabasco, pepper, thyme, whatever)

Typical brine ingredients

Light brown and foamy. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Cutting and Brining Salmon
-Rinse defrosted fillets thoroughly, dry with paper towels, DO NOT PULL PIN BONES AT THIS TIME
-Cut fillets into 4" sections

A defrosted fillet ready for cutting

Cut into pieces for normal smoked and strips for jerky

-Place salmon in brine making sure all meat surfaces are submerged.
-Cover loosely with lid and let stand for at least eight hours.

Keep the meat side down as much as possible

Curing Salmon
-Spray the smoke racks with Pam or some other non stick spray.
-One piece at a time follow these steps,
a. Remove piece of salmon from brine
b. Rinse thoroughly to remove slimy feel from back and front
c. Pat dry with paper towels
d. Place on racks
-Repeat until all salmon is on racks. Optimal spacing of no less than a 1/4 inch.
-If desired, sprinkle with ground pepper or some other spice of your choice.
-Place racks in a cool dry place (i.e. a garage)
-Let stand overnight

Tails and strips for the lowest racks. These have been sprinkled with pepper

START OF DAY TWO
Continuing Curing
-If the salmon is still damp place racks of salmon in front of a fan (medium breeze) for a couple of hours, rotating rack position to ensure even drying.
-The dried fish should be tacky to the touch and perhaps even a fine skin may have formed. This is called a pellicle. This is a good thing.

Ready for the smoker

Smoking the Salmon
-About 30 minutes before you think the salmon is tacky enough, plug in the smoker in an open area (not your garage). If the outside temperature is below about 10F (not likely in Seattle, not unusual for Anchorage, I would consider a smoker blanket. You can buy one (expensive) or make one (cheap) using a product you can by at lowers that looks like bubble wrap coated with thick tin foil. Use this to wrap the sides of the smoker. Make sure you leave a gap or cut an opening for where the chip pan goes in.
-Place fish inside smoker and wrap smoker in blanket if necessary
-Put strips and tail pieces on the lowest levels and leave there for the duration of smoking. These will come out more jerky like.

We're smokin' now!!

Adding Chips
-Immediately after place salmon in the smoker, heat up the empty chip pan till it could cause a second degree burn on your finger. Don’t test the pan with your finger as I did.
-Fill the pan with the chip mix (be careful, the pan is hot as I found out the hard way) and place in smoker.
-Refill the chip pan two times (be careful, the pan is hot and I’m a slow learner). Each pan takes about 60 - 90 minutes to burn.

Yes Timmy - that is snow in the background

Length of Smoking
-Probably eight to ten hours should suffice, for thinner fillets such as pink salmon six to eight
-You can always have a piece that you poke at after about six hours to test for flavor.
-Switch rack heights twice during smoking. -Finished salmon will be dark red in color, slightly curled, firm to the touch, and will have salmon fat oozing out. Tail and other thinner pieces will be jerky like. Thicker pieces may have a little "give" to them. Either smoke these longer or remove at the same time to have a couple of different consistencies.

Oh Doggy, my house stinks like a salmon smokehouse!!

Finishing
-Remove to cookie sheets.
-Let cool to room temperature.
-Fish can be eaten now, but the next couple of steps provide a good finish.
-After cooled to room temperature leave uncovered for about 24 hours in a refrigerator.
-Reseal fish in vacuum bags and store frozen for up to 12 months (as if it will last that long)

This process works really well if have very little to do other than reading or watching football, in that you are tending the fish rather often.

Beer helps.

In Conclusion
Yes this is a lot of work, and probably would be less expensive to just go buy the smoked salmon at the store especially after you consider the cost to catch, freeze, the smoke the fish. But what can't really be valued is the satisfaction of be able to do something not many ever get to attempt. And having family and friends ooh and aah over the results is absolutely priceless. Gee, that would make a good MasterCard commercial.

Fishing For 2007

The following are the collection of posts I put on the Alaska Outdoor Journal which documented my fishing adventures for 2007. My final count for this year was one King, two Silvers, three Pinks, thirty two Sockeye, two halibut, one sea bass, and my personal best 24" rainbow.

TRIP DATE: 6/14
REGION: Anchorage
WATER: Ship Creek
SPECIES: Kings
REPORT: After 3 plus years in Alaska, I finally lifted my King salmon skunk monkey off my back. I fished the evening high tide, soaking eggs below the bridge. Just after the high tide I hooked up and landed a nice 21lb hen. Whew!!! I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to get rid of the darn monkey.

TRIP DATE: 6/16
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai at Bings
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: It was a drop dead gorgeous day on the river. I took my son out for his first ever salmon hunt with not much luck. There were plenty of filleted reds on the shore (we should probably stop chop and throw there too), so the fish had been there in good numbers, but not while we were. I did have four hookups, two were dorsal, one unknown, and one fair that shook off just as I was turning it towards shore. The water level is still down fairly low for Bing's, probably a good 3-4 feet. More fish will be coming for sure. Fish On!!!

TRIP DATE: 6/21
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian River
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: It has been good and steady but I have definitely had it better. Fished Tuesday night with about 90 minutes till the last ferry and finally landed a nice hen with about ten minutes to go. Crowds were still heavy and the sow with her two cubs showed up at the point on the highway side. She rousted about 15 anglers really quickly. Hit it again on Wednesday catching the 5th ferry. I had my limit in about 2 hours with plenty of action and fish coming through. My son caught his first salmon ever for which he got a nice round of applause from those around us. Went out again on Thursday, where it was great to begin with with two fish to the bank fairly early on but had to flog the waters for two more hours to finally land a fair third. Not quite at the point of more people than fish, but it is pretty close. A lot of limits are being caught in all the sweet spots, but a lot of folks are walking away blanked.

TRIP DATE: 6/24
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian River
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: The hot weather induced river rise seems to have sent all the sanctuary reds into the Russian and to the weir. Saturday was fair to good depending upon where one sat in the river. I would say about one out of four people had limits with at least one out of four being skunked. The rest of us with onesies (me) and twosies had to flog for five to six hours to get what we got. I heard the rare story of quick limits. There seems to be a push of reds daily about 11AM-1PM. So for my first red run of the season, I went 11 for 15. US Fish and Game has been checking hooks daily, handing out several paper souveneirs. One of my fish I caught had a 2/0 octopus hook in the belly. Maybe he picked that up in the lower Kenai. Or maybe not... Fish On!!!

TRIP DATE: 6/30
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian Sanctuary
SPECIES: Sockeye
REPORT: I was able to get my three in little under two hours. The crowds are definitely lightening up, but then so are the fish. It appeared I was one of the lucky ones. Many empty stringers, or onesies/twosies. The fish are still a good color. Only one of mine was slightly pink. Someone said there was a bear at the confluence but I never saw it. My best guess is that the moderate trickle will continue to fade until the second run s hits in a few weeks. Fish On

TRIP DATE: 7/7
REGION: PWS
WATER: Montague Island
SPECIES: Halibut and Cod
REPORT: Took a charter out of Seward. Good weather day if you had took your sea sick pills, if not you were miserable. Thank God I had taken mine. 4-6 foot swells with 2 foot chop on top made for a bouncy but manageable day. Skipper took us to three holes. The first we hooked into a bunch of Sea Bass and Rockcod. Second blanked except for one twenty lb halibut. I had a nice one on for about 30 seconds but it decided it wanted to stay in the water instead of heading to my freezer. We finally hit a chicken hole and loaded up on 10 to 20 pounders. Between two of us we pocketed two sea bass, a rock cod, three 10lb and a 20lb halibut. I heard a great line back on shore when our skipper was bemoaning our lack of success for bigger fish. Another guide said "Chicken taste a whole lot better than a skunk". Fish On!!

TRIP DATE: 7/8
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian Sanctuary
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: Slow day with many leaving without a fish. Three hours of fishing yielded me a blushed fish good for the smoker and a chrome bright blue back. My mom caught another blusher, giving us three for the day. The rainbows are in thick now at the cleaning tables. Toss an egg or two and watch for a 16-24 inch trout come zooming in from nowhere. Fish On!!

TRIP DATE: 7/15
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian River
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: A friend and I flogged the waters for about four hours on Sunday with abysmal results. The only action I had was a lightly blushed hen I had on about 15 minutes into the ordeal. Thank God she was a fair hookup and was gracious enough to come to the bank so we didn't go home empty handed. We probably saw ten fish landed in the four hours we were there ans that is not an exageration. I only saw three full stringers. All in all, it was a nice day with really nice folks to be fishing with. Congratulations to James D who landed his third child about a week ago. From what I heard, it was a nice sized buck. Way to go dad!! Fish On!!

TRIP DATE: 7/17
REGION: Anchorage
WATER: Ship Creek
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Tried for Silvers on the Tuesday night flooding tide. We soaked eggs in the bend near the mouth for about the two hours before the high one set from surface on a bobber and the other with poppers from the bottom. We had one strike the entire time and did not see any other fish on or landed around us. Talked with a guy who had been down five nights straight and said it was pretty much the same story for all the previous nights. It's gonna be soon, soon, soon. Fish On!!

TRIP DATE: 7/21
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Resurrection Creek - Hope
SPECIES: Pinks
REPORT: Took the family and friends to Hope to catch some pink action. The fish were there in plentiful numbers until about an hour after high tide. After that, it was a moderate pace. We took five home for the smoker and let many others go. Fishing with pink flashy lures using a long drift through the schools. Saw a lot of different rigs catching fish, so it didn't really seem to matter what you threw, it was all about the drift. Amazing (almost embarrasing) how many people thought they were landing sockeye or silvers.

TRIP DATE: 7/27
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Bings Landing
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: Fished Thursday night and Friday morning with three friends. I got three the first night and actually got blanked in the morning (all foul fish - arrgh). The crowds were just about as big as I've ever seen them and the fishing was moderate to good for Bings. Our total count was moderate yielding twenty four fish for four people for eight hours of fishing. The typical holes were fishing well, but there was a line of folks waiting for those spots. Be prepared for big crowds and moderate to good fishing for Bings. Water level is about 2-3 feet below normal. [AOJ: With the KENAI limit extended to SIX reds per day, anglers should expect LONGER waits for good spots to open up along the bank as it takes longer to fill their stringers. That's the one big negative about the limit going up.]

TRIP DATE: 7/29
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian Sanctuary/Quartz Creek
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: Took a group of three others to the Russian on Sunday. The fish are starting to get their. Lots more stringers being filled than I have seen in recent past. My guess is that it will only get better each day. With the limit being six for the lower Kenai and upper mainstem outside of the FFO zone, there definitely is less pressure on the Russian, but then again, you can only get three. The fish were coming in there typical spurts, yielding our troop a lot of fish on, many snags, and only three fair fish to the bank. Of course the weather was drop dead gorgeous. After a few hours, we headed towards Quartz and into some thunder head clouds. The rain started when we got there. We geared up and hit the creek in some of the hardest rain I have ever fished in. Even though we didn't hook any bows, the experience was awesome. Wading in a stream full of red reds, torrential rains, and 75 degrees temperatures. God help me, I do love it so.

TRIP DATE: 8/01
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian Confluence
SPECIES: Reds
REPORT: Got Em' Two friends and I hit the confluence on Thursday afternoon. Typical day with fish coming through in schools about every hour. It took a while but we did walk away with 8 out of 9 for our group. Thin crowds because everyone else is at Bings.

TRIP DATE: 8/5
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Lower Kenai/Jim's Landing/Russian
SPECIES: Reds and a bow
REPORT: Took a group to a friend's lower Kenai property not far from Moose River on Friday and Saturday. Friday between four of us, we put eleven on the bank. Action was moderate with plenty of snagged fish. I did get to catch and release a beautiful bow who seemed just about as thick around as its 24 inch length. On Saturday at the same spot, we hardly saw a fish for six hours, landing only two, with about a dozen or so other fouled or quick on/quick off. Saturday night we tried Jim's Landing, which was dismally lacking in fish. None on stringers, and only carcasses from the drift boats off loading there. The few fish we saw from the drift boats were berry red. Sunday we hit the Russian where three of us put five on the bank in three hours. Though they were bright, they were not very big.

TRIP DATE: 8/25
REGION: Kenai Peninsula & Anchorage
WATER: Kenai Near Funny River
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Four of us went fishing for silvers. The rig or the day was K13 quikfish with sardine wraps. We banked three, one of which looked like it had a close encouter with a boat prop and was tossed back. Had a beautiful ~12 pound that got tail snagged that we had to net to dehook and release. Nice fish. Too bad it tail slapped the lure. When we filleted the two keepers, one of the fish had little blisters all throughout the meat, so it too was discarded as not edible. Haven't seen anything like that before.