Smoking Salmon in Idaho
Well, we’re still unpacking things, but we’ve been here for a bit. One of the things I was most excited to have arrive is the smoker - not gonna lie, that was a top priority. I’ve been looking forward to having some smoked Salmon again, and Sarah has mentioned it a couple times too.
There’s a Sam’s Club more convenient these days, so I picked up some salmon there. They had Sockeye for about $12 a pound, and “Atlantic” for about $9. I went with the Atlantic to see how it’d go. This looks like the same fish I was buying back at Costco in MD. I’ve heard the Sockeye is amazing - maybe next time. At that price though, I’ll probably smoke some other fish to see how it goes. Trout? This time I picked up two fillets totaling about 5.5 lbs.
0800: The fish swam in the typical brine all night at the bottom of the fridge. I put it in the fridge to dry at this time. We haven’t found our typical wide flat glass brownie baking dishes, or cooling racks, so to get things drying I had to use a couple cake pans with a smoker rack sitting on top of each.
1230: Starting up the smoker - 120℉. I’m a little distracted by a project I’m working on. I should’ve started it up around 1130… Should be fine though, the fish just gets a little more time drying.
1310: Fish is on the smoker. Two hours at 120℉, one at 140℉, then 175℉ until the internal temp is over 135℉. Baste it with maple syrup every hour.
1710: it’s done and it’s fantastic as usual. No problem. The fish has the same quality as what I was buying in MD.