Smokeing Salmon help needed

[Wallywhacker]

When smokeing salmon what papers do you use?...just kidding.

I have basically a lil chief smoker. Its a stainles steel home made smoker but has 5 big racks and a hotplate with cast iron slillet for the wood chips. My problem is I dont know how much wood chips to add and how fast they need replaced. I took 3 or 4 good handfulls of chips and the smoke is rolling out the vent pretty good. Is it possible to ruin your fish with too much smoke? I think I read that if there is too much smoke it will turn out nasty. I have used 5 cents dry brine and followed his instructions but I guess I need a lil more coaching through my first batch of salmon. I did buy a thermometer like a bbq has and installed it but I dont think its good for smokeing.

Any help is appreciated. How long should I smoke the stuff? And do I have to finish it in the oven with honey? Trying to save calories and leave out the honey. I will just let it smoke till there is no smoke left comming out then add more chips I guess.

Thanks whoever helps me with this....:flowered:

Jay

[Big Sur]

I also use a little chief. Normally I use about 4 pans of chips, an hour to a pan. It depends how thick you cut your fish. I use 1.5 inch strips and remove the thinner ones first. It also depends on how you like your fish. Some like it a little rare, not me! Of course chinook will take longer than coho. I hope this helps.

[sschwab]

I use a Little Chief and have found that two pans of smoke chips is just right for fish. Any more than that, and I get a bitter smoke taste that takes away from the sweetness of the brined fish.

As for time in the smoker, it varies based on the thickness of the filets and the outside air termperature. I'd say I average 8 hours for salmon, but my family prefers the fish moist.

[Wallywhacker]

I use a Little Chief and have found that two pans of smoke chips is just right for fish. Any more than that, and I get a bitter smoke taste that takes away from the sweetness of the brined fish.

As for time in the smoker, it varies based on the thickness of the filets and the outside air termperature. I'd say I average 8 hours for salmon, but my family prefers the fish moist.

OK...so if I started the fish at 11 with 1 pan of chips and that is now almost done smokeing...its just smouldering. So at 2 I will add another pan of chips about 4 good handfulls. And I did not soak them in water either. I also have some hickory chunks that I got at freddys...the smaller chips are alder and I have some cherry...

Does this sound like a good plan?
Jay

[Wallywhacker]

Ok....its now 10:38 and the fish has been in the smoker for almost 12 hours and its not done yet. I checked it and its almost done but is still wet on the skin side of the fillet. Should I just finnish it in the oven on 325 with some honey now?...or give it another hour with the hot plate set on high then do the honey bake in the oven.

Jay

This turned out awesome..... Thanks again for the help...everyone...next time they get skinned while Ive got the electric knife out.

[Derrel]

Smoking time depends on thickness of the fish,and the outdoor air temperture,and the wattage of the heating element. Little Chiefs have a 150 watt element I believe it is, Big Chief a 250 watt element.

For many years, I used a Little Chief Housing turned upside down,and placed on top of a Sunbeam, small black portable barbeque grill, and I would LOAD the chips on top of the lava rocks that came with the grill, then start the fire on the propane on Low for about 2 minutes to get a massive pile of wood chips started, then switch the propane off. This modified smoker was fan-tastic in its results!

I honestly do not think you can have "too much smoke". Smoke works best early in the smoking process, while later in the process, heat helps dry the fish. In the spring time, it can easily take 17 hours to smoke two spring chinook if using a very low-wattage or my home-modified smoker that had NO ELECTRIC heat element, only wood chips. Again, ambient air temp. is the main factor in how long it takes. There is cold-smoking and there is hot-smoking or "kippering",which is what most people do with the Big and Little Chief smokers. Cold-smoking pipes in smoke,with no heat,and can take 48 hrs; this is a European/United Kingdom way to smoke salmon. Very different than our hot-smoked or technically "kippered" smoking method.

Expect 12 hours for a Little Chief load of salmon when the temp is in the mid-60's or if it is windy; in July and August if it's hot, you have to get up early and start the smoker, or the fish will be smoked in 4 hours on a hot day. Hot weather is difficult to smoke fish in, so work in the shade. Smaller fish,like steelhead or coho, being thinner,take less time than big chinook. The Big Chief's element is very hot and I don;t like it as much as running two Little Chiefs, but the B-C is very fast when it's cold outside....

If it is late and you want to get done, pull the racks and bake it in the oven at 190 degrees or so, not too hot, for as long as you think it needs, then pull it immediately and let it cool 20 mins or so, and then brush honey on it, put it on plates and leave un-covered and pop it in the fridge and go to bed. Vaccuum pack it in quart jars or plastic bags; a few days in the vaccuum sealed containers will actually MELLOW the flavor out quit a bit,and make it taste much better than when it first comes out of the smoker. A week of mellowing in vaccuum sealing and it' unbeatable.

One thing you learn is that to smoke thick fish, cut strips only 1 inch wide in the thickest part of the fish. Near the vent area, where the fish thins, cut them wider. One excellent method is to cut the shoulder meat,and cut the thinner, belly cavity meat into separate pieces,so that the top,thick shoulder is a 3-4 inch long, 1 inch wide strip, and the belly strips are 3x4 inch pieces of thin meat. Cut the tail fillet sections 2-3 inches wide,and rack thick on the bottom, middle on the middle, thinnest pieces on top farthest from heat. Cutting the pieces into different sizes based on thickness makes the load turn out much more similar in time. TEND IT the last 2 hours!

[Wallywhacker]

Smoking time depends on thickness of the fish,and the outdoor air temperture,and the wattage of the heating element. Little Chiefs have a 150 watt element I believe it is, Big Chief a 250 watt element.

For many years, I used a Little Chief Housing turned upside down,and placed on top of a Sunbeam, small black portable barbeque grill, and I would LOAD the chips on top of the lava rocks that came with the grill, then start the fire on the propane on Low for about 2 minutes to get a massive pile of wood chips started, then switch the propane off. This modified smoker was fan-tastic in its results!

I honestly do not think you can have "too much smoke". Smoke works best early in the smoking process, while later in the process, heat helps dry the fish. In the spring time, it can easily take 17 hours to smoke two spring chinook if using a very low-wattage or my home-modified smoker that had NO ELECTRIC heat element, only wood chips. Again, ambient air temp. is the main factor in how long it takes. There is cold-smoking and there is hot-smoking or "kippering",which is what most people do with the Big and Little Chief smokers. Cold-smoking pipes in smoke,with no heat,and can take 48 hrs; this is a European/United Kingdom way to smoke salmon. Very different than our hot-smoked or technically "kippered" smoking method.

Expect 12 hours for a Little Chief load of salmon when the temp is in the mid-60's or if it is windy; in July and August if it's hot, you have to get up early and start the smoker, or the fish will be smoked in 4 hours on a hot day. Hot weather is difficult to smoke fish in, so work in the shade. Smaller fish,like steelhead or coho, being thinner,take less time than big chinook. The Big Chief's element is very hot and I don;t like it as much as running two Little Chiefs, but the B-C is very fast when it's cold outside....

If it is late and you want to get done, pull the racks and bake it in the oven at 190 degrees or so, not too hot, for as long as you think it needs, then pull it immediately and let it cool 20 mins or so, and then brush honey on it, put it on plates and leave un-covered and pop it in the fridge and go to bed. Vaccuum pack it in quart jars or plastic bags; a few days in the vaccuum sealed containers will actually MELLOW the flavor out quit a bit,and make it taste much better than when it first comes out of the smoker. A week of mellowing in vaccuum sealing and it' unbeatable.

One thing you learn is that to smoke thick fish, cut strips only 1 inch wide in the thickest part of the fish. Near the vent area, where the fish thins, cut them wider. One excellent method is to cut the shoulder meat,and cut the thinner, belly cavity meat into separate pieces,so that the top,thick shoulder is a 3-4 inch long, 1 inch wide strip, and the belly strips are 3x4 inch pieces of thin meat. Cut the tail fillet sections 2-3 inches wide,and rack thick on the bottom, middle on the middle, thinnest pieces on top farthest from heat. Cutting the pieces into different sizes based on thickness makes the load turn out much more similar in time. TEND IT the last 2 hours!

Yep....these look like excellent tips. Like your modifies bbq chief...way to mcguiver it Derrel. I already was thinking that the thick fillet pieces that I had need to be much thinner. Its not exactly a lil chief that I have. Its a home made unit of stainless steel with 5 big racks. I could do 2 turkeys in this its that big. But the hotplate is not big and the thing does not get that warm. Oh I can get the chipps a smokin like a mo fo but it just is gonna take 12 hours each time. I have read that the water smokers take like 1/4 the time. I just got this one so its what Im gonna use till I get my 50 bucks out of it ( craigslist ). The fish did turn out really good.....but just really really moist and I baked it for 25 mins at 325 and it was still pretty moist. Im sure it is better now that its cool. Also I had the skin left on 1 side. I will do it next time without the skin...Its easy to clean a salmon or steelhead with a electric knife. Learned all about that with the thousands of walleyes I have cleaned.
Jay

[Eliminator]

You really just need to figure out your method with your smoker. The variables will be the weather/temperature and the thickness of the meat. Everything else will be trial and error. Hopefully less error. I switched to a propane smoker from a big chief from a little chief. The propane can do a batch in a couple of hours or less. The first time I put a batch of salmon in was a disaster. I went for a walk, came back and there was salmon char chips! I was used to smoking for 12 hours or so!

[Dan Grbavac]

I soak the chips for 24 hrs and put them wet in the pan. A new pan every 2 hrs. The moisture keeps the fish moist.
I have a thermometer that shows 120 deg when smoking.

on a chinook 30# I smoked for 8 hrs last Monday . Fantastic!!!!!!

[bonjoevi2000]

Ok lets smoke salmon. 1st, clean fish in cold water , 2nd, fillet and cut fish into 1 to 2 in. pieces and remove any thing that doesnt look good. 3, rinse fish and put into brine ( there are numerous recipes ) 4, let soak in brine 12 to 24 hrs. I just did a batch, I went 12 hrs. Not so thick meat/ Also stir every couple hours to mix ingredients on bottom. 5, pull fish out and rinse off and pat dry with paper towels. Then let sit out on your smoker grills ,skin side down( this is when I add course pepper)for about an hour until meat is tacky.6, when meat has dried about 45 mins, I turn on smoker with sm. panful of alder chips to get rid of spiders and preseason/heat the smoker. 7, place meat in smoker, use a large panful to start and every 1 to 2 hrs. total of 4 to 5 panfuls Max.#Note# Use the chips early in the process#Note#.8, Now, this is critical . Watch the meat closesly , even if you have to get up every hour. It will be trial and error as your smoking journey continues. Meat should be done in about 12 to 13 hrs during the summer nights . Dont smoke during 100 degee days, only at night mid 80's. Winter will be 12 to 24 hrs or more depending on thickness.
Good Luck , Tight Lines

[Wallywhacker]

Hey there,

First off...thanks for posting everyones recipes for smoked fish. . I am haveing a problem with this big batch of mixed steelhead/salmon and sturgeon that is in the smoker right now. In 5 cents recipe it says to let the fish sit on the racks and air dry for an hour or so to get a tacky glaze. Well I let it sit for over an hour with a fan in front of it. It was pretty much tacky but mabey some were still a little wet to the tough. Well I started smokeing at 11 this morning and I have a electric smoker with a hot plate. I was just adding another pan of chips and notice some of the white fat comming to the surface of the fish just like when you are bbq or bakeing it. Is this ok? Seems like I read that if you dont let it sit long enough b4 smokeing then the oil and fat will come to the surface and the fish will spoil lot sooner? Is this large batch going to be ok do you think? The first batch of fish was great...everyone loved it and I did not even have any lemon zest or mustard powder. This time I have the entire recipe and I am getting hungary just looking at it smokeing.

Has anyone had experiance with this white iols comming to the surface?

Thanks very much. Hope someone chimes in b4 I am done with this batch. I have more to smoke yet.

Jay

[fish4brains]

My last batch of king only took 7 hours in the smoker and it was completely done. It was wet by the skin, but that was oil from the meat. I dump the chip pan after they are done producing the heavy smoke, and before the remnants turn to ash. I usually run 3 pans back to back and my fish turns out not bitter and with the sweet flavor. In my opinion if you leave it in until it is dry and what you would call completely done then by the time it cools it will be dry and overdone. Practice makes perfect :)

[Scott080379]

Hey there,

First off...thanks for posting everyones recipes for smoked fish. . I am haveing a problem with this big batch of mixed steelhead/salmon and sturgeon that is in the smoker right now. In 5 cents recipe it says to let the fish sit on the racks and air dry for an hour or so to get a tacky glaze. Well I let it sit for over an hour with a fan in front of it. It was pretty much tacky but mabey some were still a little wet to the tough. Well I started smokeing at 11 this morning and I have a electric smoker with a hot plate. I was just adding another pan of chips and notice some of the white fat comming to the surface of the fish just like when you are bbq or bakeing it. Is this ok? Seems like I read that if you dont let it sit long enough b4 smokeing then the oil and fat will come to the surface and the fish will spoil lot sooner? Is this large batch going to be ok do you think? The first batch of fish was great...everyone loved it and I did not even have any lemon zest or mustard powder. This time I have the entire recipe and I am getting hungary just looking at it smokeing.

Has anyone had experiance with this white iols comming to the surface?

Thanks very much. Hope someone chimes in b4 I am done with this batch. I have more to smoke yet.

Jay


This might mean your smoker is a little too hot. I have had this happen as well and I use a little chief smoker. I truned it into a cold smoker, takes about 6 hours for a full load but his alos depends on the thinkness of the meat. If you have a thermometer check the temp of your smoker. Should be around 80-120 degrees. Could go up to 145 but anyting over that and you and doing a lot cooking then smoking. But the temp of the smoker is all based on a opion. Some say hotter some say colder. The best thing to do is jsut trying and you will figure out what works best for you.

Keep trying diffrent brines as well. I always try new ones, just search the web and find new things to try.

[pontuna]

well learning to spell smoking would help. But do your brine, let it sit after you pat it dry. let the glare form. like a glazy look, put it in the smoker. lower the better. two and a half hours or more. wet your chips.