Brining and Smoking of Salmon and Steelhead

glock

I recently had a Salmon and Steelhead in my freezer that I needed to BBQ or smoke. I decided that I wanted to smoke these fish. I drove to my local store which carried fishing products and purchased some pre-made Luhr Jensen Smokehouse Brine. The package is labaled "Trout & Salmon Brine Mix". I purchased 2 of these containers. I also purchased some Luhr Jensen Hickory wood chips. (Luhr Jensen is the brand of smoker I have so I decided to keep it all one brand)

I unthawed the fish that was in the freezer in some cold water until I was content with its condition. I cut the Salmon into approximately 3" x 1" chunks and placed in a container. I left the Steelhead in filets and placed in a seperate container. Mix package of brine with one cup of hot water until dissolved. When dissolved add enough cold water until you make two quarts of brine solution. (I used made 2 seperate brines, one for the salmon, one for the steelhead

I placed the fish and the brine in the same container and allowed to brine for approximately 6 hours. (Do more or less depending on thickness of fish)

Once the fish was soaked, I removed from the brine, rinsed, and "pat" dry. I allowed the fish to air dry until the surface appeared to be lightly glazed.

SMOKING PROCESS

Depending on the thickness of your fish the times will be different. I was using the Luhr Jensen "Big Chief" smoker. (Looks like a big silver colored tin box) I placed the larger chunks of fish on the lower shelves closest to the burner. The rule of thumb to use on the pan for the smoke chips is one pan per hour. I used 3 pans of hickory chips. You can use more or less depending on your flavor. Do not add water to the chips or soak. It will add moisture back to your fish

The total smoke process took 6 - 10 hours. I removed some of the smaller pieces that were cooked at around the 6 hour mark. Some of the thicker pieces took around 10 hours to complete. As a general rule, trout or salmon portions can be removed from the smokehouse when they are firm to the touch, and reddish-brown in color.