Smoked Salmon Brine - Wet vs Dry

[lamarclark09]

I always do the dry one. But I think I should go for the wet one this time.

 

[HortoHunts]

I go with overnight wet brine..I get better results. I'll mix it up and add some teriyaki to it sometimes. I've done dry brine but have had it come out too salty before. If I do a dry brine it will only be for about 6hrs or so now. I've found that its cures too much and draws a lot of moisture out if I do it overnight. Makes for a dryer end product in my experience.

 

[FranklinBluth]

Broadly speaking, a brine is done by placing meat in salt water, a cure is done by placing meat in salt without extra liquid.

Brining is best for meats like chicken that tend to dry out in the cooking process. A thick pork chop is another good candidate for brining prior to hitting the grill. But for salmon, curing gives me the best end product consistently.

The reason salmon is so good smoked is that it has enough natural oils/fats in the meat to stand up to the curing/smoking process and still retain good flavor and texture. Keep your heat low and be patient while smoking it. If you're just starting out, try curing the salmon first - if somehow you are ending up with salmon that is too dry then go ahead and brine it.

My really basic procedure at the cabin in salmon season: take a fresh caught filet and put it in a ziploc with a 50/50 brown sugar and kosher salt mixture with peppercorns. Put enough in the ziploc to totally cover the filet. Depending on the thickness of the filet, it may be a couple hours or overnight, but you'll know the salmon is ready once the meat starts to feel firm to the touch. Rinse the filet off and get all the salt off of it. At this point air dry the filet (add seasoning if you wish) until it's tacky to the touch. Once it's tacky I throw it on the offset and start the temp around 180 degrees. Gradually bring the offset temperature up until the salmon internal is 140 degrees.

You can add teriyaki, maple syrup, etc to this process if you want a different end product than just a basic smoked salmon filet.

I have definitely gotten salmon that was too salty from brining and curing - that's a function of your kitchen procedure and not the recipe.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Broadly speaking, a brine is done by placing meat in salt water, a cure is done by placing meat in salt without extra liquid.

Brining is best for meats like chicken that tend to dry out in the cooking process. A thick pork chop is another good candidate for brining prior to hitting the grill. But for salmon, curing gives me the best end product consistently.

The reason salmon is so good smoked is that it has enough natural oils/fats in the meat to stand up to the curing/smoking process and still retain good flavor and texture. Keep your heat low and be patient while smoking it. If you're just starting out, try curing the salmon first - if somehow you are ending up with salmon that is too dry then go ahead and brine it.

My really basic procedure at the cabin in salmon season: take a fresh caught filet and put it in a ziploc with a 50/50 brown sugar and kosher salt mixture with peppercorns. Put enough in the ziploc to totally cover the filet. Depending on the thickness of the filet, it may be a couple hours or overnight, but you'll know the salmon is ready once the meat starts to feel firm to the touch. Rinse the filet off and get all the salt off of it. At this point air dry the filet (add seasoning if you wish) until it's tacky to the touch. Once it's tacky I throw it on the offset and start the temp around 180 degrees. Gradually bring the offset temperature up until the salmon internal is 140 degrees.

You can add teriyaki, maple syrup, etc to this process if you want a different end product than just a basic smoked salmon filet.

I have definitely gotten salmon that was too salty from brining and curing - that's a function of your kitchen procedure and not the recipe.

I always brine , chicken, turkey and pork. Adds moisture to white meat on turkey and chicken as well as on the pork. All of which can tend to be a little dry.

 

[william schmaltz]

Haven't heard that take before, what's your theory on that?

When I eat cold smoke, I want it to be firm and dryish. I just feel like dry brine does a better job on pulling moisture out and gives me what I'm looking for. I hit it with kosher salt, dill, and pepper and then wrap it tight with plastic wrap and stack it between a couple 9x13 for 36-48 hours. Then hit it with a cold smoke for a couple hours.

 

[william schmaltz]

Haven't heard that take before, what's your theory on that?

I let my hot smoke sit under a fan overnight to form a nice pellicle so it doesn't "bleed" the white protein during the smoke. So when I've tried to do it with a dry brine, it got too dry after that and a smoke. I do a rather simple kosher salt/brown sugar mixed with water brine for about 8-12 hours, let it sit under the fan overnight, and hit it with the hot smoke for 6ish hours the next day.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Did a 4:1 brown sugar to kosher salt wet brine with about 6 qts of water and then an unknown quantity of ice dumped in for 16 hours. Rinsed, seasoned and let the pellicle form for 2 hours. Smoked at 140 for 3 hours then upped to 175 then 200 to finish it to 140 over the next couple of hours. Pike Place Seafood seasoning on some, black pepper on the others. Finished some with local honey, some with maple syrup.

By far the best end result from my half dozen or so attempts. Probably don't need as much brown sugar in the brine, will probably do 3:1 in the future.

 

[Kobuk]

Question for those that make the nova lox. It's smoked salmon time and I want to also try making some nova lox. I tried a buddies and said he used dill but I couldn't taste it. I see that some recipes use dill, pepper and whatnot. My question is what spices seem to come through best? I might just go salt and brown sugar this first batch and try to get the process down. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[crows_nest]

I have only done dry brine and it always turned out great. Will try wet next time.


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