Thanks Bob. I've printed it off and will work with it over the summer.

I have been doing to much time!!!! According to this thickness sheet.

"Bob in socal" > wrote in message
...
> A few days ago there was some dicussion about brining fish
> for smoking. The question was regarding the fish being too
> salty. I ran across this while surfing and thought it might
> offer some clues as to how to brine and for how long to
> immerse it. While no mention is made as to smoking temp
> the brine immersion time vs. thickness of the fish is a good
> starting point for those who want to do it.
>
> Bob in socal..
>
>
>
> Smoking salmon
>
> Don't know how to make a brine for smoking? OK, here it is:
>
> USE PICKLING SALT - NO IODINE! Use glass, ceramic, or stainless
> container.
>
> Make a basic brine mix:
> 36 oz. (4.5 cups) Pickling Salt (1120 ml)
> 12 oz. (1.5 cups) Sugar (white or brown) (370 ml)
> 128 oz. Water ( 4 l )
>
>
> Add your own spices from this list or as you like:
>
> Bay leaf
> Pepper
> Mrs. Dash
> Mace
> Allspice
> Clove
> Juniper Berries
>
> Simmer the spices in the brine for 45 minues, and then strain the
> brine through a cloth.
>
> Throw the spent spices away.
>
> Cool the brine and keep it cool (50 degrees F or 10 degrees C)
>
> Brine your fish as follows (don't over-brine or it will taste too
> salty):
>
> Thickness Time
> 3/8 inches 12 minutes
> 1/2 inches 24 minutes
> 3/4 inches 50 minutes
> 1 inch 65 minutes
> 1.25 inches 1.5 hours
> 1.5 inches 2 hours
> 2 inches 3 hours
> 3 inches 5 hours
>
>
> Drain the fish before smoking.
>
> Keep a careful record of your process and time so you can adjust the
> next batch if
> needed.
>
> As for smoking it......... I just air dry it an hour or so (to form
> the pellicle), then stick on my Little Chef Smoker's rack (a little no
> stick PAM or somesuch helps the cleanup).
>
> Not elegant, but it works.
>
> In cold weather I put a box around my smoker to keep it warmer.
>
> I usually use just a couple of pans of chips - maybe an hour and a
> half of actual smoke, and leave the fish in the smoker 8-12 hours
> depending on how dry I want it.
>
> Keep refrigerated or frozen and enjoy!

I agree with Swertz, though I use half that, 1oz/quart, and 2oz
sugar/quart.
I think smoking temp. is important.
BTW, CostCo has the best price on Norwegian smoked salmon.
It's become my nightly hordeurve.
Kent

Steve Wertz wrote:
>
> On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 18:43:15 GMT, Bob in socal
> > wrote:
>
> >Make a basic brine mix:
> >36 oz. (4.5 cups) Pickling Salt (1120 ml)
> >12 oz. (1.5 cups) Sugar (white or brown) (370 ml)
> >128 oz. Water ( 4 l )
>
> Ouch. That's definitely too salty. 4.5 cups salt to 1 gallon of
> water? I use a little over a cup salt to 1 gallon for fish.
>
> > Thickness Time
> > 3/8 inches 12 minutes
> > 1/2 inches 24 minutes
> > 3/4 inches 50 minutes
> > 1 inch 65 minutes
> > 1.25 inches 1.5 hours
> > 1.5 inches 2 hours
> > 2 inches 3 hours
> > 3 inches 5 hours
>
> And throw away the time table. Let your fish brine slowly in a
> much weaker brine for more consistent results.
>
> -sw

I encourage salmon eaters to look for wild-caught salmon and avoid the
farmed stuff. Farmed Atlantic salmon causes serious environmental damage,
and doesn't taste nearly as good as the real stuff:

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodw...eet.asp?fid=56

I miss the great salmon dishes that I worked on, including gravlax and
hot-smoked salmon with honey and peppercorns, but in order to preserve
fisheries for the future, please take up the challenge of working with
sustainable and environmentally sound fisheries:

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodw...w_regional.asp

Thanks
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"Bob in socal" > wrote in message
...
> A few days ago there was some dicussion about brining fish
> for smoking. The question was regarding the fish being too
> salty. I ran across this while surfing and thought it might
> offer some clues as to how to brine and for how long to
> immerse it. While no mention is made as to smoking temp
> the brine immersion time vs. thickness of the fish is a good
> starting point for those who want to do it.
>
> Bob in socal..
>
>
>
> Smoking salmon
>
> Don't know how to make a brine for smoking? OK, here it is:
>
> USE PICKLING SALT - NO IODINE! Use glass, ceramic, or stainless
> container.
>
> Make a basic brine mix:
> 36 oz. (4.5 cups) Pickling Salt (1120 ml)
> 12 oz. (1.5 cups) Sugar (white or brown) (370 ml)
> 128 oz. Water ( 4 l )
>
>
> Add your own spices from this list or as you like:
>
> Bay leaf
> Pepper
> Mrs. Dash
> Mace
> Allspice
> Clove
> Juniper Berries
>
> Simmer the spices in the brine for 45 minues, and then strain the
> brine through a cloth.
>
> Throw the spent spices away.
>
> Cool the brine and keep it cool (50 degrees F or 10 degrees C)
>
> Brine your fish as follows (don't over-brine or it will taste too
> salty):
>
> Thickness Time
> 3/8 inches 12 minutes
> 1/2 inches 24 minutes
> 3/4 inches 50 minutes
> 1 inch 65 minutes
> 1.25 inches 1.5 hours
> 1.5 inches 2 hours
> 2 inches 3 hours
> 3 inches 5 hours
>
>
> Drain the fish before smoking.
>
> Keep a careful record of your process and time so you can adjust the
> next batch if
> needed.
>
> As for smoking it......... I just air dry it an hour or so (to form
> the pellicle), then stick on my Little Chef Smoker's rack (a little no
> stick PAM or somesuch helps the cleanup).
>
> Not elegant, but it works.
>
> In cold weather I put a box around my smoker to keep it warmer.
>
> I usually use just a couple of pans of chips - maybe an hour and a
> half of actual smoke, and leave the fish in the smoker 8-12 hours
> depending on how dry I want it.
>
> Keep refrigerated or frozen and enjoy!

Louis Cohen wrote:

> I encourage salmon eaters to look for wild-caught salmon and avoid the
> farmed stuff. Farmed Atlantic salmon causes serious environmental damage,
> and doesn't taste nearly as good as the real stuff:
>

I've lived in Utah and Maryland, and in both places, when I bought what
the stores advertised as "wild Pacific salmon" I got a product near on
to rotting, with unreliable cooking properties. Oddly, I've had the same
experience when I bought Alaskan salmon marketed as "flash-frozen", and
still frozen when I bought it. I even e-mailed one outfit, asking them
what variety of salmon the very fancy cryovac with their logo contained,
and did not suffer the indignity of receiving a reply. My experience
with farm-raised Atlantic salmon has been much better: consistently
fresh product with excellent flavor and cooking properties. I'm just
looking at it from a cooking point of view.

I've caught and eaten fresh Rogue River, Oregon, Salmon. Good stuff. Not
going to show up on your supermarket shelf next week.

I'm tempted to take the political bait, and point out that
environmentalists were saying a few years ago, and will say again in the
future, that the harvest of wild pacific salmon at levels which lead to
its availability at current prices is leading to the near extinction of
some salmon in some river basins - and that may be a valid
consideration. That probably belongs on another newsgroup.