Hi Guys,

I have been smoking salmon for a while now, and it seems I’m still
missing something. I do get excellent results, but every now and then
it does not turn out the way I expected.

Problem: salmon is “done” (150 F) but to moist and did not pick up a
lot of smoke.

This is what I did:
Half a salmon with skin. 1.7 kg
Brine for 2 hours (1 gallon of water, 1,5 cups of salt, 1 cup of brown
sugar)
Air dry for one hour
Place the salmon on a trough away platter (to prevent sticking to the
grate)
Place salmon with platter in the smoker
Smoker uses wood only
Added damp wood dust to add extra smoke
Smoke with oak till fish has an internal temp of 140-155 F.
The smoker has a temp between 175-212 F.


Yesterday the salmon got to 155 F in less then 2 hours. Since the rest
of the diner was not don yet, brought the temp down to 160 F and let
the fish in the smoker. I was surprised. It usually takes around 2.5
hours to reach that temp. in my opinion 155F is to high, I expected
the fish to dry out. This case, the fish was done, but still way to
moist.

• I checked the thermometer, both (internal and external) where OK
• The platter might have a negative effect, the downside of the fish
is not surrounded by air/smoke. Yet, I have smoked salmon this way
with excellent results
• One hour to air dry the salmon might not have been enough. The fish
was not “sticky” when it went into the smoker. But then again,
sometime I do not even air dry the fish, but just pat it dry with a
paper towel.
• The fish might have had to much liquid to start (it was not wild
salmon). maybe dry salting the fish might do a better job?

Do you guys have any idea what want wrong? Im thinking of the
following:
• Do not use plate (not really an option in my case)
• Dry salt the fish
• Let the fish dry for 24 hours in the fridge

Thanks for your help

Adriaan
The Netherlands