Quick smoked fish question

[7mmfan]

Do you guys like to put salmon in a cold smoker and heat it up, or preheat the smoker and put it in?

[NRA4LIFE]

I put mine in the smoker at 100 degrees (pre-heated) for 2 hours, then 140 for 2 more hours, then 175 for 2 more hours to finish it.  Turns out perfect every time.

[GUscottie]

I put mine in a pre-heated smoker for the temp and the time I have planned. Most of the time it is the same temp (+- 10-15 degrees)

[CP]

pre-heat & pre-smoke.  I want the smoke rolling when I put the fish in so no unwanted micro nasties get in it.

[7mmfan]

Alright. I fell kind of in the middle of all those. Turned it on, got the smoke going, put the fish in,  shut the door. It finished heating shortly after closing the door.

Making a big batch of squaw candy, first time trying it. Pretty excited!

[Alchase]

Alright. I fell kind of in the middle of all those. Turned it on, got the smoke going, put the fish in,  shut the door. It finished heating shortly after closing the door.

Making a big batch of squaw candy, first time trying it. Pretty excited!

For squaw candy, the brown sugar does the cooking for you, the smoke is just added flavor so pre-heating is not as important as if you are just plain smoking the salmon.

[fishngamereaper]

Alright. I fell kind of in the middle of all those. Turned it on, got the smoke going, put the fish in,  shut the door. It finished heating shortly after closing the door.

Making a big batch of squaw candy, first time trying it. Pretty excited!

For squaw candy, the brown sugar does the cooking for you, the smoke is just added flavor so pre-heating is not as important as if you are just plain smoking the salmon.

  Brown sugar with some salt and let sit out under a fan and air dry.  Cold smoke for an hr or so with alder.

[7mmfan]

What recipes have you guys used for squaw candy? Just curious for comparison.

[Alchase]

Two cups brown auger
One cup salt
Two tbls garlic powder
Two tbls onion powder
Two tbls mix black/white pepper
(I also add four tbls chili powder and four tbls cumin paprika if it is just for me, the heat with the sweet is awesome!)
Mix together

Lay salmon fillets on a cookie grate and rub liberally until completely coated.
You can not have too much rub.
Put in refrigerator over night (or until fish is firm to the touch).
Rinse well under cold water then pat dry.
Place in smoker skin side down and baste with pure maple syrup every hour.
Cold smoke to flavor, I usually go 4-6 hrs.
Apple, Alder, or cherry wood works great.
I tried Mesquite once, I liked it but it did have a quite strong smoke some may not like.

[Magnum_Willys]

Two cups brown auger
One cup salt
Two tbls garlic powder
Two tbls onion powder
Two tbls mix black/white pepper
(I also add four tbls chili powder and four tbls cumin paprika if it is just for me, the heat with the sweet is awesome!)
Mix together

Lay salmon fillets on a cookie grate and rub liberally until completely coated.
You can not have too much rub.
Put in refrigerator over night (or until fish is firm to the touch).
Rinse well under cold water then pat dry.
Place in smoker skin side down and baste with pure maple syrup every hour.
Cold smoke to flavor, I usually go 4-6 hrs.
Apple, Alder, or cherry wood works great.
I tried Mesquite once, I liked it but it did have a quite strong smoke some may not like.

Cold smoke ? I have a lil chief - what temp is cold smoke ? 150 you think ?  Do you smoke chips the whole time or go hour or so then just heat ?  Thank you for the recipe !

[Alchase]

Little Chief will work fine. Cold Smoke is anything under 90 degrees (roughly) so the meat does not cook.
Keep the smoke going, you can open up the vents to keep the heat down. It won't hurt if you can't keep the heat that low, it will just be a more jerkyish, LOL
The smoke time is totally subjective to your taste. I usually set my Bradley for 4 hours, but I have down 2 hours and as many as 6 hours. Each smoker is different, six was a little too much smoke for my taste.

When I had my Little Chief, I bought a single burner stove element and 4 feet of aluminum dryer vent hose and two dryer hose mounts, one for the box and one for the Little Chief.
Put the burner in a small box a few feet from the Little Chief and ran the dryer hose from the box to the bottom rear of the Little Chief just for when I wanted to do some cold smoking.
It worked great

[Magnum_Willys]

Thx !  Yea my Bradley finally died after untold years and Im back to lil chief.  Haven't decided what to upgrade to.

[Alchase]

Thx !  Yea my Bradley finally died after untold years and Im back to lil chief.  Haven't decided what to upgrade to.

That would be a tough choice, there are so many digital smokers to choose from now.
Call me lazy, but there is something to say for dialing up your temp and setting it for as much smoke as you want, then go watch football or what ever you wish until it is ready. No need to even open it unless you baste, LOL
When cooking with it I use a wireless bluetooth meat temp gage (iGrill2) I can control from an iPhone app, LOL

[GUscottie]

I'm in need of a new smoker...I'm leaning heavily towards the Traeger Pro 34.... I used a generic smoker for a few years and my squaw candy was a mixture of brown sugar, salt and water. I then rinsed the fish and smoked it on the lowest temp the machine would go (175 I believe) with the vent wide open for about 3 hours. Perfect for my taste

[Mudman]

I use the pellet grill.  It runs about  155 degrees on low smoke setting.  Apple pellet and brown sugar n spice recipe.

[hogslayer]

I just ran a batch of smoke salmon this weekend.  I went on the deep end and bought one of the really big/nice bradley.  I can't tell you guys how nice it is to set smoke time, set cook time, and temperature for both and not have to play with it.  I really like it.  6 racks high i can put quite a bit of stuff on there.  I did the basic brine of rock salt and brown sugar over night.  Washed and then put it in front of a fan for 1 hour ( most important part in my mind).  140 degrees for 3 hours.  Smoke the entire time.  Then hit 175 for one hour and done.

[Blacklab]

I pretty much hot smoke salmon till internal temp is 150-155. Preheated smoker 225. Never have tried squaw fish.

[quadrafire]

I pretty much hot smoke salmon till internal temp is 150-155. Preheated smoker 225. Never have tried squaw fish.

Pretty sure they are using salmon with the recipe for squaw candy. Not using squaw fish.

[Alchase]

I pretty much hot smoke salmon till internal temp is 150-155. Preheated smoker 225. Never have tried squaw fish.

Pretty sure they are using salmon with the recipe for squaw candy. Not using squaw fish.

Eew, squaw fish! 
That would be totally nasty!

LOL

I just ran a batch of smoke salmon this weekend.  I went on the deep end and bought one of the really big/nice bradley.  I can't tell you guys how nice it is to set smoke time, set cook time, and temperature for both and not have to play with it.  I really like it.  6 racks high i can put quite a bit of stuff on there.  I did the basic brine of rock salt and brown sugar over night.  Washed and then put it in front of a fan for 1 hour ( most important part in my mind).  140 degrees for 3 hours.  Smoke the entire time.  Then hit 175 for one hour and done.

They have me spoiled as well. Buy yourself a good wireless meat thermometer for when you want to smoke/cook to a certain internal temp.
Here is the one I have, it was rated no.1 in the reviews a couple years ago

igrill2 - bluetooth
https://www.amazon.com/iDevices-iGrill2-IGR0009P5-Bluetooth-Thermometer/dp/B00NC4KU42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502815264&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=igrill2+bluetooth+thermometer&psc=1

[Blacklab]

lol I wouldn't eat squaw fish either   

[WSU]

Make sure to rinse the brine off and try a much longer trying period.  I did that my last few batches after reading Tom Nelson's info on outdoor line.  It's worth the wait IMO.

[Alchase]

Make sure to rinse the brine off and try a much longer trying period.  I did that my last few batches after reading Tom Nelson's info on outdoor line.  It's worth the wait IMO.

 
Good advice here!

I ran two smoke loads a couple years ago, first one I allowed to completely dry.
The second I rushed it, and did not allow the salmon to dry after brine rinsing.
There was a serious difference in how the texture came out. It does not sound like much, but comparing the two batches side by side, the one I was patient with had better taste, better texture, and the one I hurried had a little mushyness that the other did not.

[Mudman]

Great tips.  I also second waiting for it to dry and form that film skin thing it does.  I learned hard way as well.  The fan idea is great. I will try that next time!