Smoked Salmon Recipe help - too salty!

I'm getting better on smoked salmon, but I"m really struggling to get the salt down.
The basic recipe I'm using is 48 hours in 1 part salt, 1 part sugar, rinse thoroughly, dry to pellicle, then on the smoker at 220 until internal temp of 140 degrees (generally about 4 hours).
I read online that if the result is too salty, then rinse more thoroughly. I thought I did a very thorough rinse on this last batch, but it is nearly inedible
Before referring me to the search function, I've done that.
I tried the Ina Garten cold smoke (gravlax) recipe referred to. Do you notice that the salmon is brined and not rinsed before slicing and serving?  I had to throw out 3 lbs of over salty salmon following that recipe!

Also the internal temp of 140 is new. I used to just smoke for 3 hours and call it good. I think internal temp was probably 110 or so. That batch turned moldy in a week....

Help! Is there way to make the final result MUCH less salty and-
-what is the appropriate internal temperature for smoking? and-
- do you really transfer gravlax from brine to serving plate with no rinsing?

Thanks guys.
Tight lines.
ej

If you want to try a wet brine. I like this simple one.

1/4 cup salt to 4 cups water.

You can add what you like to that or just stick to the purist approach.
 
Brine in fridge for 6-10 hours. Thorough rinse.
Pat dry, place on raised cookie  rack or whatever you’ve got to encourage the airflow and help form your pellicle. 4-12 hours in the fridge depending on size of fillets.

I then apply a dry rub of salt, brown sugar (equal parts) cracked black pepper garlic salt and ancho Chile powder.

In the Bradley at 180 for 2-3 hours, then 200 for another 1-2 hours for a nice hot smoke.

I like that dry rub recipe.  A lot quicker to the tummy 🎣🐟😋👍

I follow the same recipe and steps for smoking my salmon as I do for sturgeon. Just did a batch yesterday and it was perfect! Skip to 4:20 for the brine/smoking portion of the video


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Fish smoking brine recipes each have a different concentration of salt, and thus they each require that fish be soaked in them for a different period of time.  Thick pieces of fish have to be soaked in a brine longer than thin pieces of fish.  And different species of fish soak up brine at different speeds.  If the author of a fish smoking brine recipe specifies that a specific species and size of fish be soaked in that brine for a specific number of hours, the first couple of times that you try that recipe, you can follow the author's instructions about the length of time to soak your fish.  But learning how to get the best results from a particular fish smoking brine can require quite a bit of trial and error. Be sure to keep good notes about the kind of fish you smoked, the length of time that you soaked it in the brine, and how you liked the results, or you won't learn from your experiences, and will keep getting lousy results.

I reduce the amount of trial and error required to get good results from fish brine recipes by adjusting the concentration of salt in all of the recipes I use to 60 degrees Salometer.  This produces a fairly salty brine, so I don't need to soak fish in my brines very long.  For example, here are some typical brining times for my 60 degree Salometer recipes:

9"-11" kokanee fillets - 1 hour 30 minutess
14"-17" rainbow fillets -  2 hours 15 minutes
15"-18" kokanee fillets - 2 hours 45 minutes
20"-26" lake trout fillets, cut into pieces - 3 hours 20 minutes

I soak fillets or pieces of fillets in brine in ziplock bags with all the air squeezed out, and periodically flip the bags over and squeeze them to stir up the brine and fish.  Then I drain the brine out of the bags and put the fish on smoker racks in front of a fan for an hour to form a pelicle (i.e. dry out the surface of the fish).  I don't wipe or rinse off the fish, as this creates variability and uncertainty in the saltiness of the fish. I put pieces of fish of similar thickness on each smoker rack, so I can take the thinner pieces of fish out of the smoker sooner.  For example, I put the front halves of fillets on one rack, and the tail half of fillets on a different rack.  I bring smoked fish to an internal temperature of 150 degrees for at least half an hour.  When the fish has reached an amount of dryness and flakiness which I consider desirable, I take it out of the smoker and let it cool and dry off on plates in my refrigerator.  With larger smoked fish, the pin bones will be sticking up out of the meat, and I grab them with tweezers and pull them out.  Then I vacuum pack and freeze the pieces of smoked fish.

Shown below are pictures from a recent batch of smoked lake trout.

Fish smoking brine recipes each have a different concentration of salt, and thus they each require that fish be soaked in them for a different period of time.  Thick pieces of fish have to be soaked in a brine longer than thin pieces of fish.  And different species of fish soak up brine at different speeds.  If the author of a fish smoking brine recipe specifies that a specific species and size of fish be soaked in that brine for a specific number of hours, the first couple of times that you try that recipe, you can follow the author's instructions about the length of time to soak your fish.  But learning how to get the best results from a particular fish smoking brine can require quite a bit of trial and error. Be sure to keep good notes about the kind of fish you smoked, the length of time that you soaked it in the brine, and how you liked the results, or you won't learn from your experiences, and will keep getting lousy results.

I reduce the amount of trial and error required to get good results from fish brine recipes by adjusting the concentration of salt in all of the recipes I use to 60 degrees Salometer.  This produces a fairly salty brine, so I don't need to soak fish in my brines very long.  For example, here are some typical brining times for my 60 degree Salometer recipes:

9"-11" kokanee fillets - 1 hour 30 minutess
14"-17" rainbow fillets -  2 hours 15 minutes
15"-18" kokanee fillets - 2 hours 45 minutes
20"-26" lake trout fillets, cut into pieces - 3 hours 20 minutes

I soak fillets or pieces of fillets in brine in ziplock bags with all the air squeezed out, and periodically flip the bags over and squeeze them to stir up the brine and fish.  Then I drain the brine out of the bags and put the fish on smoker racks in front of a fan for an hour to form a pelicle (i.e. dry out the surface of the fish).  I don't wipe or rinse off the fish, as this creates variability and uncertainty in the saltiness of the fish. I put pieces of fish of similar thickness on each smoker rack, so I can take the thinner pieces of fish out of the smoker sooner.  For example, I put the front halves of fillets on one rack, and the tail half of fillets on a different rack.  I bring smoked fish to an internal temperature of 150 degrees for at least half an hour.  When the fish has reached an amount of dryness and flakiness which I consider desirable, I take it out of the smoker and let it cool and dry off on plates in my refrigerator.  With larger smoked fish, the pin bones will be sticking up out of the meat, and I grab them with tweezers and pull them out.  Then I vacuum pack and freeze the pieces of smoked fish.

Shown below are pictures from a recent batch of smoked lake trout.

Wow! That’s a lot of good information.

I've been using much more sugar - it has curing properties too, like salt.

3.5 parts dark brown sugar to 1 part salt.  Layer it with the meat, and within a few hours the plastic bowl full of salmon, salt and sugar will be a soup because of the moisture it pulls out of the fish.  I rinse it well after brining - every piece is rubbed down under cold running water.  I let the pellicle form, crack some pepper on there and smoke in the Big Chief overnight.  I take it out when it looks done.  Then I put it in the fridge for a day or more in a Ziploc - that seems to even it all out.  Then it gets sealed up with the Food Saver and can live in the fridge or the freezer.

I ran short of dark brown sugar on a batch last summer and used some molasses.  When I took the fish out of the brine and rinsed it, I smelled a piece and it reeked of molasses!  I thought I'd ruined it, but when all was said and done it was some of my best ever. 

Throw some molasses in there too.

 

I usually go for about 3 parts dark brown sugar one part kosher salt in my dry brine, but I don’t let it sit for more than 12 hrs or so. 48 hours is a long time!

Also, make sure you’re using kosher salt (not table salt). I tried a batch with non-iodized table salt about a month ago when I couldn’t buy kosher (thanks, Covid...). I knew table salt was saltier than kosher so I did almost 4 parts sugar to one part salt. Final product is OK, but still much saltier than I like. Rather than gobbling up big chunks of it, we’ve been cooking with it or just flaking a little on our bagels and cream cheese, etc.


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Also, make sure you’re using kosher salt (not table salt). I tried a batch with non-iodized table salt about a month ago when I couldn’t buy kosher (thanks, Covid...). I knew table salt was saltier than kosher so I did almost 4 parts sugar to one part salt. Final product is OK, but still much saltier than I like.

The primary difference between different kinds of salt is the size and shape of the salt grains.  A cup of kosher salt weighs less than a cup of table salt (i.e. it contains less sodium cloride) because kosher salt has larger and more irregular grains.  Because of this issue, it's best to specify the quantity of salt in a recipe by weight, rather than by volume.  There is a conversion chart for various kinds of salt at https://www.mortonsalt.com/article/salt-conversion-chart/.  For example, the following quantities of different kinds of salt all weigh the same:

Table salt - 1 cup
Coarse kosher salt - 1 and a quarter cup
Fine sea salt - 1 cup + 1 teaspoon
Coarse sea salt - 1 cup + 1/2 teaspoon (is this an error in the chart?)
Fine Himalayan pink salt - 1 cup + 4 teaspoons
Coarse Himalayan pink salt - 1 cup + 2 tablespoons
Canning and pickling salt - 1 cup

Because of this issue, it's best to specify the quantity of salt in a recipe by weight, rather than by volume.  Salinity tables for creating brines with various concentrations of salt specify the quantity of salt by weight. See, for example, the excellent article on making brines at https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-making/curing/making-brine and the Oregon State University publication "Preparation of Salt Brines for the Fishing Industry, by K. S. Hilderbrand, Jr., which is available at https://seafood.oregonstate.edu/sites/agscid7/files/snic/preparation-of-salt-brines.pdf. 

To convert salt volume to salt weight, you can find separate converters on the internet for various kinds of salt.

I like a wet brine as well...there is a process called refreshing that I do for cold no smoke lox...when you’re done brining you run cold water over the salmon for up to 4 hours to draw the salt back out.  You taste it along the way to find your salt preference.  I’ve thrown out over salted salmon until I found this technique.  For smoked I soak overnight only, 2 days is a lot for the size fillets we’re talking about...

Also, make sure you’re using kosher salt (not table salt). I tried a batch with non-iodized table salt about a month ago when I couldn’t buy kosher (thanks, Covid...). I knew table salt was saltier than kosher so I did almost 4 parts sugar to one part salt. Final product is OK, but still much saltier than I like.

The primary difference between different kinds of salt is the size and shape of the salt grains.  A cup of kosher salt weighs less than a cup of table salt (i.e. it contains less sodium cloride) because kosher salt has larger and more irregular grains.  Because of this issue, it's best to specify the quantity of salt in a recipe by weight, rather than by volume.  There is a conversion chart for various kinds of salt at https://www.mortonsalt.com/article/salt-conversion-chart/.  For example, the following quantities of different kinds of salt all weigh the same:

Table salt - 1 cup
Coarse kosher salt - 1 and a quarter cup
Fine sea salt - 1 cup + 1 teaspoon
Coarse sea salt - 1 cup + 1/2 teaspoon (is this an error in the chart?)
Fine Himalayan pink salt - 1 cup + 4 teaspoons
Coarse Himalayan pink salt - 1 cup + 2 tablespoons
Canning and pickling salt - 1 cup

Because of this issue, it's best to specify the quantity of salt in a recipe by weight, rather than by volume.  Salinity tables for creating brines with various concentrations of salt specify the quantity of salt by weight. See, for example, the excellent article on making brines at https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-making/curing/making-brine and the Oregon State University publication "Preparation of Salt Brines for the Fishing Industry, by K. S. Hilderbrand, Jr., which is available at https://seafood.oregonstate.edu/sites/agscid7/files/snic/preparation-of-salt-brines.pdf. 

To convert salt volume to salt weight, you can find separate converters on the internet for various kinds of salt.

Yes, I forgot about that salt study, diamond kosher has a consistent salt to recipe measurement.

For hot smoking salmonids, I always use a wet brine.  The recipe I use also includes wine in the brine. I've never tried any side-by-side comparison with and without it, but I do know that alcohol has very different properties for dissolving things and denaturing proteins than water for anything related to cooking.  So, even after any alcohol is "burned off" during any cooking process it has a different effect.

Anyway, the ratios I use are:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup non-iodized salt
1 cup wine (usually white)
1 cup water
2 cups soy sauce (clearly this is a big source of salt as well)
1-3 ts of whatever spices I might have on hand such as onion/garlic powder, black pepper, hot sauce

I've let them soak in the brine anywhere from 12-48 hours depending on if I remember to prep everything ahead of time.  I used to be concerned that longer soaking would be too salty, but it hasn't been a problem.

smoking time depends on temp.

Another thing that I've started to do is vacuum sealing the fish when it's still a bit warm if I expect to freeze it for longer-term storage.  Seems to retain moisture better when it's later thawed vs. letting it cool down completely.