I used the last of the smoked salmon I had on hand at the Michigan convention, so I needed to do up some more for future salmon cheese balls. I've had folks ask how I do it, so I figured I'd show it. I don't have a fancy smoker, just a Little Chief, but it does a good job. I use wild caught sockeye salmon.

First I put a layer of brine mixture on the bottom of the dish. Brine mixture is nothing more than pickling salt, white sugar and brown sugar. Then I lay the pieces skin down in the dish. Next step is to put brine mixture on the flesh side of the pieces as shown below.


Then I put it in the refrigerator to sit over night. I applied the brine last night. This is what it looked like this morning.


Then I turn the pieces over and brine the skin side. I put it back in the refrigerator for another 8 hours. Next I rinse the pieces well in cold water. I pat them dry and put them on a drying rack for a couple of hours.


Once they are dry and have a dull finish to the flesh, I put them in the smoker. I use alder for the chips.


I smoked them for about three hours replacing the chips ever hour. The only thing left to do is to seal them for the freezer. That's all there is to iit.

Awesome,boss! Thanks for sharing.

Smoked tones of tuna. Nothing needed but brown sugar and salt. Smoke with oak.

Thanks, looks great I will have to try that.

That looks delicious.

I used the same smoker almost 50 years ago.
Worked great for 30 years and the burner cover rusted out.
Used it to make my deer jerky .
Was a favorite of the local jerky makers , they made a snack , I made a staple.
Could keep it dry and eatable for years.
Used a small fan to blow air from the bottom out the top for jerky.
Just enough to move the air.

I used a different recipe for salmon , but yours sounds like it would be great.

Your post last night about the walleye got me to thinking about those salmon cheese balls! Those things are the bomb!

Do you use that smoker for anything else? I'm leary of using mine for fish. I've heard everything you smoke afterwords will taste fishy.

Also do have any idea the temperature in the smoker when you're smoking them?

Salmon looks great. I had a fella one time send me some smoked salmon that had been canned after smoking in 1/2 pint jars with sweet baby rays bbq sauce. It was the best I have ever eaten.

That looks amazing. Thanks for sharing. Interested to know if the fish smell lingers.

Thank you Boss. We are getting ready to move to Wisconsin so I may need another lesson next year.

Makes me want to head to Lake Michigan fishing

165 Internal temperature, and no the smoker smells like smoke , not fish.
There's no fish taste in other smoked products.

Lots of smoked fish of all kinds are canned.

Yep, just brown sugar and salt. Try smoking with old, dry, punky cottonwood; you'll never go back to alder, apple-wood, etc..

Also, if you air-dry them a little more, and keep the initial heat down a little more, you won't get that yellowish ooze. That's just esthetics though, I'll bet they taste great.

They do taste great. I've been doing it like this for years and it makes for some delicious smoked salmon cheese balls. I started doing it after Hupurest wasn't able to send me anymore of his smoked salmon. The did tell me how he did it though, and I pretty much follow his recipe.

Smoking salmon is all I've ever used it for. Although when I drag it out of storage to use it, all I smell from the inside is a smokey aroma, no fishy aroma.

I've heard that about oil too, but I reuse mine for everything, and haven't had a single complaint from my wife who won't eat fish unless you can buy it in a box. I really can't taste the difference either. Smoking should cover it even more, I would think.

Salmon is a strong fish, ive always wondered about smoking our tamer fish, and what they would be like.

fresh salmon is very very mild. whitefish smoke up well