salmon question

[PreacherRodgers]

i went fishing yesterday and brought home 6 kokonee salmon.

so i read through the fish threads to check brine, temps ect...
some of the times for brining were overnight, 12 hours and as short as 1 1/2 hours

i don't have any idea if i want to wet or dry brine / cure these fish
all the other times i have done fish they have just gone onto the smoker 225 and smoked until done (i try not to complicate thing)

i was hoping someone could explain why the brine / cure times varried so

P.S. i'm going back tomorrow hopefully i'll get the pics

[Bbqgoddess]

Great questions Preacher, I am not that well versed in salmon...
E the salmon king should be on in a bit and he has a KILLER brine for salmon.....
Logically, I would think... that it would depend on what you wanted for your final product. Like Alex did with the lox post, that was a dry cure as he was trying to get moisture out of the fish for his final product. but again, I am not versed in sea kittens, YET!

[Richtee]

i was hoping someone could explain why the brine / cure times varried so

Good question. I can't see a 1.5 hour brine doing much of what a brine is supposed to do- help preserve the meat and remove moisture.

Dry brine is preferred by me because again, you want to 'condense" the meat for smoking. I have used T.Q., and salt- Salt for a warm/hot smoke, TQ for cold. I follow the dry brine, wrap, weight, rinse, allow to develop pellicle method.

[PreacherRodgers]

what do the wet and dry brines do differently, or is it just a different way to do the same thing

[Richtee]

In my opinion, a wet brine is more for infusing flavors into meats than a dry is. Wet brines seem to be used for the bigger cuts, with the exception of jerky.

Sooo..mainly it's a matter of what I have learned and seen. Dry brine salmon, draw out moisture. Same thing with say...zucchini slices before frying.

[Fishawn]

I have smoked a lot of salmon, steelhead & trout for about 30 years now. I used to wet brine everything. About 15 years ago my father in law & I got into the "discussion" about wet & dry brines. He convinced me to try dry brining & I have never gone back. We use straight Kosher or Rock salt. On an average size filet off a 6-16 Pound fish, I will put on a thick layer of the salt, put it in the fridge for about 1.5 -2 hours, remove & rinse well. I then pat it dry with paper towels then it sits in front of a fan for about an hour.

Then into a 160* smoker, using ALDER or VINE MAPLE, ocasssionally HICKORY. Now with doing trout you want to cut the time in the salt down to about 1 hour.

I just did this chunk of Coho last night & put on a maple syrup, brown sugar & jalapeno glaze near the end of smoking. Which I now see the bag has lost its seal, oh well it's going to be eaten in about 5 hours......

[Richtee]

We use straight Kosher or Rock salt. On an average size filet off a 6-16 Pound fish, I will put on a thick layer of the salt, put it in the fridge for about 1.5 -2 hours, remove & rinse well. I then pat it dry with paper towels then it sits in front of a fan for about an hour.

Sooo Fish- you figger it's like brining as well... where the concentration of salt affects time in? I use a light coat of Kosher salt/brown sugar- just enough to "see" on each hunk...and wrap and weight down for about 12 hours.

End up pouring quite a bit of moisture off.... as I assume you do to...with the higher concentrations you use?

And you do know that rock salt- unless made for food use...is not really clean or pure?

[PitRow]

here's the way I see it... the object of a brine is to draw salt and various spices and flavors into a cut of meat using Osmosis (where the salt level in solution tries to equalize itself inside and out of the meat).

If you start with a dry brine, you first need a liquid for the salt to dissolve into so osmosis can happen. It does this by drawing the natural juices out of the meat, which then combine with the salt, and then are drawn back into the meat along with the salt and spices/flavors.

When you start with a wet brine, you've already dissolved the salt in water so osmosis can start right away. However you're now drawing water into the meat along with the salt/spice/flavors. At some point the meat can only hold so much liquid, yet osmosis needs to continue until the salt levels are stabilized, so some of the natural juices must be displaced by the salt water for that to happen.

So for me... I dry brine because more of the natural juices are retained.

I don't know if that's actually what's happening, but ever since I switched from a wet to a dry brine more people have commented on how good my salmon is than before.

[Fishawn]

Rich, I think your method & my method probably end up doing about the same thing to the fish. I go more concentrated on the salt for a shorter length of time & you go lighter on the salt for a longer length. And the brown sugar addition you mentioned is great too.

Yes, I do end up with moisture removed from the fish, even after only a little while you can see it starting to pull out of the fish.

As far as the rock salt being safe, honestly I have only used it when smoking fish with him @ his place, I have always use Kosher Salt. He did say something about his fish catching buddies down on the Columbia getting it for him & it came in a HUGE bag. He's still kicking, so it just might be the right stuff. Thanks for the "heads up" on that, I will ask him.

[Richtee]

buddies down on the Columbia getting it for him & it came in a HUGE bag. He's still kicking, so it just might be the right stuff. Thanks for the "heads up" on that, I will ask him.

Don't worry about it. We don't eat enough dirt for our own good anyway ;{)

[Richtee]

I don't know if that's actually what's happening, but ever since I switched from a wet to a dry brine more people have commented on how good my salmon is than before.

My call is you are pulling excess moisture out of the meat, then by allowing the pellicle to form (further surface drying) you avoid a "mushy/soggy" texture, you get more the flaky/firm kind. Right?

[Slanted88]

Interesting....Louie is the Salmon eater...I smoke da slice & drink Beer. Have done both. I prefer dry, she also use's a brine with ginger....gotta admit I like it also.

[Richtee]

Mainly we're talking general brine/cure principles here- spices to try? Ginger, onion, garlic, dill, LOTS of CBP, lemon, lime, etc....

[PreacherRodgers]

i appreciate the "principles" discussion it is good to know what to do but it is better to know why

i'll get started tomorrow after i get back. hopefully with more fish and some pics
thanks for the imput