In the vein of BBQ Engineer's salmon brine throwdown thread I submit my own throwdown. Sorry not much in the way of pictures though.
I've had a couple fillets of sockeye in the freezer for a couple months now, since about the same time as Rich announced the Mad Hunky Salmon Brine, which I of course had purchased as soon as it became available. I haven't had much time to work on these kind of things lately, but this weekend the stars aligned just right and allowed me to do this.
So, I set up to do a taste test between the Mad Hunky brine and mine. Now for a little background smoked salmon is pretty common around here, since the days of native americans who'd dip net salmon from the local rivers and preserve them with smoke and fire. When you say 'smoked salmon' here what comes to mind is pretty much salmon jerky, or salmon candy if you will. It tends to run on the sweeter side, though not always. However if you buy store bought stuff around here more often than not it will have some sweetness to it. In that vein my standard brine is 4 parts brown sugar to 1 part pickling salt (by volume) with some garlic thrown in for good measure. I think I have a thread on here about my method, I'll see if I can find it and spare you that read here. [Edit to add:] OK, so I guess I've never made a thread here, but there's one over on Taz's Foods of the World Forum if you want to see how I it.
I followed the directions for the MH brine to the letter, except that I didn't quite get the 24-hour brine time it called for. Was more like 21 hours.
Typically I don't use cure in my salmon, but just to try to keep a level playing field I did add 1 TBSP of tenderquick that was sprinkled over my salmon before being packed in the brine.
When removed from the brine there were a couple differences. First, mine had pulled quite a bit of juice from the flesh, which is typical, but the MH brine hadn't. The flesh on mine was quite firm, but the MH was still pretty soft. Mine had it's typically deep red color, which is probably a combination of being more dehydrated, and the brown sugar on the surface. The MH was still fairly pale in comparison. Almost the same color it had gone into the brine as.
Into the smoker they went. I had a tough time controlling the temps because the weather was all over the place. It'd be sunny for a while, then dumping buckets of snow and blustering winds. I even had to make a small wind-break from my garbage cans and a piece of plywood. I was aiming for around 150 in the smoker but it ended up anywhere between 120-ish and 177 was the highest I saw. Anyway they spent 8 hours over cherry and were not quite finished when I decided to pull them and put them in the convection oven at 160. After about 45 minutes in there they were up to 145 internal and done to my liking.
Here's what they looked like after coming out of the oven. MH on top, mine on bottom.
They were both pretty firm at this point, though the Mad Hunky had a little more give to it when pressed in the thicker parts. Mine seemed to have a slightly more oily surface which quite possibly is due to being more firm to start with and ending up more dried, causing the oil to come out more. The colors seem to have evened out as well.
Now for the taste test!
My impressions were that mine is definitely firmer and drier, jerky-esque if you will, where the MH is a little more moist and flakey. The MH is a little more fish-forward where the flavor of the fish comes through very nicely and compliments the spices from the brine very well. Mine is more on the sweet and salty side. You get a hit of sweet right off the start and then a nice salty/fishy finish. The MH has a bit of honey sweetness at first but it's on the subtle side, followed by the fish flavor with the herbs and spices. Overall it's very well balanced. I enjoyed them both very much, and I'm glad to have the Mad Hunky salmon brine in my arsenal. Once again, an outstanding product from the Mad Hunky.
My lunch today consists of a piece of each type of salmon with some horseradish to go with them.
I've had a couple fillets of sockeye in the freezer for a couple months now, since about the same time as Rich announced the Mad Hunky Salmon Brine, which I of course had purchased as soon as it became available. I haven't had much time to work on these kind of things lately, but this weekend the stars aligned just right and allowed me to do this.
So, I set up to do a taste test between the Mad Hunky brine and mine. Now for a little background smoked salmon is pretty common around here, since the days of native americans who'd dip net salmon from the local rivers and preserve them with smoke and fire. When you say 'smoked salmon' here what comes to mind is pretty much salmon jerky, or salmon candy if you will. It tends to run on the sweeter side, though not always. However if you buy store bought stuff around here more often than not it will have some sweetness to it. In that vein my standard brine is 4 parts brown sugar to 1 part pickling salt (by volume) with some garlic thrown in for good measure. I think I have a thread on here about my method, I'll see if I can find it and spare you that read here. [Edit to add:] OK, so I guess I've never made a thread here, but there's one over on Taz's Foods of the World Forum if you want to see how I it.
I followed the directions for the MH brine to the letter, except that I didn't quite get the 24-hour brine time it called for. Was more like 21 hours.
Typically I don't use cure in my salmon, but just to try to keep a level playing field I did add 1 TBSP of tenderquick that was sprinkled over my salmon before being packed in the brine.
When removed from the brine there were a couple differences. First, mine had pulled quite a bit of juice from the flesh, which is typical, but the MH brine hadn't. The flesh on mine was quite firm, but the MH was still pretty soft. Mine had it's typically deep red color, which is probably a combination of being more dehydrated, and the brown sugar on the surface. The MH was still fairly pale in comparison. Almost the same color it had gone into the brine as.
Into the smoker they went. I had a tough time controlling the temps because the weather was all over the place. It'd be sunny for a while, then dumping buckets of snow and blustering winds. I even had to make a small wind-break from my garbage cans and a piece of plywood. I was aiming for around 150 in the smoker but it ended up anywhere between 120-ish and 177 was the highest I saw. Anyway they spent 8 hours over cherry and were not quite finished when I decided to pull them and put them in the convection oven at 160. After about 45 minutes in there they were up to 145 internal and done to my liking.
Here's what they looked like after coming out of the oven. MH on top, mine on bottom.
They were both pretty firm at this point, though the Mad Hunky had a little more give to it when pressed in the thicker parts. Mine seemed to have a slightly more oily surface which quite possibly is due to being more firm to start with and ending up more dried, causing the oil to come out more. The colors seem to have evened out as well.
Now for the taste test!
My impressions were that mine is definitely firmer and drier, jerky-esque if you will, where the MH is a little more moist and flakey. The MH is a little more fish-forward where the flavor of the fish comes through very nicely and compliments the spices from the brine very well. Mine is more on the sweet and salty side. You get a hit of sweet right off the start and then a nice salty/fishy finish. The MH has a bit of honey sweetness at first but it's on the subtle side, followed by the fish flavor with the herbs and spices. Overall it's very well balanced. I enjoyed them both very much, and I'm glad to have the Mad Hunky salmon brine in my arsenal. Once again, an outstanding product from the Mad Hunky.
My lunch today consists of a piece of each type of salmon with some horseradish to go with them.
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