Smoked Meat

[sansei]

Based on my experience growing up in Hawaii, I think the biggest challenge to smoking Salmon will be to find the right fish to start with. I got into smoked Salmon when I moved to NorCal and started catching my own. My general rule was only to smoke when the fish was over 18lbs gutted but whole. Smoking tends to dry things out and you need enough fat to keep it moist. Fat is flavor and remember this is the GOOD kind of fat. I have only smoked farmed atlantic salmon once (broke my own rule but had to try it) and was not satisfied with the result. I am guessing but you might be able to find a side of wild salmon at Costco when the phase of the moon is right.


Larry

Edited by - sansei on 08/18/2007 10:10:32

[sansei]

This is my recipe for a for salmon brine.
1 cup of hawaiian salt, 1cup brown sugar (C&H of course), 1/2 cup shoyu, 1c water, 1 tbspoon ground black pepper. I don't use vinegar for salmon because the acid will "cook" the delicate meat. Add 1 crushed garlic and 2-3 stalks of green onions that have been bruised all over with the back of a knife. Place the salmon in a plastic container large enough to hold all the fish in one layer and pour the mix over. I have done one whole fillet'd 18lb fish with this recipe. Place the whole thing in the frig overnight. The next morning you will find a slime layer on meat of the fish. Don't wash it off because the slime is the action of the salt breaking down the top protein layer. Place the salmon pieces on a wire rack and let them air dry before placing them in the smoker. That broken down protein layer will create a glaze and help hold the salmon together as they cook.


Larry

[Fishboy]

Here are two recipes for beef jerky. I have made the first recipe for several years; the second is also good. I omit the liquid smoke and put the dried meat in my smoker.

Beef Jerky I

This recipe should be made for ~2.5 pounds of meat

2/3 Cup Soy Sauce
2/3 Cup Worchestershire Sauce
1 T Honey
2 t Pepper
2 t Onion Powder
2 t Red Pepper
2 t Liquid smoke

Place all ingredients into a zip-lock bag with the meat and kneed to distribute everything. Refrigerate 4-6 hours, drain, pat dry. Dry in dehydrator on cool temperature until dark and chewy.


Beef Jerky II

This recipe should be made for ~5 pounds of meat

2 Cups Soy Sauce
12 Cups Cold water
6 T Salt
2 T Sugar
3 t Tabasco Sauce
2 t Cayenne pepper
4 t Accent (MSG)
3 T Worcestershier Sauce
2 t Liquid smoke

Mix all ingredients and marinate meat 18 hours in ziplock bags. Turn the meat occasionally, depending upon how thickly the meat is sliced.

Mahalo nui loa,
Brian and Mary
Lynnwood, WA\Discovery Harbour

[Adam79]

Wow, I can't believe this topic didn't come up sooner. Next to cooking bacon, I don't believe there is a more divine smell than smoking meat (or any food being smoked for that matter). Now that we're buying our house, I'll have the room to try all this for myself. The problem is I've never smoked anything before and need some tips to get started. Can anybody recommend a simple smoker that can be bought locally? Or, can anybody recommend a good DIY way to build one?

[Fishboy]

Fishboy (Brian)
I have tried e-mailing to ask for recipes but each try has come back as undeliverable.
Any Ideas?

Thanks,Bill

Sorry, Bill. I tried emailing you my recipe for beef jerky, but the attachment I sent won't likely open for you. I've posted that recipe here for everyone.

Also, my recipe for smoked salmon is really rather simple.

Brine:
To about a gallon of boiling water, add a tablespoon of paprika, a tablespoon or more of pickling spice, and equal amounts of salt and brown sugar until you can't dissolve any more. Then turn off the heat and let that brine sit until it comes to room temperature; I leave mine overnight so I can get an early start on the rest of the process.

I usually can my salmon by filling 1/2-pint jars with two- to three-inch long pieces stacked on end, so I cut the fillets in lengthwise strips about an inch or so wide. I place as much meat as the brine vessel will hold and still keep everything submerged. Years of canning has taught me that a shorter brine period is MUCH better than one that's too long, so I will leave the meat in the brine (agitating gently with my hand once in a while) for no more than five minutes; beginning to take the pieces out at the 3.5 minute mark. This is sufficient time to allow a small amount of the brine to work into the top layer of flesh, and has always worked to ensure my salmon doesn't come out tasting salty. The pickling spice adds just that extra that everyone loves and the paprika adds color.

I lay the strips on a paper towel-covered cutting board to drain briefly AND DO NOT PAT DRY. If any of the pickling spices stick to the fish, all the better for appearances. When slightly drained, I transfer the strips to a dehydrator that I set at 125 degrees. I used to take most of a day to sun-dry my fish, but this dehydrator is SO much faster. I keep checking the meat every twenty minutes, looking for the formation of a slightly buffed-looking layer on the meat that isn't sticky. I then place the meat flesh-side down on the smoker racks and process them.

Canning is a whole other issue. If you're curious, write me and I'll chat about canned stuff.

Mahalo nui loa,
Brian and Mary
Lynnwood, WA\Discovery Harbour

[Fishboy]

[quote]Can anybody recommend a simple smoker that can be bought locally? Or, can anybody recommend a good DIY way to build one?/quote]
==============================================
I can. My smoker can be made from two sheets of CDX plywood, three eight-foot pieces of 2"x2", and at least three racks from an old refrigerator. Mine is 2'x2'x6', with the 2"x2" as a frame and supports for the wire racks. The door is the front 2'x6' piece and it has regular hinges and a fence gate hook latch. You'll need at least one hole in the top to let the smoke out, but the seal on the door won't be perfect and smoke will billow out around the edges.

The refrigerator racks are plastic coated, and work just as well as stainless steel or other more expensive stuff. I mounted my four racks about a foot apart from about two feet above the pan for hot smoking, to right up next to the top for cool smoking.

I bought a single-burner hot plate from Sears as a heat source, and a stainless steel bowl to hold the chips. It takes a minor amount of tweaking to get the heat setting so you smolder the chips instead of burn, but I know that when I see a bunch of smoke coming out the top, it's smoldering and I unplug it.

I've seen others who have built fancier smokers, hooks for ham and such, and I'm sure you'll get a few recommendations of commercial smokers also. This design has worked for me for about twenty years and it works for everything I need.

Mahalo nui loa,
Brian and Mary
Lynnwood, WA\Discovery Harbour

Edited by - fishboy on 08/19/2007 03:33:01

[wyatt]

Thanks Brian,
now the real secret. Smoked cheese?

Aloha
Wyatt

[Carey]

Hey guys, MMMM smoked cheese!Reminds me oof the years I lived near the Wisconsin border. Anyhow, here is a link for cold smoking cheese:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cheese.html

[Fishboy]

quote:

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Thanks Brian,
now the real secret. Smoked cheese?

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No real secret with smoked cheese, Wyatt. Just about any type of cheese can be smoked including my favorite Monterey Jack and Provolone, but also Swiss, Colby, Mozzarella, Havarti, Jarlsburg, Stilton, Gouda and a host of others.

I buy my cheeses for smoking in larger quantities from Costco and cut them to half-pound brick portions. I keep the bricks in the refrigerator until just before smoking to firm up the cheese, then smoke them on the top rack. You have to be careful and watch that your cheese doesn't melt through the grates. This won't be a problem if you've cooled the cheese before smoking, and if you've placed the cheese in the coolest part of the smoker. Again, my smoker is six feet tall and I use the upper rack for cheeses. Anything closer to the smoke source just melts and makes a mess.

One thing I haven't mentioned in this thread is my source of chips. While I like the idea of Ohia or any other locally available wood, I don't have the patience to cut the wood, dry it, and store it. I buy hickory chips in the barbecue section at Safeway for $2.50 a bag.

I process my cheese with two loads of chips, where one load is just more than 1/4 of a bag. I find that I don't use the upper racks as often as the lower (for salmon and jerky), so the cheeses will pick up the dark smoke residue from the rack and this gives the cheese a neat-looking set of dark stripes as well as taking on the darker color of the smoke. You should turn the bricks when you open the smoker between loads of chips, and you'll get these rack marks on both sides.

Cheese right out of the smoker is really good, it's all warm and pliable with a coating of oils that've seeped out, but I've found the cheese does better if vacuum sealed and stored in the refer for a few weeks. The smokey flavor then has a chance to permeate the brick and the overall flavors are improved.

These bricks of smoked cheeses really get the compliments when I take them to parties or give them as gifts. I can't over-emphasize that the use of a vacuum sealer produces the best results.

Mahalo nui loa,
Brian and Mary
Lynnwood, WA\Discovery Harbour

Edited by - fishboy on 08/20/2007 01:44:33

[John S. Rabi]

quote:

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I've been using a smoker for a long time, mostly for salmon and cheeses

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What kind of cheeses do you smoke Brian? Do you just buy them at the store?

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,RB
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
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