NW Outdoor Explorer

This is part two of a three part post. Be sure to continue to the other posts for the full process.

Continued from yesterday……

Now, the salmon has been thawed, de-boned and sliced, it is time for the brine.  Again, this recipe can be found with a simple Google search.

This is the recipe that won the Fish Alaska Challenge a few years ago.  It was judged amongst several hundred entries and won by a mile.

Here is the dry brine.

7 Cups of brown sugar
2 Cups of salt (non-Iodized)
¼ Cup course black pepper
¼ Cup crushed red pepper – I bumped this up to 1/2 cup for a little extra kick
¼ Cup garlic salt

Yoshida’s original

Thoroughly mix the dry rub in a big bowl.  Use a separate waterproof container with a lid to brine the salmon.  One that you can turn over and upside down.  I use a five gallon bucket but it can be smaller.  Start layering the fish.  First layer is skin down and flesh up.  Liberally (I use about two cups between layers) spread a layer of dry brine over the flesh side then lay another layer of fish on top of the dry brine but place this layer flesh down or flesh against flesh.  Continue to layer skin to skin and flesh to flesh. You only need to use the dry brine between the flesh sides.  Continue till finished, then add 2 cups of Yoshida’s sauce to the top of the bucket and close.  If you can keep in a frig great… if not, its ok.  I leave it in the garage or outside if it is colder out but not in heat.  Turn the bucket upside down every couple hours as liquid forms.  I’ll let soak for 18-24 hours.  I think I like to soak 24 or even a little more if the fish is borderline thicker.

Continue to Step 3 post……..

This is part one of a three part post. Be sure to continue to the other posts for the full process.

I am about to reveal my newly discovered super secret smoked salmon recipe.

Well, it is not that secret.  A simple Google search for ‘Award Winning Alaska Smoked Salmon’ will expose the recipe.  It was actually shown to me by my friend Jason.  The secret part is how I tweaked it to my preference and what I use to smoke it.

This is a several day process and I will walk you through it one day at a time.  Step 1 is the meat selection, thaw, de-bone and slice to prep for brine.

I prefer Chinook (King) salmon when I smoke it.  The oil rich meat makes for a super moist finished product as compared to the other species of salmon I have tried.  Spring Chinook is the holy grail of smoked salmon in my opinion.  The oil content is so high, it is just dripping with oil when I pull it out of the smoker.  At first, I refused to smoke spring Chinook because it seemed like such a waste to not just cook it up and eat it.  I have since been enlightened.

I always de-bone all of my filets when preparing to smoke.  I have found it easier to pull the pin bones after the meat has been frozen, so I will almost always freeze the salmon first.  I have a pair of kitchen needle nose pliers that are my tool of choice when pulling the pin bones.  It takes a little practice to squeeze just hard enough to pull the bone without pinching it off.  I am still practicing.  🙂

Now it is time to slice the filet into strips.  Because the Chinook usually tends to be extremely thick across the back, I cut it into 1″ slices to get the right brine/smoke to meat ratio.  If you cut it too thick, it starts to get more like cooked salmon than smoked and if you cut it too thin, it gets more like jerky.

Continue to Step 2 post……..

We all know that person that tells tall tails and maybe stretches the truth a bit.  Well, this is my tall tail, but with photo proof.  🙂

This is not a monster by any means, but it is the biggest fish I have caught so far.

It could easily have been exaggerated to 50+ lbs, but it actually weighed in at only about 35 lbs.

It was a company event.  We chartered several boats out of Astoria.  Some boats ventured out to the ocean and some stayed in the river.  I got assigned to a boat that remained in the river and we fished above tongue point.  Our deckhand chose to just use divers and spinners that day.  It seems that many of the charter captains like to keep it simple so they are not tied up with rigging bait on everyone’s line.  Simple worked for us that day for sure.  Only two fish were caught on our boat.  This trophy and my buddy Lee caught one just a pound or so less that day as well.

That was a great day fishing.  I have been chasing that bigger one ever sense.