Slow Cedar Plank Salmon Brine

Here’s a quick & simple recipe that you can tweak to your liking & it works well for smoked salmon, grilled salmon, or cedar plank salmon. For more of a smoked than a grilled salmon finish just leave it longer in the brine & smoke for a longer period at a lower temperature; I don’t smoke my salmon over 150 F. Duration of cooking depends on the thickness of salmon & portion size. Either way, there should never be any coagulated white protein on the surface of the fish when you reach the end product. Take the time to do the steps right. Slow food; excellent food takes time. Simplicity at its best, this isn’t about the brine, it’s about preserving the natural delicate qualities of the fish.

¾ cup packed Brown Sugar
½ cup Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
2 lbs. Skin-on center cut Salmon
Thyme Sprigs
4 cups cold non-chlorinated water
Cedar Plank (optional-unnecessary w a Traeger or low temp smoker)

*To prepare this recipe correctly you will need to allow a couple days before planning to eat the final product.
Brine the fish: Combine the brown sugar, salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and 4 cups water in a large bowl. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve. Add the salmon and weigh down to keep it submerged. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. (I prefer overnight). Remove from the brine, rinse lightly, pat dry with paper towels, & place on a wire rack to dry in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Soak the wood chips and cedar plank in water 1 hour, and then prepare your grill for smoking.
An hour before smoking/grilling, remove the salmon from the refrigerator & leave out at room temp; Place the salmon, skin-side down, on the cedar plank/grill and season with pepper. Top with thyme sprigs.
Maintain the grill at 250 F & place the plank with the salmon on the cooler side of the grill. Close the grill and let smoke until golden and just cooked to medium, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from the grill and serve hot or at room temperature.
From here you can plate the fish with whatever sauce or final condiment you’d like. I prefer to taste the fish so I may just apply a drizzle of EVO, lemon, &/or aged balsamic.
Bon appetite!
Hugh

Using any recipe for brining fish is a trial and error process.  The first time you try any brine recipe, use exactly the amount of salt specified in the recipe, leave the fish in the brine exactly the time specified in the recipe, and make a note on a copy of the recipe about the kind and thickness of fish you used, and whether the fish came out too salty, not salty enough, or just right.  Don't be discouraged if it isn't just right the first time.  Try the recipe again kind with the same kind and thickness of fish, adjust the amount of time you leave the fish in the brine, and again make a note on the recipe about whether the fish came out too salty, not salty enough, or just right.  After a couple of tries, you should have determined just how long to leave that kind and thickness of fish in the brine to get the taste which you like.  For example, you might decide that leaving the fish in the brine exactly 4 hours, or exactly 7 hours, produces the taste which you like.  But recognize that if you want to use the recipe with a piece of fish which is a lot thicker or thinner than the fish you used in your trial and error process, you'll need to adjust the length of time you leave the fish in the brine.

I reduce the amount of trial and error necessary to learn how to use a new fish smoking brine by standardizing the salt concentration in the brine recipes I use at 60 degrees Salometer.  This is a moderately concentrated brine which produces fairly short brining times, typically 2-3 hours for medium sized fish.  Mursestrong's recipe, using a conversion rate of 8 oz. a cup for kosher salt, produces a brine of 41 degrees Salometer.  To adjust Mursestrong's recipe to 60 degrees Salometer, I would increase the salt to 6.25 oz. of table or kosher salt.  I'm not suggesting that you adjust Mursestrong's recipe in this manner.  But this adjustment lets me take advantage of my experience in using fish smoking brines which have been adjusted to 60 degrees salometer.

Here are examples of the brining times I use with 60 degree Salometer brines: Fillets from 10" Kokanee - 1.5 hours; fillets from 14"-17"  Rainbows, 2 hours; fillets from 16"-18" kokanee, 2.5 hours.

To produce safe cooked fish, you need to bring it to an internal temperature of 145 degrees.  See, for example, https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html . If you smoke fish using Mursestrong's recipe, I suggest that towards the end of the time that you are smoking it, you increase the smoker temperature to 160 or 170 degrees, so you'll get the fish to an internal temperature of 145 degrees in a reasonable amount of time.

Pete is spot on. The salinity of this recipe is originally for a light smokey dinner style filet on the grill, rather than a drier saltier smoked salmon filet you may want to preserve. I imagine the grilled dish more on the less cooked side like you'd find as a fresh appetizer at a fine Japanese restaurant.  This recipe is a great basis for adjusting according to your purpose. Therefore, with this grill recipe i dont recommend raising the temperature to an extreme for the finish, only if reheating & for a short flash. Pete your attention to detail & consistency is unparalleled & always appreciated.

Thanks for the recipe!! Will have to give this one a go.

That recipe looks delicious! I may have to try that with all this kokanee in the freezer.

The slow cooking method is definitely the way to go with all salmon and trout IMO. The fish is moist and flavorful and doesn't get that off-putting fishy flavor. It may take longer but its worth it vs. cooking hot and fast. Growing up I hated eating salmon, now I know it was because it was always overcooked and so nauseatingly fishy!

Mmmm getting hungry just thinking about the recipe MurseStrong