What wood do you smoke salmon with? And why?

[Albafly]

Hi guys,

I am currently half way through a batch of smoked salmon. I ran out of wood chips, so I had to go grab some from a shop- they only had mesquite, so thats what I am using!

Got me thinking- what wood do you use to smoke salmon, and why? What are the differences between woods? Does the size of the chips matter? Any info would be good!

Thanks

[4ptbuck]

Careful... maybe it's just me, but I find mequite and hickory way too strong. Very intense flavour, that I would never use again.

But everybody's palates are different.

I prefer alder, apple, pr cherry.

[Albafly]

Thanks for that. Maybe I will lay off the wood a bit in the second half of smoking so that it is not too strong.

[tomahawk]

Sounds like your using a "Chief" smoker. 3 pans of wood are maximum and should be in the first couple hrs of the smoking process. The rest of the time its just a cooking or drying process with no smoke. Bradley's are different and the longer smoking is preferred with them. Mesquite is a great flavour if only 3 pans are used and so is hickory. I smoke a lot of salmon so I try and use different woods for variety but prefer Alder alone or a half and half Cherry/Apple as a standard.

[winchester284]

I've used hickory for more than 10 years because I've always been happy with the results. I have the Bradley and use 6-8 pucks per batch.

[darrin6109]

alder, because its the best with my dry cure recipe.did i mention it has peppercorns in it? its awesome.

[IronNoggin]

Half and half Alder & Apple. Silky smoooooth flavor!
10,000 pounds can't be wrong! :mrgreen:

Cheers,
Nog

[bforce750]

Like people have said hickory is strong but thats all I use, sometimes oak,apple whatever pick something you like the best, then pefect your smoking time and your recipes.

[Albafly]

Thanks for the replies guys. I do use a little chief smoker- to be honest, i'd like a bigger capacity, as its a lot of work for not so much product.

You guys seem to make a science out of this thing- what is your take on chip size? Smaller burns faster? Bigger better?

Thanks

[dawn2dusk]

ALDER is the traditional pacific choice

[weatherby_man]

Alder or Apple for me.

[BromBones]

I use alder once in a while. Apple is pretty good too.

If you don't like a strong smoke flavour, try birch. Really good flavour for sockeye, and it's easy to get.

[tigger]

Bag of applewood from Crappy tire. I find hickory or mesquite too strong/salty. Dry brine for 6hrs skin off, 1" strips, brush with maple syrup add cracked pepper and 3hrs in the little chief. Fantastic.

[4ptbuck]

so,... how did it turn out?

[Blair]

don't waste your money on wood chips. I just get a piece of alder about five inches diameter and saw pieces off it. It burns way longer than wood chips so you don't have to be out there tending the thing every hour or so.
And it is free.

[SimilkameenSlayer]

i have always wanted to try tamarack, the smoke smells good to me from the camp fire.

anyone tried tamarack?

[wolverine]

Alder and a little bit of cherry near the end... cuz it's the best.

[chinook]

I usually Apple or Alder and either seems to work fine with my recipe. I suggest not using morning wood.....it would likely come out too salty.

[Ubertuber]

I use Alder too. I would never pay for it, it's like a weed around here.

[wolverine]

I use Alder too. I would never pay for it, it's like a weed around here.


Yeah, every year I collect enough of my chain saw sawdust to keep me in alder smoking chips for the year. Cherry... I have never cut down a wild cherry tree so I buy a bag of those ever few years. I can't imagine what salmon would taste like smoked in mesquite or hickory. Nothing wrong with it I guess just isn't a traditionally used wood for smoking salmon.

[Kalum]

alder is the go to but i like to mix it up and try different flavours. If your'e looking to try something different try chipping up some old wine/whiskey/port casks. My favourite is:
Salmon candy- sockeye or chinook
-cut salmon into 1'thick by 2-3'wide strips
-dry rub 1 part kosher salt to 4 part brown sugar- let sit in fridge for aprox 12hrs
-wash off and let air dry for about an hr until flesh is tacky
-Wet a cloth w your favourite run and rub lightly across, again let air dry and then glaze w maple syrup.
-Cold smoke w port cask chips- if you don't have a supply Bradley sells some
-cold smoke w alder to finish
-turn heat up slightly to dry and finish.
Guess what I'm doing this weekend????

[Albafly]

I finished smoking it, and did not use any more wood. It came out really good. It was dry brined- brown sugar and rock salt, thats it. 1 kg sugar to about 3/4 cup salt. I followed a recipe, found here:

http://www.anglingbc.com/articles/smokin.html

Brined for 2 days. I think longer is better- i do not think short 10 hours is long enough in this case.

The wood i used added a deeper smoke than what I am used to. I am glad i stopped adding wood when I did. Thanks for that advice. I think i'll get some alder this fall.

[Samsquantch]

Alder;
Cause the stuff has to be good for something.

[Phreddy]

When I was a salmon guide on the island in the 70's I took a guy out from the states that ran a commercial smoking operation. He told me that most of his customers wanted hickory smoked, but his best kept secret was to use willow. I tried it and found it gave an excellent colour and flavor and that was all I used after that.
Living in the S. Okanagan now and haven't smoked meat for years, but have been seriously considering building another smokehouse. When I do, it's back to willow.

[Gerry]

alder, because its the best with my dry cure recipe.did i mention it has peppercorns in it? its awesome.

Hey, any chance that you would put up your dry cure recipe here? Sounds mouth-watering.:-D

[mud-dog27]

ive only really used hickory and mesquite but prefer hickory especially with my offset smoker but i think the wood fire heat also adds a nice taste, gunna pick up some more variety now that i got the offset since ill be smoking much more than fish with it

[.45-70 guide]

I usually Apple or Alder and either seems to work fine with my recipe. I suggest not using morning wood.....it would likely come out too salty.


hahaha thats great

[JCVD]

I use apple, alder or maple depending on the batch.

[Trapper D]

Hi guys,

I am currently half way through a batch of smoked salmon. I ran out of wood chips, so I had to go grab some from a shop- they only had mesquite, so thats what I am using!

Got me thinking- what wood do you use to smoke salmon, and why? What are the differences between woods? Does the size of the chips matter? Any info would be good!

Thanks
fruit trees are sweeter, apple, cherry,etc . alder is used, i did the same early in august, and ended up using hickory chips, very little difference, the amount of time in the brine to me is way more important, 4 hours in the brine the smoked sockeye was still moist where-as the sockeye that i forgot about brined for 12 hours and it ended up being drier and saltier, as well as that i was making cuts across the grain of the salmon placed an inch apart, going about half the thickness of the fillet into the meat. then i painted cane sugar 2 to 3 times during smoking on them and they turned out awsome, of all the syrups , ie maple, corn , aunt jemima, cane was the thickest and didnt run off like the others.... i used a dry brine with, demerara sugar and coarse salt in equal parts, sprikled on each fillet layer after layer on top of each other, throw it in the fridge covered for 4 hours then, rinse the brine off of each piece, place on rack, let stand for an hour to dry , then plaqce them in preheated smoker . this year was very good fishing for me, so after we smoked them we canned a lot of it, when you do that you , pull them out of the smoker after a short smoke, so there still pliable to get them in the jars. yes i know, paragraphs, grammer cops ,not far behind

[guest]

Cherry , Alder or Apple.

CT