Preparing the Brine

• Mix the following ingredients for an excellent smoked salmon brine:

  1/2 to 1/3 cup brown sugar
  1/4 cup non-iodized salt
  2 cups soy sauce
  1 cup water
  1/4 to 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  1/4 to 1/2 tsp. of pepper
  No more than 1/2 tsp. of Tabasco sauce
  1 cup of white wine (the drier the better)

What Sort of Smoker to Use

• Use a wood or gas smoker. As for the type of smoking chips to use, light-flavored smoking woods are the best to use. Alder wood is an excellent choice. One should never smoke a salmon using charcoal briquettes. This is the best way to end up with salmon steaks that have a decidedly chemical taste to them. Hickory chips in a smoker can tend to leave the salmon with a somewhat bacon-like flavor.

  While electric smokers can be utilized as well, they have a tendency to build up too much moisture on the salmon and will cause it to end up being soggy.

Smoking Temperature

• Set the temperature of the smoker at no more than 160 to 170 degrees F. This may seem like an excessively hot temperature, but it is actually lower than what meat is normally smoked at.

Smoking Time

• Smoke your salmon until the interior temperature reaches between 140 and 155 degrees F. If you prefer the salmon cut to be more on the "well-done" side, feel free to set the smoker at 175 to 180 degrees F. If a brine was not used prior to smoking, however, the salmon will be appropriately smoked at no more than 140 degrees F.

  Keep the lid of the smoker closed as much as possible during the smoking process. Really the only reason you should need to lift it is to check for doneness. The best way to do this is to leave a meat thermometer stuck into the middle of the fillet itself. This way the temperature of the salmon can be monitored without the need to lift up the smoker's lid.

Resting Period

• Set the completely smoked salmon on a kitchen counter and wrap it in a piece of aluminum foil for no less than 20 to 30 minutes. Do not forget this step as it is a crucial one in the smoking process. Failure to do so will result in the salmon's juices not setting inside of the meat.