Hey y'all, with pinks around in catchable numbers (and with some filets in the fridge from the weekend) I wanted to see what people's favorite pink salmon brining/smoke methods are.

I find pinks the hardest to nail because of the low oil content. Sometimes I get it right but I can't get consistent results. Tried both wet and dry brines. My results have been better with dry brines (I find this is true for most salmon), but I am open to trying anything!

Good fertilizer for the garden to grown nice fruits & veggi's. but if you must just use lotsa dark brown suger and kosher salt...maybe some garlic power added for extra flavor.After you smoke'em up take them into work and share with your co-workers..................Good luck,
SZ

Damn foodies. They all think they can cook, but when called upon to actually display some talent or information, all they can do is balk and bark. Whatever. Go back to watching the Food Network and cooking up your Copper River King on your $5567.98 BBQ, ya poser.

I have never tried to smoke a pink, but I have had horrible luck with sockeyes, and as you pointed out, probably has everything to do with their natural oils, etc.

Instead of trying to track down a different brine, I think I'd look in to the science of the fish and the brine ingredients. IE, does a pink salmon prefer a brine that his higher/lower in salts or higher/lower in sugars.

Food science!

If you can pinpoint that information down, you could take your favorite brine recipe and tweak the ratio of sugar/salt and make it more appropriate for a pink.

If you end up doing the research and find out some answers, post it here for us. I'd be curious to know as I bet you COULD tailer make a brine specific for a pink salmon.

Not that I personally would try it, but I won't judge others who do. Besides, it COULD be useful information. Could.......

PS. This thread will be HEAVILY monitored and probably moderated....beyond Sky-Foodie's remarks. Just saying.

Pinks have a high fat content. Quite easy to smoke. I eat a little of it when we get some, but for the most part I give pinks away to co-workers and others. Straight kosher salt and brown sugar dry brine works very well, as does fancier recipes that dress it up.

Pass it out as elk camp. Trust me, it will be gone in minutes.

Now I won't say it will work for those skanky fish, but it does work for other sammins.
It was intended for ham and adapts very well to sammin.
http://www.azlwebdesign.com/marketsupply/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=105

It was also a big freakin secret for a long time amongst a certain group of foodies. Actual recipes are still secret.

That Sky Guy character will no doubt need heavy-handed moderation.

Hey Pak, how do you like my sig ?

eh, well dogfish you are usually right. except here :P

pinks and chum are lowest in fat. Which is why they have less flavor and dry out so quickly when cooked/smoked

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/10/the-five-main-pacific-salmon/305223/

Here's what I use to smoke all my fish:

1 C brown sugar
1/4 C non-iodized salt
2 C soy sauce
1 C water
1 C white wine
4 cloves garlic - chopped
1/4 small yellow onion finely diced
1 tsp chopped ginger

Place in a glass or SS container
Soak O/N in fridge
Place on a rack to dry for 1-2 hours
Smoke for 4-8 hours at low temp (<150F)
Optional - heat at 165 for 10-20 min in oven to sterilize

I've used the above recipe on everything from pinks to kings and have also smoked albacore the same way. I smoked 7 ocean caught pinks last weekend and they were quite tasty. I gave much of it away but the pieces I kept were good. However, I must admit I tossed in a couple of coho tails and I'm not giving those away to anyone. The pink taste just fine and smoking tends to result in a product that is more moist than coho. The smoked pink is not as attractive looking as a smoked coho or king fillet but it tastes great.

That said, I only keep pinks when it's clear they're going to die anyway and smoking is pretty much the only thing I do with them. That's not to say that pink salmon aren't tasty, but relative to king or coho, I don't like 'em much. Relative to most fresh water fish, I'll take pink salmon every time.

Mine are always dripping with more fat, or at least it seems to me to be that way.

YES salmon snobs I do realize smoking pinks is roughly equivalent to putting lipstick on a turd. However, I like to fish for them and I like to eat... and not waste resources. Also, pink bellies and collars smoke up great and taste excellent. Just trying to dial in a recipe for the rest of the filets.

I think there can be alot of variation from fish to fish. I got one over the weekend that had bright red flesh, and tasted great just pan-seared. very close to coho. caught another that was as pale as chum flesh.

i dont know what everyones deal is with Pinks... would you rather eat a stocker trout out of the smoker? every year ill take a couple fresh fillets and cut em in half and pan fry em, way better than trout...

anyways, heres one way i do it...

1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup White Sugar
1/2-3/4 (figure out what you like) Cup Kosher Salt
either 3 quarts Water, or 2 Quarts water, 2 quarts Apple Juice

brine 24 hours

pull out and rinse the snot off, then let air dry 1-2 hours till pellicle forms, use a fan if you need...

put in smoker, run 2 pans of Alder, 3 if you like more, and smoke until done (if you have smoked fish, you can figure out when its done)

comes out great every time when i do it....

With pinks, bleed and ice them immediately. Eaten that day, they are fine. Not king quality, but they are fine.

Pickled fish is always an option too.

Cracks me up when guys assume their taste is shared by everyone else. Even funnier when said pink snobs get a piece and enjoy it before somone tells them its pink.

+1

exactly why I've never told anyone that their smoke salmon was anything but "oh this tastes great"... because some things are better left un-said...



My taste says that it should be moist, tender and flakey on the inside and slightly sweet on the outside, and it should finish without an overpowering fishy or smokey finish...

coho, for me, is the perfect smoker fish for all those reasons... probably because I catch a shitload of them every year and have them dialed in... I love nice thick kings on the bbq but wont smoke them because the never smoke as evenly as a thinner fish.

I do not fish for pinks and have only tried other's peoples smoked pinks; they all have had a slightly "fishy" or "fishslime" flavor that I cant get past... Chums are dry and blah... never smoked a sockeye, just dont fish for them, but I would love to try it sometime.

All that matters is that you love what comes out of your own smoker... and if you cant do that... feed it to the cat and make fun of everybody else

I use a wet brine and they are great. I can them and they are great. I bleed and ice them immediately if I'm keeping them, and I don't barbecue them as I have plenty of coho and Chinook and summer runs for that.

Fish on...

Todd

Everyone's different on this subject. Me, because Pinks are a soft flesh fish always uses a dry brining. Rock salt and brown sugar directly on the fillets......Salt and let sit at least overnight. Brush off all the salt....lay one the brown sugar and let that sit until it liquefies, then smear it around with a fork until even.......in the smoker. It disappears faster than I can smoke it.........

Yeah, it's nasty stuff. that's why I'm smoking about 50 lbs right now. If the past is any indicator many friends and neighbors will be asking for more and fondly mentioning it all next year.

+1 on dry brines , firms up the flesh better

I also smoke mine a bit longer to also help with firming up the flesh

+1 on salt caught I would imagine the morphed fish flesh would be not as appealing

I just came back from the coast where my brother-in-law gave me some kippered pink. They are native and commercial fish. There is no market for the pinks, so they keep some for personal use. I was skeptical as to the taste, but I could not have told the difference from coho or king the way he did it. Just a heavy salt and very good smoke for an hour. My kids loved it, my wife -who general does not like salmon- loved it. In truth, it made me rethink letting go so many.

I cannot remember ever eating a pink salmon, until Friday last week.

One of my buddies' took me out and we caught a bunch of them. They were nice bright fish, and the flesh was a little soft, but with a decent color.

I BBQ'd 1.5 of them for a party the same day we caught them. Everyone loved it. I marinated them in oil with salt/pepper in it to firm up the meat. Then seared meat down, and flipped for a couple minutes. It was not as good as King or Coho, but it was certainly not terrible.

I smoked the rest yesterday, I like the thin fillets, makes them easy to smoke in 4 hours on an August evening. They dry out fast so pull out on time. I just did sea salt and brown sugar dry brine for about 3 hours, then left in fridge to tack up overnight. These are also pretty good, the meat texture is not as perfect as coho, but flavor and moistness is fine.

Like Stam, I have a kid trip on my mind. I think my kids would love to fish for them, they are really aggressive fish.