Brining a Salmon

I loved the salt posting and info...curious..I'll be brining a salmon, what type of salt do you pros use for brining (in this case...salmon).

[cape chef]

seattleDeb, Happy holidays,
I use kosher salt.
although there are many (Boutique salts available)I find that Kosher salt is the best all around salt that is easily bought by the masses
cc

[mudbug]

The best brine is usually a salt sugar mix. I'd use kosher salt and brown sugar.

[Isa]

I am curious if Deb uses a brine of salt and sugar for her salmon won't that turn the salmon into a gravlax?

Not that gravlax is not good but it may not be what she has in mind.

We usually make this every year around the holidays (pink and green peppercorns add to a festive look)...but have used just table salt in the brine....now I'm becoming more aware! It's really a terrific recipe..and can be made ahead and served chilled.

Peppered Salmon
http://sunsetmagazine.com/Premium/Fo...hFrameSet.html

PREP AND COOK TIME: 1 1/2 to 13/4 hours, plus 4 to 24 hours for marinating the salmon


For mildest flavor, use mainly pink and green peppercorns. The cooked fish can be prepared up to 3 days ahead; cover and chill.

MAKES: 8 to 10 servings

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 or 3 dried bay leaves
1 teaspoon crushed whole allspice
1 salmon fillet with skin (21/2 to 3 lb.; 1 to 11/2 in. thick)
About 1/3 cup mixed whole peppercorns (pink, green, white, and black)
About 1/2 cup apple or hickory wood chips
1 tablespoon honey
2 or 3 thin red onion slices
Dill sprigs

1. In a 1- to 11/2-quart pan, bring 11/2 cups water, sugar, salt, ginger, bay leaves, and allspice to a boil. Stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

2. Rinse salmon fillet, pat dry, and lay flat with skin down in a rimmed 12- by 15-inch pan. Pour sugar-salt mixture over salmon. Cover pan tightly and chill fish at least 4 or up to 24 hours, occasionally spooning brine over the fish.

3. Mound 16 charcoal briquets on the firegrate of a barbecue with a lid and ignite briquets. Or turn gas grill to high heat and close lid.

4. Meanwhile, add peppercorns to enough hot water to make them float; soak at least 15 minutes. Also add wood chips to enough warm water to make them float; soak at least 15 minutes.

5. Drain fish and discard brine. Rinse fish with cool water and pat dry. Set fish, skin side down, on a large sheet of foil; cut foil to fit outline of fish.

6. Rub honey over top of fish. Drain peppercorns and pat evenly onto fish to set them lightly in place.

7. When coals are dotted with gray ash, in about 20 minutes, push half to each side of firegrate.

8. Drain wood chips and scatter 2 tablespoons on each mound of coals. For gas grill, put 1/4 cup chips in a foil pan and set over heat. Cover barbecue, and heat until chips start to smolder, about 10 minutes.

9. Set grill 4 to 6 inches above the firegrate.

10. Place salmon on foil in center of grill (not directly over coals); if using gas, turn to lowest setting and adjust for indirect heat (parallel to sides of salmon, not beneath the fish).

11. Set an oven thermometer on top of the center of the fish. Cover barbecue. For charcoal, open vents 1/4 inch, and after 30 minutes add 3 briquets to each mound of coals; repeat every 30 minutes of cooking.

12. Check thermometer often to be sure temperature stays about 160°. If temperature drops, open vents for charcoal slightly, or turn up heat on gas grill. If temperature rises, close 1 or 2 of the vents, or open lid of gas grill, then prop open slightly. Add wood chips as needed to produce a faint, steady stream of smoke. Moisture that accumulates on fish will evaporate. Cook salmon until a thermometer inserted in center of thickest part reads 140°, from 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

13. Using wide spatulas, slide fillet with foil onto a rimless baking sheet, then slide fish from sheet onto a platter. Serve salmon warm, cool, or chilled.

14. Garnish with onion and dill. Cut fish across grain into wide slices or bite-size chunks; lift fish off skin.
Per serving: 178 cal., 33% (59 cal.) from fat; 21 g protein; 6.6 g fat (1 g sat.); 8.4 g carbo (0.9 g fiber); 839 mg sodium; 56 mg chol.

[Live_to_cook]

Pardon my ignorance, and the smoked salmon sounds lovely, but what is the difference between gravlax and smoked salmon? I'm remembering a cold cured salmon recipe I saw on a cooking show (brined, fresh dill, wrapped and weighted, refrigerated for several days) and I'm thinking that was gravlax but I'm not sure.

Anyone care to opine?

[Greg]

Gravlax is what you remember: cold cured, weighted and usually with dill. Smoked salmon is gravlax that has been cold smoked.