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brine doesn't add water to fish
Posted by stevesch on Jun 18 2004
I'm afraid that's not at all possible:
even though the brine is "wet", it has alot more salt content than the cells of fish and the water is going out of the filets into the brine. The salt and sugar go into the fish. Not the other ways round.
There are a couple ways to goof up. The only way you could make fish flesh "wet" with brine, is if there was less salt in the brine than in the fish - - - Some people think this happens when they put 10 pounds of fish and sprinklin a quart of brine over them. That's not enough. What's actually happening is the fish isn't getting hardly any additional salt at all.
The other problem which many people make is not dissolving the salt and sugar. Obviously, if it isn't in solution - - - it isn't going into the fish cells unless it is in direct contact (as in a dry rub, which you don't want to do). This is why me and PatrickH dissolve it in hot water and chill it.
Lots of brine, relative to the fish, dissolving the salts/sugars, and occasional stirring - as I said in my original post, will solve this problem.
dry rubs and water is much more difficult to regulate to get a consistent product. What you are doing is putting way too much salt into the fish, then trying to take it out again by immersing it in the water. Highly time-dependent on both the rub and water steps.
Also, the 1-2 hour smoking time is so way off standard that it gave me pause to what is going on. I'm curious as to what this would end up like. It might taste OK, but it isn't smoked salmon, chemically speaking.
And, BTW, the the dry rub w/ salt-sugar, and cellophane rap IS what modern scandinavians use for Atlantic salmon (or sea-run brown trout) for what is termed "gravlax", but it is a cold cure similar to lox.
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