Prepare the salmon - fileting the fish at the fish cleaning station.
While the guys cleaned fish, Sharon and I went to fill a cooler with shaved ice to cool and preserve the fish filets. I think we got the easy job. Have you ever tried to filet a salmon?
It was a rainy evening, so the guys wore full rain gear to filet the fish. And it was a good thing James was in full gear. I thought I'd help wash down the cleaning station and when I turned on the extra hose, it blasted James - right in the mid-section. Oops. Sorry Love!
Cut the filets into strips, prepare the brine solution and brine the fish strips.
After brining, hang the fish strips in preparation for smoking.
The smoke house. This is 'cold' smoking. The fish dehydrate inside the smoke house, with the smoke (dry alder chips in this case) adding flavor continuously for however long you choose. Our fish smoked for two days with the overnight hours not included. I was in charge of the smoke house one day. Every 45-60 minutes I would go out to the smoke house and replenish the alder chips on the hot plate and make sure that it was smoking all day long. Very important job.
After smoking, remove the hooks, pull off the scales/skin, trimming the pieces to size, fill the jars, and pressure cook to seal the jars.
Wash the jars, put into food storage and enjoy!
