Help: Salty salmon

[Prairie Buoy]

A friend of mine just smoked his first salmon. Seems he misread the brine instructions and went 4 to 1 salt instead of sugar… Anyway ended up with a very uneatable product, but will probably last forever… Is anyway to desalt a finished product??

 

[Dave S]

Could try freshening a small amount in some cold water. Place salmon in container in sink and let fresh cold water run for 30 minutes. Then firmly press with paper towel to dry it out. Might help, but it will probably never be great for eating straight. might get away with it in dips and sauces.

 

[Fish Assassin]

Maybe pickle it..... Not sure

 

[Franko Manini]

I would try soaking a piece in warm water. I wouldn't run the water, just put one piece in a BIG bowl of cold water and soak it. The salt will come out, but how evenly is tough to say. the other issue he will have is that the smoking preserves fish partly because it dries it out. Rehydrating the fish will negate that. He may have to soak it then dry it again in an oven. I would also suggest changing the water out from time to time, say over the course of an hour. As the water absorbs the salt, it becomes less effective at absorbing additional salt. So several shorter soaking in fresh cool water will be more effective.

Wish him good luck with the process. It's a shot in the dark at best, but if he can figure out how to do it on a couple of sample pieces it might be worth scaling it up to the whole batch.

 

[Franko Manini]

Maybe pickle it..... Not sure

Ohhhh... this gave me an idea... what about canning it? Or add in a single piece of the smoked stuff to a bunch of regular salmon prior to canning?

 

[spring fever]

Maybe pickle it..... Not sure

I would try freshening for 1/2 hour in cold water-dry, cube and pickle using 2 cups apple cider vinegar to 1 cup sugar. It's the only hope I'm afraid-the only other dish I can think of that might use it is a rendition of the traditional salt cod and pork scraps newfie recipe. Perhaps using half unsalted ling cod and letting the salmon add the salt. You are in a bit of a tough spot I'm afraid!!

 

[tubber]

When I buy a big piece of salt cod, it takes 3-4 days of soaking in a bowl of cold water. Change the water lots, leave it in the fridge. It will be different but edible eventually.

 

[vanislehunter]

mix it with cream cheese and put it on crackers and eat them with a cold beer!

 

[Salmon Seeker]

could try mixing it into mayo and have it on a sandwich. try half and half with unsmoked salmon if its too strong.

 

[Birdsnest]

Soak it in water till you find the desired saltiness then put it in the smoker again to dehydrate it a bit and get it back to where it was moisture and texture wise. The cream cheese idea is good. Maybe it will work as a flavouring in a soup or sauce. Certainly worth a try.
My one concern is that the salt may be fairly locked in by coagulation of the proteins so I suspect that it will have to be soaked for a while. Cover the product in water and keep tasting the water to see how much salt is coming out. the one good thing about it being too salty is it is very food safe but I would not soak it in warm water for too long. I would go cold water and in the fridge for longer periods. Safer. Interesting project. Please keep us posted with pictures too if you can.

 

[high tide]

JUST GET A WACK of BEER handy and have at er, once that has been smoked good luck getting rid of the salty ness, just a suggestion....... try soaking it in water for a few hours and either pickle or can it.

 

[scott craven]

Lots of helpful idea's,however that intense salt will likely never go away.
the flesh has cured and absorbed it.
I would chalk it up to a mistake and throw it out.

 

[sammyslabber]

mix a little with cream cheese...blend and add a little more if you dare...spread on crackers topped with jalapeño jelly.
You could also put some in a bag & add flavored liquor i.e. Grand marnier.

 

[SpringVelocity]

http://www.ehow.com/how_7711926_remedy-salty-smoked-salmon.html

Try that...Let us know how that goes with the milk at end... In mine a cant eat to much sodium so all of mine is 4 cup sugar half cup salt. Never brine more that 6 hours or so....
But sometimes someone gives me some and I have same problem...... Would like to see if there is way to save it...

Probably would still be awesome in soups and stuff.Just use small amounts

 

[wolf]

yeah id say basically wrecked a shame too for nice salmon have lots and lots of beeeeeeeeerrr on hand if its been soaked for any amount of time it would have sucked in ALOT of salt....

Good luck wolf

 

[Dogbreath]

I had some Coho like that one time someone did a custom job for me and he screwed right up-too much salt and smoked for too long.

I tried cooking it with some Kale-I know it sounds weird but it really added something to the dish made a nice peppery gravy but the small cubes of Salmon were still inedible after an hour's cooking even my friend's dog wouldn't eat it.

 

[Lipripper]

yeah id say basically wrecked

X2 Chuck it. Unfortunate, but mistaking 4 to 1 for 1 to 4 is a mistake and its done.. Kinda like forgetting a burger on the q and trying to salvage it in the morning...

 

[sammyslabber]

 

[lazylump]

I would put some in a chowder, and don't salt it. This is good chowder weather, just had some today.

 

[sparky727]

I think I would also try a good rinse and try to pickle it. Nothing to lose.