Salmon Brine for smoking or grilling salmon

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts cool water
• ¾ Cup Sea Salt (cannot be salt with iodine)
• ½ Cup dark brown sugar, packed
• ½ to 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1-2 tsp cracked black peppercorn
• ½ tsp savory, lightly crushed

Directions:

Place salmon filets in glass bowl/pan, and cover with brine. Be sure to keep the filets submerged. I placed the filets in a large glass baking dish and covered it with saran wrap.

I left the filets in the brine for 12 hrs, but you could do it for just 1 to 2 hours.

After the filets have been in the brine for the desired amount of time, rinse them with cold water and pat them dry with a dishtowel. Place them on the smoking racks with a pan underneath to let them drip, and let them sit out for about 1.5 hrs at which time they should be ?tacky? to the touch. I sprinkled each filet with a little cracked black pepper, granulated garlic and savory.

Now, smoke them or grill them! We used Alder wood chips and smoked them for about 6 hrs (our smoker isn?t that great, but it was cheap!). The salmon was awesome, and was kindly provided by "footloose". Good luck, Kristin