Brine

As requested by John, here's the recipes for the brine. First though, a bit of an overview. I use a salt brine, followed by a sweet marinade, and the result is a lot like the northwest smoked salmon they call Indian candy. Smoky inside, but with a sweet exterior.

Salt brine: 2 cups water; 1/2 cup kosher salt; 1 cup brown sugar; 4 bay leaves; 1 tsp. course black pepper; 1 tsp. allspice; 1 tsp. whole cloves; 1 tsp. ground ginger; 2 crushed garlic cloves. Soak at least 12 hours in the brine. Then remove from brine, rinse well, spray with olive oil, and prepare marinade.

Marinade: 1 1/2 cups water; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 tsp. course black pepper; 1 tsp. allspice; 1 tsp. whole cloves; some garlic. Seafood now marinades for at least 12 hours. I usually start this process two nights before I plan to smoke. About 24 hours in the brine, and then overnight in the sweet marinade; then take fish out of the marinade, and let it air dry for one hour before smoking begins.