My last batch of smoked salmon was terrible. The worst. I never thought the day would come when smoked salmon would be so awful I'd rather throw it away than eat it. It did. One thing I've learned now, is how important it is to give the fish a really good long bath before putting it in the smoker. You cant just rinse off the brine, because the salt is still soaked right in there! And don't leave it in the smoker too long, either. There's nothing worse than really really inedibly dry salty fish.
The smoking process amplifies the saltiness, so its best to be cautious with the time at first. The thickness of the cut does make a difference to how long it should stay in. 1/2" thick means 2-3 hours in the smoker, no more. It should still be oily when it comes out. Also, I'd avoid cherry wood for fish, its too bitter tasting. Apple is great. Oh well, live and learn.
Anyway, my refined approach to smoking fish is a 24-48 hour brining with something that has a good balance of sweet and salty (for example, 50/50 maple syrup and soy sauce), enough to cover the fish completely in the container, with some good quality rock salt rubbed into the flesh before adding the brine mix to it. Quantities of each depend of course on how much fish you're actually preparing. Let the mix stand for 24 hours in a cool area (NOT cold), then bathe (and by bathe I mean soak!) for 2 hours minimum to extract the bulk of the salt. Then you dry the fish off, let it stand a few hours to develop a "pellicle" (a very weird sliminess that is totally important to the curing process) and then smoke for whatever seems sensible given the dryness and saltiness you want.
After smoking, I like to let it dry for a while in a cool (not cold!) area. Hard to do this in an apartment, unfortunately.
I've only ever used an electric smoker. I'd love to try a natural smoke fire to do this, but its an awful lot of work that I'm not ready to invest until the zombie apocalypse requires it.
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