Try This Wet Brine to Get Stunning Eggs

By: Bob Kratzer

Salmon season is in full swing. This means its egg collecting and curing season. Now is the time to put some of your favorite egg cures to work or prepare them for future use. The following is a simple egg cure that I use for salmon and steelhead.

When fishing with eggs, it’s always best to have several different cures prepared for varying conditions. Having options allows you to target fish that respond differently. While most anglers use powder or dry egg cures, I like to mix things up with a wet brine. A wet brine gives your eggs a unique flavor and texture and takes less time to cure. In my experience, a well-done dry cure needs at least a week before it’s at its best, whereas brined eggs can be ready to fish in as little as two days.

We’ve always mandated that you must start with good, well-taken care of eggs to end up with a good, cured egg. This means bleeding the salmon immediately, keeping them dry after gutting the fish and removing excess blood from the skeins. It’s also important to pat dry the eggs with paper towels prior to curing and push any blood in the veins out of the skeins with back of your knife.

What I prefer to do is cut the skein down the center into two pieces. Then cut each skein into 2 or 3 chunks depending on the size of the skein.

 

Contents for The Wet Brine

½ Bottle Natural Fire Brine

½ Bottle Red Fire Brine

¼ Cup Red BorX O Fire

¼ Cup Red Fire Cure

¼ Cup Raw Sugar

Place the above ingredients into a 2-quart container and mix thoroughly. This is going to give you a light colored, almost transparent red egg. Meanwhile, if you want a redder egg remove the Natural Fire Brine.

After the contents are mixed thoroughly drop your eggs into the container and shake well. Shake about every thirty minutes. Then let the eggs soak for about two hours.

After that remove the eggs from the brine and place them in a strainer. I let them sit in the strainer and drain overnight. This gives you a sweet egg with bite stimulants in it that entice the bite.

A wet brined egg allows the membrane to open and except the cure much quicker than a dry cured egg. When brining eggs a three-hour soak allows the cure to penetrate the egg and get all the cure into the egg. Now understand this cure is a sweet cure so takes a little longer to cure. For anglers wanting a saltier egg, add a quarter-cup of salt. When adding salt this shortens the curing time. If you add the salt keep checking your eggs every 30 minutes. As soon as they start to raisin pull them out of the brine.

After removing eggs from the brine I prefer to let my eggs sit for a couple of days before I fish them. You can freeze them if you aren’t going to fish them soon. If I freeze them I pack mine in quart jars.

Normally, I brine sweet and salty wet brine eggs on trips and let the fish tell me what they want. Now get out and catch some salmon and try this egg cure. I think you will like its ease and success.

Editor’s Note: Bob Kratzer operates Anglers Guide Service. To learn more about his guided trips please visit https://www.anglersguideservice.com.