You have no doubt come across this wonderful delicacy sometime in your dining experience. If you were a fan of smoked salmon, than I am sure it is not something that you will soon forget. I am going to show you just how easy it is to enjoy smoked salmon anytime you want, just as long as you are willing to invest a little bit of time into it.
For the purposes of this article, I am going to assume you have your own smoker. But don’t worry if you don’t because I am going to show you how to guild your own in later articles.
I like to start with a good quality Wild Alaskan Salmon. Farmed salmon is almost like eating poison and I highly suggest you stay away from it at all costs. Spend a little extra and I promise you your taste buds will thank you. That being said, I like to use Chum Salmon. It is lesser known than all the other species of salmon, but it is a little less expensive and has a very high oil content. This is a good thing. The more oil a fish has the better it is for this process of smoking, and it will not dry out as quickly.
First things first. You need to prepare the salmon 12 hours ahead of time with a process called brining. This brine I will show you is quite simple but adds really nice flavor to the fish.
How to Smoke a Salmon
- In a large container pour in 4 cups of warm water,
- 1 cup Kosher salt,
- 1 cup sugar,
- and 1 cup brown sugar.
- Stir vigorously until well combined. At this point your salmon should be cut up into chunks of equal size. Place them in the brine mix, skin side up please. Put the lid on your container and put it back into the fridge for 12 hours.
- After 12 hours take each piece of salmon out of the brine, rinse lightly under water, and place on the counter to dry. After about an hour of drying, a pellicle will form over the top of the Salmon. This just looks like a shiny skin and that is what we want. Now we put the rub on that is going to flavor our smoked salmon delicacy. For this application I am going to give you my recipe for what I like to call "Indian Candy". This recipe was shown to me by the Indians of the Pacific Northwest. Rub each piece of fish with butter until lightly coated. Then rub each piece heavily with brown sugar. Let sit while you prepare your smoker.
- You want to get your smoker between 150 and 180 degrees rolling with Alder smoke. I highly suggest Alder as it gives the salmon a very unique flavor. You will enjoy it, I guarantee you. Put your salmon in and close the door. Do not even peek for two hours. Just let the smoke do its work. After two hours begin to look every once in a while for the Salmon to start flaking. Once it begins to flake it is done.
- Now here is a secret that no one will tell you. The flavor of the salmon is better the next day. What I like to do at this point is vacuum seal each piece while it is still warm. This ensures that maximum flavor stays with each piece. Put into the fridge until the next day, open and enjoy.
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