Smoked Salmon

Perhaps more in the kippered style than what you might think of with the cold smoked nova or lox, this is a hot smoked salmon cured in salt and brown sugar.

And this is the way I like salmon best as it's just not a fish I normally enjoy eating.  I really like it this way though, particularly on a bagel with some cream cheese, red onion, and capers.

So what do I mean by cured? Curing in the general sense is a process that transforms the meat's texture and flavor while usually improving how well it keeps. Wikipedia gives a good overview of what the common  curing ingredients do.

I first started doing this with a recipe from Steve Raichlen in his excellent book How to Grill.  It turns out this identical recipe is also in the cookbook that comes with Traeger Smokers as well so I don't know who is the original author of it. But it's a pretty good recipe and simple. 

While using the same concepts, I've switched up the cooking and timing to meet my preferences. You should do the same. Try it his way, my way and then adapt to get the salmon you like best.  

I like the thinner parts and edges best over the thicker parts of the salmon. And my technique emphasizes that. I've taken to skipping the alcohol marination as I don't drink alcohol so I never have it on hand and it's not that critical to the finished dish. In the past, I've used a fruit juice soak with some added bitters and lemon juice. But where I use more pepper and more smoke, those flavors are lost anyway.

I cut the fish so there's more surface area and it's thinner so I need more of the curing mixture to cover it all than in Raichlen's version.

Phil's variation on Raichlen's theme of Smoked Salmon

3 pound fillet of salmon, skin removed

2 cups brown sugar

3/4-1 cup coarse kosher salt

3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, salt, and pepper, breaking up clumps as you mix them together.  

 

Horizontally slice the thicker part of the salmon so you get a long narrow piece and the broad piece of about equal thickness.  

Spread about 1/4 of the sugar mixture on a rimmed baking sheet in a shape about the size of the fish.  Lay the salmon on the mixture. Cover with the remaining curing mix. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.  

If your fridge is small, you may have to cut the fish to fit in smaller containers, but the process is the same.  

If you're smoking on a gas grill or larger smoker, you can leave the fish in long pieces. My smoker is smaller though so I need to cut up the pieces, which also works well for fitting smaller containers in the fridge. 

I'll often layer the multiple pieces of salmon in the container for curing as you'll see in the pictures.

 

After the curing time is up, the cure will have drawn out moisture from the fish, dissolving much of the salt and brown sugar. The liquid will be dark brown, from the molasses in the brown sugar. When you remove the salmon, note how it's firmer and more rigid and the color has darkened. Those are some results of the curing action. 

 About 1 1/2 hours of curing

Full Cure

Rinse off the liquid and any solid lumps of sugar and salt. But don't rinse off all the pepper. Be sure to leave the amount of pepper you want behind. 

 

Raichlen smokes his salmon at a hotter temperature than my smoker reaches so it takes about an hour to hit his level of doneness on my equipment. One time I forgot to set the timer and let it smoke for two hours and liked that even better. So I do that every time now. 

Set up your smoker and smoke the salmon at 225-250 for two hours. Alder, hickory or nut woods are my preferences for smoking salmon.

After two hours of smoking it will look something like this

Use a large spatula and carefully remove the salmon to a rack or plate to cool. It will ooze some juices and fat so if you use a rack, set it over a baking sheet or something.  The salmon will be fragile so move it carefully.

Then put in a container or zip locking baggie and refrigerate. Best served cold.