Schmancy Smoked Salmon

No fish is more receptive to smoke than salmon. This recipe creates an elegant, delicate, moist piece of meat with a hint sweet and a hint of garlic. This recipe is "hot smoked" at about 225°F. If you can get your smoker lower, fine, just adapt the time allotted.

You can make it savory, with no sugar, or give it a glaze that people swoon over. Here is the procedure for glazed smoked salmon. Leave off the brown sugar topping to make it savory.

Serve this dish warm as an entree or as an appetizer at room temp, flaked, on cold rye toast or crackers. I love flaking it and cooking it in omelets or scrambled eggs. If it is tightly packaged in plastic wrap, you can refrigerate for up to a week. Freezing also works, although it does dry the fish out a bit.

Recipe

Yield. Makes four entree servings of 1/2 pound each. It can be used as an appetizer. I love it on boiled potato slices with sour cream and minced onion, on bagel chips with cream cheese, on toast points with minced hard boiled egg, or just serve it on a platter so people can help themselves to flake on crackers, apple slices, cheese slices. Another wonderful use is to mix it in with scrambled eggs, omelets, or in risotto.
Preparation time. It takes about 20 minutes to make the brine, and then brining takes 4-6 hours. Preparing the fish for the smoker takes about 15 minutes.
Cooking time. 60-90 minutes
Drinks. Crisp, high acid, dry white wine is the classic. French Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc based wines such as Chablis or white Burgundies (Chardonnay); or White Bordeaux or Pouilly Fume (both Sauvignon Blanc) are classics. Champagne is also a winner.

Ingredients
2 pounds of fresh salmon fillets of similar thickness, scales removed but skin on, cut into strips about 3" wide
1/4 cup table salt
1/4 cup brown sugar for brine
1/4 cup brown sugar for glaze
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 cup hot water
3 cups cold water
4 ounces of alder, apple, peach, or other fruitwood chips or pellets. Avoid hickory or mesquite; they are too strong. Skip the chunks because the burn too slowly and this recipe cooks fairly quickly.

Beware. It is crucial that if you use kosher salt or sea salt that you adjust the quantity of salt. Follow this link for the ratio. Do not leave the fish in brine longer than 3 hours. If the filets are thin, brine for less time. And do not overcook.

About the sugar. You can use more or less brown sugar to your taste, or even try maple syrup as a glaze. The picture at the top of the page is without sugar. The pictures below are a batch going into the smoker with brown sugar on top, and the picture below is what it looked like when I took it out after a quick final glaze of real maple syrup.

Do this
1) Run your fingers over the flesh of the fish and make sure all the pin bones are gone. If not, drape the fish over the edge of a bowl so the bones stick out, and yank them with tweezers or needlenose pliers. Don't worry if there are a few scales left on the skin.

2) In a large stainless, ceramic, or glass pot, make a brine by mixing the salt, garlic powder, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar in 1 cup of hot water. Stir until the salt and sugar are thoroughly dissolved. The garlic will not completely dissolve. Don't worry about it. Add it to the rest of the water and cool the mixture for about 30 minutes in the fridge before adding the fish. You can make this brine days in advance if you wish.

3) Place the fish skin side up in the brine and refrigerate. Make sure the meat is thoroughly submerged. If you need to, hold them under with a plate with a weight on top. If necessary add a bit of water, but if you add more than two cups, be sure to add more salt, sugar, and garlic. Gently stir the pot occasionally to make sure all parts of the fish come into contact with the brine.

4) The length of brining will vary depending on how thick the filets are. Brine 2" filets for about 2 hours in the fridge, 1" filets for 1 hour. Drain the fish and discard the brine. Do not leave in the brine too long or the fish will be too salty. Then rinse the fish to remove surface salt, and pat dry with paper towels. Some folks like to put the filets in the fridge for an hour or two under the theory that a desireable film or pellicle will form on the surface. I have not found this to be necessary.

5) Place each piece of fish skin side down on a rack from your grill or smoker so they are not touching each other. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top of the fillets. Insert a temperature probe into the thickest part of the thickest fillet.

6) Put them into a preheated smoker at about 225°F and place the fillet with the probe in the coolest part of the smoker. Add the fruit wood.

7) Remove the meat when it is at 130 to 135°F internal. No more than 150°F. Total cooking time will be about 60 to 90 minutes depending on the actual temperature of your smoker and the thickness of the meat.

8) Remove the fillets and let them cool for about 15 minutes, until you can handle them. Then peel off the skins.

This page was revised 8/29/2010

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