Smoked Salmon
Q: What's even better than a fillet of our Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon cooked for dinner . . .!?
A: SMOKED SALMON!
The bad news is we don't currently have smoked salmon for sale. BUT THE GOOD NEWS is we are planning on offering smoked salmon for sale in 2018 (starting with our 2018 Pre-Season Orders and shipping in September)! The other good news is that if you have a small smoker you can quite easily make your own smoked salmon!!!
Here is Kyle's straight forward, low fuss recipe.
We use a Little Chief smoker that we bought at the local hardware store and store-bought Alder or Applewood wood chips if we if we don't have any chips on hand. Smoking is an awesome way to use up your remaining Salmon Shares!
RECIPE FILLS ONE SMALL LITTLE CHIEF SMOKER
INGREDIENTS FOR HOMEMADE SMOKED SALMON
- 5 Small Scales Seafood Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon Fillets, frozen
- One Large Container of Fine Table Salt
- 1 Quart Water for Brine
- 3 T Brown Sugar
- 3T Maple or Birch Syrup
- Desired Spices to Taste (such as black pepper, chili powder, paprika, lemon pepper, cayenne pepper etc)
- 2-3 Quarts Water for Freshening
- One Large Bag of Wood Chips (alder, cherry, apple, etc.) Harvested yourself or purchased, our favorite is alder.
NECESSARY TOOLS
- Small Smoke House (homemade or purchased). We use a Little Chief!
DIRECTIONS FOR HOMEMADE SMOKED SALMON
Thaw the salmon for 2-3 hours so that you are able to cut it but it's still slightly frozen. Slice salmon into strips 1/4-3/8" thick with the skin on. Place in a large bowl.
Mix the fine table salt into about one quart of water until it is super saturated. Then add three table spoons more. Pour the salt solution over the fish and gently mix with your hands. Leave the salmon in the brine for 28 minutes, mixing it once or twice.
In a small bowl make your glaze with 3T brown sugar, 3T maple or birch syrup and your desired spices. (To keep it mild for our young kids we've lately only used chili powder and even that simple variation is tasty. If you like spicy use black pepper and cayenne. Our recipe is only slightly sweet, so you can also add more sweetners if you prefer.)
Stop the brining process by draining the brine and then freshen the salmon by rinsing it thoroughly with several quarts of water. Drain the fish in a large colander, allowing it to drain for several minutes to remove excess water. Gently transfer the salmon back to the now empty pot and add the glaze mixture. Gently mix the salmon and glaze so that each piece is coated. Let sit 1 hour.
Spread the glazed strips out evenly on the racks of your smoker. Ideally do not let the pieces touch each other as they will glue themselves together. Spread out the racks for about 4 hours under a fan or in a strong breeze to allow them to air-harden.
Transfer racks of salmon to your smoker. Smoke as cold as possible for 8-10 hours or to taste. When white oil comes to the surface the fish is cooked. Ideally this happens in the last hour of smoking. Check your thickest strips by breaking in half to make sure each piece is cooked enough to your liking. *A cold, wet day will obviously take longer to finish than a hot, dry day.
ENJOY SOME OF THE BEST, HEALTHIEST SNACKS ON EARTH!
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