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Hot-smoked salmon
There are many ways to smoke salmon and many choices to be made by the craftsperson. Farmed or wild. Hot or cold. Dry or wet. Wood, coal, or gas. Hardwood or soft. Lump or briquette. Chips or shavings. In our custom indoor and outdoor smokehouses we’re honoured to practise the traditions of this ancient craft. We’ve pushed a few boundaries, made lots of mistakes and a few discoveries, and learned lots of lessons. We forever tinker with our formula, and find this version one of our favourites. Perfect for tinkering on your back deck. Naturally, we choose to smoke only ethically sourced fish. Our choice, Sustainable Blue, comes from a land-based closed-loop farm in Nova Scotia. We encourage you to make sustainable choices too. Check out Ocean Wise, Seafood Watch, or Marine Stewardship Council. find it easily flakes into large chunks, but is not easily sliced like cold-smoked salmon.
YIELDS
Ingredients
Special equipment:
- Backyard smokehouse or enclosed outdoor grill
- Base fire and coal bed of fragrant hardwood, aromatic fruitwood (such as apple or cherry), or premium lump charcoal
- 2 or 3 generous handfuls of cedar shavings, hardwood chips, or fruitwood chips (such as apple or cherry), soaked in water, more as needed
- Fire pit kit
- 1 skin-on, boneless salmon fillet (2 to 3 pounds/900 g to 1.35 kg)
- 1 cup (250 mL) tightly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) kosher salt (I use Morton)
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) ground black pepper
- 4 ounces (115 g) freshly harvested or frozen spruce tips or rosemary, bay leaf, or fennel seeds
Directions
Cure the salmon:
- Place the salmon skin side down in a baking dish or on a baking sheet. In a food processor, grind together the brown sugar, salt, pepper, and spruce tips until light green and fragrant. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the entire surface of the fish. Pat with your fingers into a thick, even layer. Cover with plastic wrap laid directly over the fish and let cure in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours. The fish should feel firm to the touch. Gently rinse off the cure under cold running water. Do not dry the fish. Rest at room temperature for a few minutes but smoke as soon as possible.
Smoke the salmon:
- Towards the end of the curing time, build and tend an aromatic fire in your smokehouse or patiently craft a thick bed of glowing charcoal or hardwood coals in your backyard grill. Push the fire to one side of your grill. (If using a Big Green Egg, position the plate separator.)
- Stabilize the heat between 210°F and 250°F (100°C to 120°C). Add a generous handful or three of wood shavings or chips. Position the moist salmon fillet in the smokehouse. Close the lid and smoke, infusing the salmon with flavour.
- After 30 minutes check on the progress, adjusting the fire and adding more wood shavings or chips as needed to keep the fire smouldering. Smoke for at least an hour in total. Check the internal temperature of the salmon: when it reaches 165°F (74°C), it’s safely done. If you can keep the smoke smouldering and the heat low so it doesn’t dry out the fish, you can smoke the salmon for another hour. Serve warm.
- If not serving now, let the salmon cool. Store in an airtight container or wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to five days or freeze for up to one month.
Excerpted from Farm, Fire & Feast: Recipes from the Inn at Bay Fortune by Michael Smith Copyright © 2021 Michael Smith. Photography by Al Douglas. Published by Penguin Canada®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
