Smoked salmon is really one of my favorite appetizers for a variety of reasons. Foremost is I was born and raised in the Puget Sound area of Washington State across the bay from Seattle. There is a deeply emotional connection to growing up in the wooded area of Kitsap and doing an egregious amount of fishing with my father. We trolled the shoreline as much as possible for Salmon and Halibut. This is pertinent because we got ALOT of fish. So much so that we used an old refrigerator converted into a smoker to do quite large batches of delicious smoked salmon for eating later.
As an adult I realize now this was purely a method of preserving our catch for eating later, the same way canning (which not as delicious) was a necessity. The best part of this is that it is a deeply intense flavor of sweet, salt, smoke and meaty salmon flavor. Paired with some cream cheese it is a favorite amongst a large portion of my friends and family.
Luckily as far as cure times goes, this is a relatively fast process. I typically cure my salmon overnight and am able to do a smoke the next day.
The Cure (not the band): Cut your salmon skin on or skin off (doesn’t matter) into the size that you would like to serve. I like a nice 2-3 person serving size for when guests come over. The cure consists of:
- 2 cups dark brown sugar.
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
This is enough cure for 1 casserole pan of salmon, or 1 half salmon filet.
Cover the bottom of the pan with some of your cure to create a nice bed to place all your salmon on. Then cover all the nooks and cranies of your salmon with the rest of the cure. It should look a little wasteful and out of control. Just go NUTS!
Cover this pan with plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator overnight. This cure will pull all of the liquid out of the salmon and create a wet brine. Let this cure for 8-24 hours (I really recommend 24 hours to let it get nice and “rubbery”).
The Rinse Pre-Smoke: By this point the salmon will by swimming in a sugary, syrupy and fishy liquid. Rinse under cold tap water and make sure all of the cure is off your salmon. Place these pieces on a oiled baking rack. Blot these with a paper towel to remove excess liquid and dry it a bit. Let this sit out for 1 hour until the surface becomes foggy or tacky. This texture will enable the smoke to adhere to the meat.
Smoking Time: Finally it is time to smoke. I like using Apple Wood, but our family traditionally has used a blend of Alder and Apple. This is the part that I get vague. I like a hot smoke, which means this will be done in about an hour. I target 180° F – 250° F. I load on the wood and monitor as needed. Target a internal temperature of 140° F.
Family Traditional method is smoke 2-3 hours @ 150° F – 160° F until internal temperature is 130° F -135° F
You can immediately serve, but it is best to let them cool and go into the refrigerator for a couple hours to let the flavor set. Happy eating!
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