My Succulent Hot Smoked Salmon Recipe

Not just salmon in a smoker, this is hot smoked salmon. What’s the difference? Well salmon in a smoker is exactly what it says whereas this recipe takes more from the traditional methods of making smoked salmon and by that I mean brine.

1. Brine
2. Cure (drying)
3. Smoke

As we go through this recipe you’ll see the three stages in effect and finish off by hot smoking which effectively means smoking and cooking at the same time.

Ingredients:-

• 1 Salmon – filleted

  For the brine

• 1 litre or a quart of water
• 250g or 8oz salt
• 150g or 5oz brown sugar

Method:-

The first step is to make the brine. Pour the water into a large saucepan, add the salt and sugar and heat up to dissolve. When everything has dissolved (you may need to boil the brine to achieve this) put it to one side to cool and once cool, chill in the refrigerator. When the brine is chilling it’s time to prepare the salmon.

I’ve chosen to use two sides of salmon (get your fishmonger to fillet a whole salmon) and then cut into steaks because it’s cheaper than buying the steaks! All you have to do is scrutinize the flesh for any bones and remove them then cut the sides up into steaks – I usually get about 6 or 7 steaks out of a side of salmon + the tail which I freeze and save for another day.

Brining

Layer the salmon steaks in the super chilled brine and ensure that everything is totally immersed – you can do this with a plate of smaller diameter to the saucepan and a bottle by placing the plate on top of the salmon, fill the bottle with water and placing that on top of the plate. When you’re happy that everything is brining well, bung it in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.

Curing

I use my barbecue grill rack (lightly brushed with olive oil) and you can too, just remember that the curing has to take place in a cool place (the refrigerator is pretty good) so make sure that the rack or tray that you use fits in!

Remove the salmon from the brine, rinse under cold water and place to dry on the grill rack. Now leave to cure for the day.

Smoking

Start a low fire in the smoke box, add some pre-soaked wood chips and place your salmon in smoker. Gently bring the temperature up to 80°C or 175°F over a period of about 30 minutes and then smoke for a further 30 mins. You’ll know when it’s cooked because the skin will gently peel away to reveal perfect hot smoked salmon.

To Serve

Try flaking hot smoked salmon onto a melba toast with a little crème fraiche and chopped chives to top it off. You can eat it immediately or if you want to freeze and eat later just let it cool, put it in a polythene bag and into the freezer it goes

See Also:-

Barbecue Smokers
Wood Chips
Barbecue Fish Recipes

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