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Easy Smoked Salmon



I'm a huge fan of lots of different foods.  One of my favorites is smoked Salmon.  I have an electric smoker (aka a lazy guy smoker) and I recently perfected smoked salmon.  Here are the basic steps.

For salmon, you need to brine it for the smoking technique to work properly.  Salmon can take a dry brine, meaning that you just apply to brine with no added liquid.

Note: these steps are what I used on 1 big filet of salmon. If you have more/less than that you can adjust your measurements.  Some people prefer  one giant smoked filet, but I prefer smaller cuts.  

Salmon dry brine ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon cracked pepper

Steps 

  1. Get the salmon - doesn't have to be the most expensive salmon.  I usually wait for the sale on Atlantic salmon, or something similar. 
  2. Put the salmon in the dry brine overnight (see brine recipe above).  This will pull out some liquid and apparently change the protein molecule. 
  3. Take the salmon out of the brine and rinse it well.  If you don't rinse it enough the salmon will be too salty.  Leave the salmon out (room temp) for 1 hour to get pellicle formation.  Optional - you can cut the salmon into strips at this point. Personal preference, but this is what I like. 
  4. Bring smoker to 200 degrees, fill water pan, add chips (the kids prefer apple wood)
  5. Put the salmon in the smoker with one coat of baste - put in meat probe if you need to.  Make sure the smoke is set how you prefer it (thickness and vented how you like it).  The baste can be a lot of things, but mainly adds moisture.  Some people like water and maple syrup mixed, others prefer apple juice.  We mix it up depending upon our mood.
  6. After about 1 hr 15 minutes baste again and add chips
  7. At 2 hours (internal temp at 140-150 degrees) you are done.  

We like to let it sit and cool for a bit before eating, but it is difficult to wait when that smell makes you so hungry.  You can eat it on top of salad, with eggs, add it to a bagel, or just eat it plain.  If by some miracle you have a lot left over, don't worry, it lasts a long time after its smoked and tastes good anytime.
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