This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Smoked Salmon
Dec
4
2014
I got this smoked salmon recipe from a guy at work. It has worked well for me.
First, photos from my attempt. Scroll to the end for just the recipe.
You need:
salmon
To make your life easier, choose the center-cut fillets. Do this because they are about the same thickness, so they will all cook for the same time. If you get a standard fish, the sides and end are much thinner than the center. Grilling that piece of fish will cause the thin parts to be overdone or you’ll have to cut the thin pieces separate and take them off earlier than the thicker parts, which is more work for you.
brown sugar, salt, and pepper
wood chips
rum
No photo
Step 1
Soak the salmon in rum for 40 minutes.
There’s not much rum, so you need to flip the salmon or something to make sure it gets covered. Or maybe you have a lot of rum to waste and can submerge the fish.
Step 2
While the salmon is soaking, put together the spices.
1 cup of salt:
2.5 cups of brown sugar:
2 tablespoons of pepper:
Mix it all together:
and spread half of it in the bottom of two 9×13 pans. Or whatever container you have. But I’ve found that a 3 lb bag of salmon fits into two 9×13 pans.
Place the salmon on the bed of salt:
and then coat the salmon with the rest of the salt/sugar/pepper mixture
Cover the pans of salmon (I used plastic wrap, but if your pans have lids that’s fine too) and place them in the fridge for a few hours.
(Our fridge was full, and it was November in Michigan, so our garage qualified as a fridge.)
Step 3
While the salmon is curing, prepare the wood. Just put it in a bucket with enough water to cover it all.
And then, a few hours later, start setting up the grill.
After the charcoal has started, get the fish ready by rinsing the salt/sugar/pepper off.
Here it is before rinsing:
(Note the salt/sugar has turned into syrup.)
And here it is after rinsing:
(Note the salmon will be firmer than before. The salt curing has that effect.)
Take everything to the grill
(snow is optional)
Spread the coals along the side. I did two sides with the salmon in the middle. I think next time I would do the coals along one side and fish on the other.
Put the salmon on the grill, close the lid, and get it 25 minutes later. Don’t have the coals too hot, or it will cook more than smoke.
If you use tinfoil, like I did, poke some holes in it first.
Watch the grill while it’s smoking – flare-ups are bad for the smoking process.
And then it’s done. Some people use a thermometer to see if it’s done, but I just go off the look and feel of the salmon.
It’s good warm or cold.
Recipe
SMOKED SALMON RECIPE
1 3lb bag of center cut salmon 2 1/2 Cups of brown sugar (packed) 1 Cup salt 2 Table spoons of black pepper 6oz. Dark Rum 4 Cups wood chips Hickory or fruit wood will do Grill Charcoal Lots of paper towels Large casserole dish Mixing bowl Strainer bowl Large Tupperware bowl
2. Open each individual center cut piece of salmon, usually there are about 7 – 8 pieces per 3lbs. Rinse each piece in the sink and dab dry.
3. Place each piece in the casserole dish and soak in 6oz. of dark rum. Baste occasionally for at least 20 minutes each side.
4. Combine in a mixing bowl: brown sugar, salt and pepper so that the mixture is consistent.
5. When done soaking and basting with rum, dab dry each piece and set aside. Clean casserole dish.
6. Coat the bottom of the casserole dish with the brown sugar mixture. Arrange each piece of salmon in the dish and use the remaining mixture to coat the top of each piece.
7. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours. During this time the mixture (cure), will draw a lot of moisture out of the fish and toughen up the flesh of the fish. At the end of the 4 hours the mixture will have syrup like consistency.
8. Rinse each piece of salmon lightly. Dab dry each piece and set aside.
9. Fill the charcoal starter chimney with charcoal and ignite. When the coals are almost ready, spray the grate with non-stick spray, this should be done away from the grill.
10. Arrange each piece of salmon in the center of the grate ONLY. This allows for indirect cooking of the fish.
11. Strain the wood chips. The coals should be ready by now. Place half of the coals on each side of the grill, they can be piled to some extent. The bottom grill vent should be completely open and the top vent should be about half open.
12. Place half of the soaked wood chips on each coal pile. Place the grate in the grill and cover with the lid.
13. The fish should be completely cooked / smoked in about 25 minutes. Be careful not to over cook, the salmon will dry out very quickly if left in the grill 30 to 40 minutes.
14. When cooked / smoked, remove fish and place in a large Tupperware bowl. Place the fish in the refrigerator to cool. The Tupperware bowl is used so that the fish will be air tight, if its not air tight your kitchen / refrigerator will smell very smokey!
15. When cooled cut into pieces and refrigerate again. The salmon will last about 7 days in the refrigerator. Could be frozen too. ENJOY!
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
2 Samuel 22:9
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:24 am and has been carefully placed in the Food category.
December 8th, 2014 at 11:23 pm
This is ok but i find it is better for step 12 when you separate the wood chips if you put more then half of them on one pile and then you put less then half of them on the other pile becasue it gives it a sort of a gradient.