This recipe produces beautifully flaky, succulent hot smoked salmon with a lovely hint of wood smoke flavor.
Hot Smoked Salmon
Salmon fillets are cured in a brown sugar brine, then smoked over smoldering wood chips just until cooked through, without drying them out. The fish stays moist, with its natural oils and richness intensified by the smoke.
Ingredients
- 1 fresh salmon/steelhead trout fillet, scales removed, skin on. Other fish work too, including black cod.
- 5% brine to cover the fish (5 parts salt : 5 parts sugar : 100 parts water)
- 2 parts garlic powder, measured to the amount of water above (not garlic salt)
- 1 clean brown paper bag or a few sheets of unused paper
Directions
- Run your fingers over the flesh of the fish and make sure all the pin bones are gone. If not, drape the fish over the edge of a bowl so the bones stick out, and yank them with tweezers or needle-nose pliers.
- I’ve found the easiest way to measure the proper amount of brine is to place the fish in a non-reactive (glass, plastic or stainless steel) container. Put this on a scale and set the weight to 0. Add water to cover. You now know the weight of the water, so add salt, sugar and garlic powder as directed. Mix thoroughly.
- If you are using a pan, submerge the fish skin side up in the brine and refrigerate. Make sure the meat part is thoroughly submerged. If you need to, hold it under with a plate with a weight on top.
- If you brine in a zipper bag, periodically grab the bag and squish things around and flip the meat so the brine can get in from all sides. Place the bag in a pan to catch leaks.
- Brine for ~3 hours for a 2-2.5 lb piece of fish. Longer if larger (see Notes).
- Remove fish from brine. Place on wire rack over a sheet pan, and pat dry.
- Plase in refrigerator for 24-36 hours.
- Cut pieces of paper bag or plain white paper about the same size as each hunk of fish and place the fish on the paper, skin side down.
- Set up the grill in a 2-zone configuration or get the smoker started, and get the indirect zone up to about 150°F. Put the fish in and add the wood.
- After 2 hours, raise the temperature to 225°F
- Start spot checking the meat temps after about 30 minutes. Remove the meat when it is at about 120°F internal. Total cooking time will be about 2-3 hours minutes depending on the actual temperature of your oven and the thickness of the meat.
- Remove the fillets once grilled and let them cool for about 15 minutes, until you can handle them. Then peel off the paper and the skins should come right off with it.
- Other fish work well too, including black cod.
- Experiment with the brining and cooking times to achieve the perfect balance of flavor and texture. Some have found success with brining the day before to form a better pellicle, and adjusting the cooking temperature to 180 over 225. A light glaze with Vietnamese caramel (Nước Màu) could also add a unique twist to the flavor.
- Cooking Log 12/31/23: 2.59 lb steelhead trout, brined for 3 hours with 3% brine. Let dry in fridge for 4 hours, out on countertop for 2 hours, smoked at 150 for 50 minutes, then roasted at 225 for 40 minutes. Pulled at 120 degrees. Pellicle could have been better–needed more drying time at low smoke, or earlier brine. Needed a tiny bit more salt. Also roasted whole oyster mushrooms on the side. Slightly over-smoked. Next time, smoke for 20 minutes or so, then roast in oven the rest of the way.
- Cooking log 12/27/24: 3 x 1 lb black cod, brined for 3 hours with 3% brine. Let dry in fridge for 36 hours. Smoked at 160 for 2 hours (with second smoke generator), and then upped temp to 225 to finish, pulling two at 126, and the other at 130, for a total time of ~3 hours. Pellicle great, nice smoke flavor, but underseasoned.
- Cooking log 12/31/24: 2.1 lb steelhead trout, brined for 3 hours with 5% brine. Let dry in fridge for 36 hours. Smoked at 150°F for 1.5 hours, raised temp to 225°F. Pulled at 121°F. Tasted great and got many compliments.