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I smoke a lot of salmon, and I am proud of this recipe, although it would be the height of arrogance to say that what I do is the end-all, be-all of salmon smoking recipes. Lots of people smoke their salmon in lots of ways, and many of them are good. But I’ve been smoking fish for many years, and I’ve developed a system that works well.
Keep in mind this is a hot-smoking recipe. Cold smoking, which is the kind of slice-able smoked fish you get in fancy boxes from Scotland is an entirely different thing.
Almost everyone in Salmon Country hot smokes their fish. If you’re unfamiliar with hot-smoked fish, think about those golden smoked whitefish you see in delicatessens; those are hot smoked.
How do you eat it? Well, you can just eat it plain, or you can flake it and make it into a smoked salmon salad, you can pound it with butter and make salmon rillettes, serve it in deviled eggs, tossed with pasta… you get the point.
Here’s what you need to get started:
- A smoker. I’ve uses a Traeger and a Bradley. Both are good. No matter what smoker you use, you will need to be able to a) know your smoking chamber’s temperature, and b) control the heat, at least in a rough sense.
- Wood. The only downside to a Traeger smoker is that you need to use their wood pellets. As a guy who used a Brinkmann wood-fired BBQ for years, fueling it with scraps of almond and other fruit woods, buying wood can be annoying, but you get better precision with this method. I prefer to use alder wood for my salmon, but apple, cherry, oak or maple work fine.
- Salt. Buy a box of kosher salt from the supermarket. Do not use regular table salt, as it contains iodide and anti-caking agents that will give your salmon an “off” flavor. I use Diamond Crystal, which is cut finer than Morton’s.
- Something sweet — salmon love sweet. I prefer to sweeten my smoked salmon with birch syrup; It’s just like maple syrup, only tapped from birch trees instead. Super cool stuff. But maple syrup is just as good. Just use real maple syrup, OK? Not the imitation crap. Honey works, too.
- A large plastic container. Buy the big, flat ones from the supermarket. They stack easily in a normal fridge, so you can have two different brines going. And they clean easily and are pretty cheap.
- A wire rack. You need to rest your brined fish on a rack with plenty of air circulation to form the all-important pellicle (more on that in a bit), and you will use it to rest the smoked fish before storing it.
- A basting brush. You probably already have this in your kitchen, but if not, pick one up. Get the flat kind, like you use to paint detail on window trim.
When you are ready to start, you will need smallish pieces of salmon about 1/4 to 1/2 pound each. Any salmonid fish will work with this recipe. I’ve done it with king salmon, sockeye, coho, and pink salmon, dolly varden, plus kokanee, steelhead and Lahontan trout.
There is no reason it would not work with chum salmon or any other char or trout species. And yes, it works with farmed Atlantic salmon, but I never eat the stuff.
I prefer to smoke salmon with its skin on, but I’ve done it with skinless pieces and it works fine.
Smoked Salmon
Note that my salmon cure is very simple. Feel free to add things if you like. I've added bay leaves, chiles, thyme, garlic and minced onion. All are fine, but subtle. And since I often use smoked salmon as a base for another dish, I want mine to remain simple and clean-tasting.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds salmon, trout or char
- Birch or maple syrup for basting
BRINE
- 1 quart cool water
- 1/3 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt, about 2 ounces of any kosher salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Mix together the brine ingredients and place your fish in a non-reactive container (plastic or glass), cover and put in the refrigerator. This curing process eliminates some of the moisture from the inside of the fish while at the same time infusing it with salt, which will help preserve the salmon.
- You will need to cure your salmon at least 4 hours, even for thin fillets from trout or pink salmon. In my experience, large trout or char, as well as pink, sockeye and silver salmon need 8 hours. A really thick piece of king salmon might need as much as 36 hours in the brine. Never go more than 48 hours, however, or your fish will be too salty. Double the brine if it's not enough to cover the fish.
- Take your fish out of the brine, rinse it briefly under cold running water, and pat it dry. Set the fillets on your cooling rack, skin side down. Ideally you'd do this right under a ceiling fan set on high, or outside in a cool, breezy place. By "cool" I mean 60°F or cooler. Let the fish dry for 2 to 4 hours (or up to overnight in the fridge). You want the surface of the fish to develop a shiny skin called a pellicle. This is one step many beginning smokers fail to do, but drying your cured, brined fish in a cool, breezy place is vital to properly smoking it. The pellicle, which is a thin, lacquer-like layer on top of the fish, seals it and offers a sticky surface for the smoke to adhere to. Don't worry, the salt in the brine will protect your fish from spoilage. Once you have your pellicle, you can refrigerate your fish for a few hours and smoke it later if you'd like.
- Start by slicking the skin of your fish with some oil, so it won't stick to the smoker rack. Know that even though this is hot smoking, you still do not want high temperatures. Start with a small fire and work your way up as you go. It is important to bring the temperature up gradually or you will get that white albumin "bleed" on the meat. I can control my heat with my smoker, so I start the process between 140°F and 150°F for up to an hour, then finish at 175°F for a final hour or two. NOTE: What my smoker is set at is not necessarily what the actual temperature is. Smoking is an art, not a science. To keep temperatures mild, always put water in your drip pan to keep the temperature down. If your smoker is very hot, like a Traeger can get, put ice in the tray.
- After an hour in the smoker, baste the fish with birch or maple syrup, or honey; do this every hour. This is a good way to brush away any albumin that might form. In most cases, you will get a little. You just don't want a ton of it. Even if you can't control your temperature this precisely, you get the general idea. You goal should be an internal temperature of about 130°F to 140°F. (Incidentally, yes, I keep the smoke on the whole time. I don't find this to be too much smoke, but if you want a lighter smoke, finish the salmon without smoke or in a 200°F oven.)
- You must be careful about your heat. Other than failing to dry your salmon long enough, the single biggest problem in smoking salmon is too high heat. If you've ever seen salmon "bleed" a white, creamy substance, that's a protein called albumin. If you see lots of it, you've screwed up; a little is normal. Here's what happens: If you cook a piece of salmon at too high a heat, the muscle fibers in the meat contract so violently that they extrude albumin, which immediately congeals on the surface of the fish. It's ugly, and it also means your salmon will be drier than it could have been. You prevent this with a solidly formed pellicle, and by keeping your heat gentle. If you let your heat get away from you and you do get a white mess on your salmon, all is not lost. Just flake it out and make salmon salad with it: The mayonnaise in the salad will mask any dryness.
- Once your fish is smoked, let it rest on the cooling rack for an hour before you put it in the fridge. Once refrigerated and wrapped in plastic, smoked fish will keep for 10 days. If you vacuum-seal it, the fish will keep for up to 3 weeks. Or freeze your fish for up to a year.
Notes
One last piece of advice: Try to fill up your smoker with fish. This process takes a while to do, and your smoker doesn't care if its full or half-empty, so you might as well make a big batch.
And keep in mind this recipe is for basic smoked salmon. Other options are smoked salmon candy, a great snack, and, once you have your smoked salmon, you can use it in smoked salmon dip on crackers.
Nutrition
Serving: 113g | Calories: 132kcal | Protein: 21.3g | Fat: 4.9g | Saturated Fat: 1.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2.3g | Cholesterol: 26.7mg | Potassium: 198.7mg | Vitamin A: 100IU | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @huntgathercook or tag #hankshaw!
Going to give this a try. Most brines I’ve used have the salt to sugar ratio either even or greater salt to sugar. This brine reverses that and it is 4 almost 5 to 1 sugar to salt. Just a guess, but I’m thinking that going slow on the temp also keeps that sugar from burning. Like Hank, I’ve switched from managing my own fire to a mechanical system. I’m using a Traeger – similar in concept to the Bradley. My second guess is that the longer brine (24 hours as opposed to 8-12 hours) is because of the lower salt ratio. It takes longer for the salt to work into the fish.
Hopefully I’ll remember to report back. I’m smoking four fillets of Copper River reds.
I’ve read/heard that when canning smoked salmon, that it should be smoked for a shorter time. Is that the case in your experience?
I have done the same recipe a few times now and have had different results. Having said that my best batch has been with skin on salmon and a close eye on the temps (first batch was throughout the night due to hours needed to develop pellicle). Long night! The third batch I accidentally bought skinless slabs and found the end result to be a bit drier. I finally found good pieces of skin on fish and will be smoking tomorrow. Great recipe. I have had excellent feedback from some saying it was the best salmon they have ever had. It makes a great gift idea for a salmon lover as well. good times
Have this in the smoker as I type this… Used 1-2″ steaked king salmon pieces plus tail sections, so I might have to smoke closer to 8 hours. Can’t wait
I followed this recipe and it was the best smoked salmon I have ever had. It was my first time smoking salmon and the only mistake was the length of time it was in the smoker. The fillets where thinner pieces and turned out more like jerky. But they where very tasty.
I’m not one to follow a recipe exactly, but this time I did and I have to say that this made some of the very best smoked salmon I’ve ever done! I was afraid that it might come out too sweet, but my fears were allayed with the first bite of the finished product. I think I might try adding some ginger to the brine on the next batch. But I thought I needed to post this and say THANK YOU for this site! Well done!
NJ
I just came across your web site and read your comments about smoking Salmon. I am a first time smoker and already I guess I screwed up. I didn’t dry my Salmon before I put it in the smoker. How about smoking other meats or making jerky??
I have a lot of that on this website, actually. Look around on this page: https://honest-food.net/cured-meat/hams-and-whole-cuts/
I just bought my new Bradley smoker a few weeks back and christened it with some smoked Louisiana boudin which was out of this world. Next I ventured off on some smoked fish and chose your recipe. At first I was a little hesitant about the sweetness from the maple syrup and also the fact that I bought Atlantic salmon and not Alaskan Kind Salmon. Could the the last 2 hours of cooking time be too much for such a less fatty fish? Here in Austin Alaskan King salmon runs $25 bucks a pound and the Atlantic salmon was only $9. Despite the worries what I ended up with was the complete bomb. Great directions, great results. Thanks much.
How long can you keep the salmon in the fridge after it is dried? I caught it Monday and processed it and kept it in the fridge. I brined overnight Tuesday and dried Wednesday morning. Now it is raining and I have nowhere to smoke it at my house but on the driveway. My smoker is electric and the cord cant get wet. I put the salmon in the fridge I hope it stops raining by tomorrow so I can smoke it. I tried doing it in the garage but it produced too much smoke and I had to unplug it. How much smoke typically leaks out? I am using the little chief.
Great recipe with excellent results. When I try it again, I will treat my wire racks with vegetable oil because the salmon skin stuck to the racks and it was impossible to free the salmon without it falling apart. Rookie mistake!
Great recipe! We never ate better salmon! Will try with other fish, too. Thank you!
— Eva a Slavek
Great salmon I press about 6 garlic cloves in the brine, cure for 16 hours drying with paper towel and air dry for 2-4 hours. Same heat settings as listed but I use apple chips for smoking and baste with a half and half mixture of Canadian sherry and real maple syrup. Everyone is always asking when I’m smoking my next batch.
Thanks great recipe!!
This is a wonderful guide for first time salmon smokers! I am using a chargriller with the side fire box and did a mix of pecan and cherry wood for the heat. I put a water pan in as well with a handful of cherry chips and the rind of a lemon. for the glaze I did honey, juice of two lemons, wasabi powder and ginger powder. I wish I could upload a pic! Thank you very much for the guidance, I was able to keep the fire fairly close, a little higher than what is in this post but everything worked out great! Maybe because of elevation. Thanks again, I will be checking your site when I have other wild game to prepare!
Bill Connell
Hi Hank, Great recipe. My only sugestion on smoking with a bradley smoker
is that the temp. only goes down to 120. My suggestion is that you can use your
smoker side and top vent adjuster to keep the temp in the 100 degree range for
the first two hours and then turn your oven temp on to bump it up to 140 there
after. Thanks for sharing this great smoked recipe. I enjoyed how you even broke
it down scientifically.
For those of you with the Bradley smoker having trouble reaching a lower temperature, try the Bradley Cold Smoke Adaptor.
Al
I bought my husband a smoker for his birthday. After scouring the internet for brine recipes, we decided this one sounded really good. We loved the idea of the brown sugar and syrup. We were not disappointed! Best smoked salmon ever! The entire process was simple to follow. Everyone we share the salmon with, can not believe that we smoked it ourselves! LOL! Excellent recipe, thanks for sharing!
Wonderful. Smokes one salmon filet cut in half. Everything I hoped for! Thanks for sharing.
If you want to be BLOWN away, substitute cheap hot sauce for the water in the recipe. The kind of stuff sold in quart or larger bottles. The hot sauce kind of pickles the fish and when you smoke it, the “heat” seems to go away as the smoked jerky is not spicy at all. What is left is the best smoked salmon you have ever put in your mouth. We typically skin the fish and cut the salmon into strips about 1″X1″X the width of the fillet and make salmon jerky. We are usually in a big hurry, so smoke for about 2 hrs per batch.
I go to AK every year to stock the freezer and smoke the salmon up there before coming home (hence the hurry). When we are getting ready to smoke, we prepare the fish for smoking and soak in ziplock bags for a day before the smoking.
Sheila May: How many hours you need to smoke (three to the hours), plus three pucks to push the pucks to the heating plate, you will have these left when you finish.
GREAT site, answered several questions I had since my wife bought me a propane smoker.
I even learned how to prevent that white albumin “bleed” on the meat (not that I knew that is what it was before). It almost always happened whenever I cooked salmon\steelhead even on the grill, so I assumed it was just the way it was!
I will have to try your recipe, it follows my kiss method as well.
Thank you,
Gary