Salmon candy has become my new favorite road food. Sweet, smoky, meaty, fatty. And while it looks like regular smoked salmon, it’s not. So what on earth is candied salmon?
Well, I first heard about candied salmon decades ago, when it was called squaw candy, but it’s no longer called that for obvious reasons. Salmon candy is basically heavily smoked strips of salmon, originally smoked so long they were basically salmon jerky. Nowadays it’s usually lacquered with something sweet, such as brown sugar, maple or birch syrup, or even molasses. The idea is to combine fatty-savory-smoky-sweet in one bite.
Strips from the belly of the salmon are best, but regular fillet strips are good, too — and you can do this to salmon collars as well.
Don’t get me wrong: I love my recipe for smoked salmon. I really do. But it’s for large pieces of salmon, meant to be eaten as a meal, or crumbled into salads or whatever. It isn’t something you can wrap in a paper towel, stick in your pocket and carry with you when you are picking blueberries or wandering around, or maybe fishing for more salmon.
For that you need to change things up a bit. First is the dry cure. My regular smoked salmon uses a brine cure, which keeps the fish supple and moist. Salmon candy needs to be heavily cured and heavily smoked to keep in less-than-ideal conditions.
While it isn’t strictly jerky, although if you want to make a true salmon jerky this is my recipe, the heavy cure and smoke has let me carry salmon candy on multi-day road trips and on fishing boats with a minimal amount of refrigeration.
How minimal? I’ve eaten it at room temperature after it had been in my pack while fishing all day, or in the late afternoon on a long drive. But I fish in cool places, so the salmon probably never got about 65°F. I wouldn’t let it get actually hot and eat it.
Remember, this is an Alaskan invention and it rarely gets hot in Alaska.
If you want something truly hardy, you will need to cut the strips thinner and smoke them harder to get them jerky-like.
What salmon to use? Well, any, really. This is a great use of chum or pink salmon, and it is also excellent with large trout or char. If you want to order salmon from Alaska, try Yakobi Fisheries — I have fished commercially with them and can highly recommend their fish.
Consider my candied salmon a hybrid, hardier than regular smoked salmon, and not quite as austere as the traditional salmon candy made by the native Alaskans. Whatever you call it, it’s damn good.
Smoked Salmon Candy
Ingredients
- 5 pounds skin-on salmon pieces, cut into 1- to 2-inch thick strips
- 1 pound kosher salt
- 1 pound brown sugar
- 1 cup maple syrup or birch syrup
Instructions
- Mix the salt and brown sugar together. Find a lidded container large enough to hold the salmon; a big plastic tub works well. Lay down a layer of the salt/sugar mixture about 1/4 inch deep. Put a layer of salmon down on this, skin side up. Cover the salmon with more salt/sugar mixture. If you need a second layer of salmon, make sure the layer of salt and sugar between them is thick enough so that the pieces of salmon are not touching. Basically you are burying the salmon in salt and sugar. Cover and let cure in the fridge at least 30 minutes, and up to 3 hours. The longer the cure the saltier it will be; I cure for 2 hours.
- Remove the salmon from the cure, which will get wet, and briefly rinse the fish under cold water. Pat dry with a paper towel and set the salmon on a drying rack skin side down. Let this dry in a breezy place for 2 hours, or in the fridge, uncovered, overnight. I put the racks under a ceiling fan near an open window with another fan blowing at the fish from the side. You are doing this to form a pellicle on the salmon, which helps it smoke properly. Don't skip this step!
- Traditionally salmon candy is cold smoked for several days. If you can do this, go for it. Regardless, you want to bring the temperature up gradually over the course of an hour or so and let it sit at around 165°F to 200°F for at least 3 hours, and up to 6 hours if you like your salmon candy harder and smokier.
- Every 90 minutes to 2 hours, paint the salmon with the maple syrup. This also helps to remove any albumen -- the icky white stuff -- that can form between the fish flakes if your smoker gets a little too hot too fast.
- When the salmon looks good and lacquered, typically about 3 to 4 hours, remove it to the drying racks again and paint it one last time with the maple syrup. Allow to cool to room temperature before storing. Salmon candy will last a week in the fridge, longer if vacuum sealed. It freezes well, too.
You need to really rinse the salt off after curing guys . Especially with a dry brine!! Thats where your heavy salt issue is .
On my third batch. The first batch was absolutely incredible. Cured for one hour, smoked 5lbs of cheap atlantic salmon at 170 for about 3 hours with apple (hard to get alder here in NC), glazed with maple syrup every hour. Flawless. The second time I cured for two hours and used sockeye. A little too salty and dry and bitter from the smoke. So back to my original plan. The fattyness of atlantic vs sockeye makes the cheaper salmon a better choice for this recipe, imo.
Hey Hank. Do you use regular brow sugar or the Demerara brown sugar. Also do you have a cold smoke recipe ? Thanks.
Kyle: Either works.
Is the 50/50 proportion of salt to sugar in the recipe posted on the site correct? Just followed this recipe, cured 2 hours, rinsed, put in fridge overnight for pellicle. Got nice glaze & consistency but was waaayy too salty.
Dave: Yes, it’s correct. The point of this recipe is to make a semi-preserved product, and for that you need salt. As I mention in the post, this is a variant of smoked salmon that will keep in cool climates, i.e., below 60F, for several days or more. So it is supposed to be salty.
I have some salmon belly in the freezer. Can I use it for this recipe? Or does it have to be fresh?
Tova: It will work, but belly is very fatty, so you’ll want to eat this quickly once it’s made. Like within a week.
Hi Hank,
I’ve been my salmon candy this exact way for years but wanted to see what others were doing also. My question is, do you suggest glazing before it goes in the smoker or waiting after 90 minutes of smoking, then glaze every 90 minutes?
Erin: Yes, I like to let it get some smoke on before glazing.
Excellent, thank you! New fan of yours. 😉 Suggestion from me: add lemon zest, black pepper, a touch of cayenne and a splash of bourbon to the maple glaze. Adds a touch of kick to balance the sweetness. Steelhead works great too since it tends to be fattier and thicker. Cheers from the Oregon coast!
Hank i am on a salt free diet ,Can you eliminate the salt and just use brown sugar and other salt free spices.
Sorry, you cannot. You need salt for this recipe.
Are the fish scaled?
Thanks
Aaron: No they are not.
If I were going to make this with a dehydrator (as I do not have a smoker) and I want to have this as a backpacking treat/meal (so needs to be shelf stable for weeks) how would you recommend I go about that? I see the temperature recommendation of 140-160F above, how long is that for, and any other special processes in that time, such as flipping them or anything? Thanks!
Melissa: Don’t do this recipe. It won’t work for that. Make actual salmon jerky instead. Here’s how you go about it: https://honest-food.net/salmon-jerky-recipe/
Can I use a big chief electric smoker for this recipe?
YES! My first smoker was a Little Chief, then moved up to a Big Chief. Thirty years later, I’m using a Masterbuilt with propane.
How do you keep the maple syrup from messing up your smoker with sticky drips? Can you use aluminum foil under them to keep it from going through the grates?
Adele: Yes, that works well.
Hi Hank
Going out on a limb and giving this recipe a 5 star based upon your formula for smoked salmon I did yesterday for a King I caught this past Saturday … excellente’, came out extremely moist, I took it to 160° on my pellet grill, seasoned with a bit of black pepper and basted in maple syrup. My pup loved the skin ! Looking forward to trying this though I may have to hit the market for my next catch ! Thanks again 🙂
I did this recipe with whitefish caught through the ice and damn! Very good!
Hello,
what would be best temp to do a cold smoke with this recipe and over what amount of time?
Travis: This won’t work with cold smoking, sorry.
I love this stuff, but never made it before. I bought a tiny smoker because it’s just me. I think it can fit 2 fallets in there. Do you still cook for 4 hours?
Buffy: Check it after 2 hours. Smoking is an art, not a science.
can you dehydrate as well with this recipe?
Mike: Absolutely. Set the dehydrator at about 140F to 160F. I prefer 150F.
I’m on my third batch now.
1) First batch was way too salty. I brined too long. Also used hickory because I didn’t have Alder. A fail.
2) Second time, no salt! Used alder! Brined 5 hours, smoked 6 hours with Alder, everyone said it was outstanding. Me? I thought it was a little dry (well, 6 hours, duh), and I wanted more sweetness to penetrate.
3) Now I’m on attempt #3. Took three whole filets, poked holes with one of those fancy shmancy meat tenderizers, laid the whole pieces in maple syrup, covered with brown sugar, and into the fridge for a few hours. Removed, drained liquid out of container, cut into strips using kitchen shears, and brined again with brown sugar. About 2 hours.
Now the pieces go on a drying rack with fan. Over them. About 2 hours. I find that 2 hours gives me that nice outer texture.
Then into the smoker between 160 and 200 max, brush occasionally with maple syrup, and I might go 6 hours again. I cut these into pretty big pieces. I want these real sweet.
Fingers crossed!
I had to add some extra stars to illuminate just how flawless this recipe is. I followed it precisely and opted for the “go for it” version. By cold smoking my salmon for a full 48 hours, then gently finishing with hot smoke & painting it with real maple syrup. Wow! It’s ridiculously gooooood!
I can’t make enough of this, most recent batch I smoked a little longer than called for to carry for snacks on upland hunts, which worked great, except for not making enough, 5 star from the whole crew.
Have made this dozens of times. Simply wonderful!
Years ago, before I started cooking, I had smoked salmon on a charter fishing boat. It was really amazing but when I decided to start cooking for myself, I couldn’t figure out how to replicate it. Hank’s recipe replicates it perfectly for me, and it’s the only way I make smoked salmon now. Absolutely dynamite!
This recipe is so good that I use 1 of the 2 Atlantic Salmon I get a year to this recipe. It is also great with sea run browns. I always make a batch of this for my backpack during hunting season.
Currently watching my smoker do it’s thing outside in the deck. So far, this recipe has been amazing. The coho and spring nuggets look amazing!!
The best way to smoke trout! My kids love it.