As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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.
Notes
Tips
Smoke likes Fat. Smoke adheres better to fat than lean meat, so bellies and collars are better for this. Vary the thickness. Very thin strips will dry harder and be more like jerky... and will keep longer. I eat mine fairly quickly, so I leave the strips thicker, at about 2 inches wide.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So when did u remove the skin.. after totally done? The SC I just had in Vancouver had no skin and looked like the underside was smoked and basted too.. I am just putting my belly strips on the drying rack.. been in fridge for 3-4 hrs.. I will ultimately smoke on my green egg (old one with no temp controls). The thinner strips may turn in to jerky but I can deal with that. 🙂 My gf and I caught 3 @ 15-25# WHITE King Salmon last week at mouth of Burrard inlet and I brought home on airplane as a checked bag. thx and btw.. you are a twin of a close friend of mine in Tampa, Mike Fisher.
I’m trying this now, with old school smoker, hopefully its as good as it seems! Useing cherry for smoke, I’ll let you know in about 6 hrs or so! Thanks for the recommendations folks
Hank awesome recipe going to try it out up here in Washington , doing Pink salmon now but plan on getting some chinook an coho to smoke . Let you know how it turns out
Hi there,
I don’t have a smoker. Could I use a food dehydrator make candy salmon or candy tuna?
Thank,
This is my go to. I do half a smoker sweet and the other half I brush withy sriracha mix I made up! Sweet and spicy!
I tried this recipe over the weekend. My neighbor popped over when he smelled the smoker (“where there’s smoke, there’s beer at Bill’s place”) and we sacrificed a couple of the thinnest pieces for quality assurance purposes.
I finished it off as you recommended, and the difference in taste between hot and cold is astonishing. It seems saltier when hot, and less sweet. Definitely needs to be cool when served.
This recipe is a “do over”! Thanks Hank.
I have the strips drying in the fridge overnight. Would it be okay to not start smoking it until tomorrow afternoon? it would be roughly 20 hours in the fridge uncovered. Thanks
Brad: Should be fine.
Everyone loves it, great recipe! See you off west marin, the best salmon fishery in the world 🙂
I have salmon ready to go in the smoker…but i have only two types of wood bisquettes available. ..mesquite or apple..which would you suggest? Thanks for great instructions!
Leone: Use cherry.
Kosher salt vs. ionized salt?!? Thoughts on this?!?
BD: Never use iodized salt.
It’s “albumin,” not “albumen.” Common mistake.
“the correct spelling is albumin with an “i.” … albumen is the term for egg whites. They’re two different things.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/30/white-stuff-salmon-how-to-avoid_n_6564634.html
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/albumin
Great recipe I’m trying it now greetings from Belgium
Hay Hank, You have had many questions about smoking salmon and one that I have noticed was about wood chips.If I may give anyone suggestions when smoking in a smoker. Find a friend with apple trees in their yard (preferably after they get done yielding apples)cut off a few sucker branches (1/2 to 2 inches around) they are the branches that shoot strait up, STRIP THE BARK, cut into one inch chunks. usually I throw a thicker piece in there incase the rest burns up quickly. You can use sour cherry, alder, plum, and keep them wet for best smoking.
In the time of smoking the candy how many pans of chip do you use, I use 2 to 2.5 when doing a regular smoke.
im wondering whats the difference if I use cherry chips to alder or any other kind is cherry ok, or what would you use?
Tara: You can use cherry.
Do you know if this meets the minimum Water Phase Salt requirements for retail sale?
Jen: No idea. Sorry.
Great recipe, love it as is. However I’d love to try Alaskaman’s recipe, if he’d share it. Variety can be fun!
Costco wild sockeye seems a bit thin and did not get a good 2 inch thick cut but definitely can get a 2 inch wide chunk, next time I’m decreasing temp. Overall fun recipe and fine taste, although tweaked it a bit with cinnamon in dry cure and quarter cup soy in bast
I’ve been smoking fish for many years and MY salmon candy is NOT hot smoked. More like a ham, moist and flakes easily. It usually takes about a week the way I do it. Very much like kippered, wouldn’t waste king salmon hard smoking it. When that happens it’s dog treats ! oh well to each his own.
Alaskaman: Exactly, to each his own. But remember, here in California, the only legal salmon is a chinook, so it’s all we have.
I’m going to try this as soon as I get some sockeye or silvers – my question is to cut strips across the fish vs up and down? I have a Masterbuilt I use for lightly smoking then jarring in 1/2 pints. It tends to get hot and my recipes usually call for 140* – worried about the 180-225* – cooks the fish vs smoking I thought. Thanks