{"id":2219,"date":"2009-07-21T23:44:49","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T04:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankymouse.com\/?p=2219"},"modified":"2010-01-10T16:04:28","modified_gmt":"2010-01-10T21:04:28","slug":"smoked-salmon-for-the-rest-of-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/2009\/07\/21\/smoked-salmon-for-the-rest-of-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoked Salmon for the Rest of Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

Followers of this blog know that when it comes to fish, salmon is the family favorite.\u00a0 It is readily available, affordable when purchased in bulk, and quite versatile as evidenced here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>.\u00a0 We do salmon many different ways and they’re all quite tasty, but in my opinion, this method takes the cake.<\/p>\n

Smoked salmon.\u00a0 The words get the kids running towards the table no matter what time it is.\u00a0 We like it with bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, mixed with mayo for a lunchtime sandwich or hot off the smoker with rice for a dinner time entr\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

For most people, smoked salmon my just be a little out of reach.\u00a0 Surely it must be hard to make, why else would it cost $20 or more per pound at the super market?\u00a0 Don’t you need a smoker to make it?\u00a0 I don’t have the time to do it.\u00a0 Nonsense.\u00a0 There is no reason why you aren’t smoking a thick slab of salmon right now.<\/p>\n

(Use your best Billy Mays voice here) If you have a smoker – great! \u00a0No smoker?\u00a0 No problem. \u00a0The very first smoked meat I made was salmon and trout, smoked in my gas grill, and it was so easy, and so delicious too.\u00a0 We’ll talk hardware later.\u00a0 Right now, let’s get a fish ready.<\/p>\n

\"fish8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For this session I used half (about 1.75 pounds) of a rather large fillet that we bought at the local Costco about a month ago (don’t worry, I froze the portion in question).\u00a0 If I remember correctly, the price was about $6.50 per pound – what a steal!<\/p>\n

The first thing to do is prepare a salt pack to wick off some of the moisture.<\/p>\n

\"fish4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mix together<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup pickling salt<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup brown sugar<\/p>\n

1 tsp onion powder (I didn’t have any so I ground up the chopped onions)<\/p>\n

1 tsp dill<\/p>\n

\u00be tsp garlic power<\/p>\n

Zest of 1 lemon<\/p>\n

Pack all sides of the fish with the mixture and place it in a zip top bag for two to four hours in the fridge.<\/p>\n

\"fish9\"<\/a>\"fish11\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What you want to see at the end is a noticeable quantity of fluid collecting in the bag, maybe a few tablespoons.<\/p>\n

\"fish12\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At this point remove the fish, rinse it, then dry it thoroughly and place it on a wire rack.<\/p>\n

\"fish14\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The fish needs to sit and air dry for 30 to 45 minutes, a fan will speed this process.\u00a0 As it dries, it will develop a tacky surface, this is good for the introduction of additional flavors such as herbs and smoke.<\/p>\n

\"fish15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While the fish is sitting, it would be a good idea to get a fire going in your smoker or grill.\u00a0 I’m not going to get into this too much (I promise a dedicated post about smoking in a gas grill soon) but no matter what you’re using you’re going to want a low and even temperature.\u00a0 I usually aim for 200 – 220 degrees.\u00a0 If you have a grill, wrap some hardwood chips (oak, maple, hickory or fruitwoods) in a few layers of perforated foil and place directly on a low fire.\u00a0 If you have a smoker, get a nice even hardwood coal fire going with a few chunks of the various woods mentioned above.<\/p>\n

Back in the kitchen as your fish is drying, mix together the following:<\/p>\n

1 tbsp brown sugar<\/p>\n

1\/3 tsp chopped dill (I used fresh, but the jar variety is fine too)<\/p>\n

A few leaves of tarragon chopped<\/p>\n

\"fish18\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Spread this on the fish and head out to your cooking device.<\/p>\n

\"fish19\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Place the fillet on the grate, cover and walk away.<\/p>\n

\"fish22\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cooking time will depend heavily on the size and thickness of your fish, the goal is to reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees.\u00a0 I let this one go for about an hour and twenty minutes.\u00a0 When it’s done, you should see the edges becoming red and the fillet will take on a distinctly striped appearance.\u00a0 When you decide that doneness has been achieved, remove it from the grate and wrap it in foil.<\/p>\n

\"fish25\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you’re serving it hot, let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes.\u00a0 If you’re saving it for later, let it cool down for a half hour or so before you put it in the refrigerator.<\/p>\n

This particular fish traveled up north with us to a family vacation<\/a> to be consumed with cream cheese on bagels.\u00a0 The sweet salty fish was the perfect foundation for a long day of hiking along the north shore of Lake Superior and at a fraction of the price of the store bought variety.<\/p>\n

So the next time you have a pot luck brunch or high end wine party to attend, show up with this and let the praises roll in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Followers of this blog know that when it comes to fish, salmon is the family favorite.\u00a0 It is readily available, affordable when purchased in bulk, and quite versatile as evidenced here, here and here.\u00a0 We do salmon many different ways and they’re all quite tasty, but in my opinion, this method takes the cake. Smoked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,12,30,13,10,219,43],"tags":[36,708,707,174],"class_list":{"0":"post-2219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured","7":"category-from-the-patio","8":"category-main-course","9":"category-make-ahead-meals","10":"category-recipes","11":"category-seafood-main-course-recipes","12":"category-side-dishes","13":"tag-grill","14":"tag-make-ahead-meals","15":"tag-recipes","16":"tag-smoked","17":"entry","18":"has-post-thumbnail"},"mv":{"thumbnail_id":null,"thumbnail_uri":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2219"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2253,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219\/revisions\/2253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}