Smoked Salmon

[level5vegan]

Local supermarket had Salmon on sale so we gave it a try. Came out tasting awesome!  (Rookie move, had to try a bit before the picture). Never mind the InNOut cup on the table 

Salmon ii31219_202829.jpg

• level5vegan
• Dec 23, 2013

Salmon219_202543.jpg

• level5vegan
• Dec 23, 2013

 

[mdboatbum]

Glad you enjoyed it! Care to share how you did it? Seasonings? Temps? Times?

 

[level5vegan]

I tend to smoke by the seat of my pants. My marinade tends to vary depending on what I have in the fridge. But here goes:

3 pounds of salmon fillets. Trimmed to symmetrical sizes, trimmed the thinner pieces to cook on cooler side of smoker.

Marinade:

1/4 cup orange juice

1/8 cup cranberry juice

short pour:

apple cider vinegar

balsamic vinegar

garlic avocado oil

squeezed 1/4 lemon

diced garlic

^Mixed the above in a mixing cup and set aside.

Rub:

1/2 stick of butter

cumin

cilantro

couple cloves of finely diced garlic (we love garlic)

Cajun seasoning

old bay seasoning

fresh cracked pepper

celery salt

crumpled bay leaf

onion powder

little bit of cayenne pepper

^ Combined in a cup and microwaved whisked together to pasty texture.

Placed fish into a Pyrex baking dish and poured chilled marinade into pan and placed in fridge for 90 minutes.

Removed and placed fillets onto a baking rack and set under a fan till pellicle looked sufficient "shiny+tacky"

Placed the filets on HD foil and trimmed to size.

Slathered the butter "rub" over the fillets until decently coated. Then sprinkled some brown sugar and a tiny pinch of cinnamon with a tinier pinch of nutmeg over the top. (ya I know poor description of quantity)

Preheated the smoker to about 180 with apple wood and lump coal in the OFB.

Placed fillets (on foil) onto the rack in the smoker, skin side down. The thicker fillets were centered in the smoker. The thinner cuts were placed as far from the firebox as possible. Kept the temps just under 200f. Since my smoker runs cooler on the far side of the fire box, I position meat according to thickness. While it might not be ideal it works well for my situation.

Let it run for about 1.5 hours then threw in some asparagus wrapped in bacon (pictures next time).

Maintained temperature at or below 200, stoked with some hickory chunks along with the apple.

Another hour maybe.. an hour and a half and the texture was perfect, moist and flaky

Total smoke was about 2.5 - 3 hours.

Removed and let it stand for a few minutes, began to devour... Remembered I wanted a picture, hence the "shark bite" missing from the fillet in the picture.

BTW. I always use a water pan, not sure if it helps or not... but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy ;)   I usually pour whatever im using as a marinade and/or whatever im in the mood for.

Sorry for the plagiarism as a lot of this is bits and pieces from users of this site. I would give credit if I remembered what I got from where.

 

[leah elisheva]

Salmon is so fun!!!! How perfect to start off this festive week! Cheers! - Leah