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Hot Smoked Salmon

Hot Smoked Salmon

Prep

Cook

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Yield 8 Main Course

If you have a kettle barbecue that can achieve a very low temperature of 90C you can hot smoke the salmon with soaked applewood chips thrown on the coals just before you place the fish on the griddle.  Depending on the thickness of the fillets they will take anything from 20-35 minutes.

Ingredients

Instructions

The night before.

  1. The night before you'd like to cook your salmon, mix together the sugar, salt and pepper and cover the salmon with a generous coating. Place the salmon on a tray and wrap the plate and salmon in cling film. Refrigerate overnight, preferably for 8-10 hours.

The morning.

  1. First thing in the morning remove the salmon from the fridge, pour away the liquid on the plate and thoroughly rinse the salmon and pat dry with kitchen paper .The salmon should feel stiff, and have a slightly darker, richer colour.

  2. Place the salmon on a wire rack on a tray and return to the fridge for an hour or two to draw out any excess moisture, you want the surface of the fish to develop a shiny skin called a pellicle.  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. 

  3. Line a deep roasting tray with two big pieces of foil that hang over the edges by 10 cm to 15 cm. Add a thin layer of woods chips. Set a rack over the chips.

  4. Cut the salmon fillet into portions and place on the rack. Bring the sides of the foil up over the salmon, pinching the ends closed to form a tent in which the smoke can circulate around the salmon. The tighter the foil is sealed, the less likely that smoke will escape out into your kitchen. If you have a baking sheet that can sit on top all the better.

  5. It’s a good idea to smoke one fillet alone first, to get a sense of what your ideal smoking time is both for the flavour of fish and the doneness. After you experiment with the first fillet, you can then smoke the remaining fillets.  Heat the tray on the gas hob to a high heat until the chips start to smoke. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting, you want to keep the smoke in the pan with the salmon. Cook, undisturbed for 20 -25  minutes.  Another tip, open a few windows as some smoke does escape.

  6. Turn off the heat and let the salmon cool in the pan. When its cool enough to handle easily, unwrap the salmon. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

Courses Lunch Dinner

Recipe by Nordic Kitchen stories at