Salmon Rillettes

Rillettes are a sort of rough pate, usually made from the less-than-prime cuts. (Pork rillettes are great too). They are great as a spread on bagels, popular when set out as an appetizer and travel well on camping trips. These salmon rilletes are made from the collar and belly of a king salmon. You can view the Instructable on How To Break Down a Whole Salmon to butcher these fatty, delicious parts. You are going to smoke about half of the salmon, and then just poach or quickly saute the other part of the salmon. Bellies and collars smoke well due to their fat content, so set aside scrapings from the bones, or meat from another part of the salmon for the unsmoked half.

Step 1: Marinate the Belly, Collar and Bones

Soak 1 cup of wood chips in water for about 1 hour. While these are soaking, marinate your fish parts.

Use 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup coarse sea salt & 1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp. chili flakes and 3 tbsp. Tamari or Soy Sauce. Marinate the fish parts for about 1 hour.

Drain the chips and lay them in your pan. Put the rack over this and lay the fish parts on it. Cover it tightly with foil and put it over a burner on your stovetop at low heat. Smoke for about 1 hour.

Step 2: Unsmoked Salmon

While the salmon is smoking, poach or lightly sautee the other part of your salmon. Scraping bones with the back of a spoon works well for getting the flesh off.

Step 3: Add Spices and Blend

There are a variety of ways you can go with adding spices. I really like fresh ginger, lemon zest, fresh horseradish and shallots with it. A little lemongrass very finely diced is nice as well.

For 1 pound of salmon (1/2 smoked, 1/2 unsmoked)

Add:

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup sour creme or creme fraiche

A combination of the above spices, depending on what you like.

A dash of salt and pepper.

Mash these in with the smoked and poached salmon but keep it a little chunky.

They'll be good for a few weeks or if you freeze them, for months.