How to Smoke Salmon

Step 11: Mmmmm, smoked salmon.

My aunt leaves a tote out in front of her house. She calls it her "magic fish box" because it's always full of fish that somebody left for her to smoke.

It's a long process to smoke fish, so we tend to do it in big batches. Pictured here, we have three big kings' worth of fish.
We bought a vacuum sealer so that it would keep longer. Sealed properly, we can put it in the fridge. (It helps with the smell, too).
Since it has a high fat content and smoking is a preservative process, it lasts for months.

Comments

[Greg Davies]

Thank you for the instructions. Planning on doing this soon.

[radarguy]

We just have an electric smoker and the last time we tried salmon in it we weren't too successful. It was more for a hot entree. So can you tell us more about how to make your smokehouse?

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

Sure- we built the smokehouse a couple of years ago, but it's pretty simple. It's just a shack, something like 1 x 1 x 2.5 meters, slant-roofed so it can shed rain.
The front is on hinges, so it can be swung open and closed.
The sides have small 1x1" pieces of wood nailed into them to make slides for the fish racks.
We used one of those commercial firepit things, the giant bowl on a stand, to put the fire in (but without the stand).

The really important things:
-Put metal flashing around the base of the shed, where the fire is built, so that your shed doesn't light on fire.
-Stick a thermometer through the wall so you know how hot it is inside.
-Make sure your door can be closed tightly- we use bungee cords, hooked to some screw-in hooks.
-Leave a small gap somewhere near the top so that smoke can escape.

[vanisaac]

As an alternative to brining, sprinkle rock salt on top. Just brush off the loose rock salt - you can save it outside (it can smell a bit) and use it for icy sidewalks or ice cream making - and rinse the rest off with water. You then brush a paste of water and brown sugar on top, which forms a more cohesive glaze (it helps hold the fish together), and depending on how thick you slather it on can give you a sweeter end product.