Smoking Salmon on a Charcoal Grill

Smoking your own salmon is a relaxing way to spend a few hours on a sunny afternoon in the yard. There are a thousand recipes on the internet, this is a simple mix of the best that I found that works well. It takes a few hours of brief bits of attention, but the results are well worth the effort.

Step 1: Materials

Salmon - 4 pounds or less for a standard 22" Webber Grill

A clean, food grade tub to soak the salmon in.

3/4 cups salt (Kosher or pickling salt)

3/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

6 cups water

Food grade needle nose pliers (not from your workbench)

3 cups Hickory chips and a container to soak them in.

Charcoal briquettes, lighter fluid or charcoal chimney

Charcoal grill, coal tongs, spatula

Paper towels, tray (for carrying the fish), oil (for the grill), and an old, clean can (tuna works nicely)

Baste(s) (optional)

Comments

[ShamrockS and Shenanigans]

Alder is good, and any of the "fruit" woods, like apple, cherry, peach, pear. I mix them up. Save yourself some money; the salmon will absorb all of the smoke flavor it can hold within two hours or so. After that, just throw on some coals. Otherwise, you're using up precious wood.

To maximize my wood chips, I try to smoke a few fillets at a time. Brine all together and never re-use brine.

[sleepydog]

Thanks for the advice, I didn't know about salmon's smoke absorption limit.
I've been smoking with a few more coals at a slightly hotter temp for about 2-3 hours. Sometimes a longer smoke at a lower temp my salmon has come out mushy.

[Billem]

Yep, cedar and alder in the west.

[Yerboogieman]

Perfect job! do you think this will work with rainbow?

[sleepydog]

Thanks! Yes, trout and members of the char family are good for smoking due to their higher oil content. Just make sure you hot smoke any freshwater fish to eliminate parasites.

[Yerboogieman]

kool, i'll have to try it then.

[DrWeird117]

imagine me, a knex gunner looking at this! hahaha

[otterpop78]

Today i smoked 4 salmon filets in my little chief. We have found that cherry wood goes great with the salmon after an over night brining... use soy rather than salt for that.... yummy.

[sleepydog]

Where do you get your cherry wood and what is the salt to soy sauce equivalence (1 cup equals 1 cup)?

[otterpop78]

I buy Cherry chips and chunks from my local BiMart... My wife usually handles the brine, she says cut back the salt and replace it with soy... pretty much what you said there... enough to make the brine kinda murky. Makes some tasty treats.

[tyep]

Sounds like a good recipe I'll have to try it, but you forgot to mention that you should only use wild Alaskan salmon, not any of that drugged up farm stuff.

[sleepydog]

Tyep's right, if you eat salmon more than once every month or two, you should stick with the wild salmon and reduce the amount of PCBs you are ingesting.
http://www.healthcastle.com/farmed-salmon.shtml

[tachikomatic]

Charcoal grill, coal thongs, spatula

Pretty sure you meant to say tongs, but maybe not. :P

I love smoked salmon with a passion, great instructable.

[sleepydog]

Nice catch. Cooking and thongs don't mix. (fixed now)

[otterpop78]

I have heard that a slightly higher temp, around 230 degrees , is optimal for smoking. mine runs slightly higher than that, and it still works well...

[sleepydog]

Temperature and smoking time are inversely proportional. The hotter you smoke, the quicker you're done. Smoking above 150 degrees kill any parasites in the fish.

[otterpop78]

lolz in my house we can NEVER make enough. we are lucky if it finishes out the day with a piece or two left

[mt_si_dad]

Hickory might be traditional in the east, but I suspect it's alder in the west.

[pyro13]

ah man this looks good. I love fish!!!

[LinuxH4x0r]

Great job! I love smoked salmon. (Smoked walleye is also really good!)