Hickory Smoked Wild Caught Salmon

Howdy Folks, 

Here is my recipe for Hickory Smoked Salmon(Wild Caught Salmon from http://www.socalmeats.com/).  Here is what mine looked like when I was done.

It turned out with a beautiful brown pellicle(a skin or coating of proteins on the surface of meat, fish or poultry, which allows smoke to better adhere to the surface of the meat during the smoking process. Useful in all smoking applications and with any kind of animal protein, it is best used with fish where the flesh of, say, Salmon,  forms a pellicle, the surface that will attract more smoke to adhere to it than would be the case if you had not used it: Without a pellicle; the fish would be inedibly dry from enough smoking to produce a tasty finished product. It is the pellicle which permits the transformation creating delectable Smoked Salmon.)   In the world of smoking meats the outside skin is also called bark.

You can see by the bottom piece that it separates from the skin very easy, always a good indication that your Salmon is done.  I am not a great photographer but you can almost see how the meat of the Salmon is a bright pink / light orange.  Very Flaky.   Very Tasty.  Almost too salty, if your not a big fan of salt you may try just a little bit less salt in the brine, I plan to next time and will post about the results. 

Brine for Smoking Salmon

4 cups of water
1/4 cup Kosher Salt
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 Bay Leaves
1 Stalk Celery
1/2 Onion
2 Garlic Cloves(smashed)

I added the salt and sugar to the water stirred until there was nothing left on the bottom or big clumps in the water.  Chopped the onion(pretty fine), cut the celery into small chunks, chopped then smashed the garlic.  Added the Salmon( about a 1 1/2 pounds) into a glass dish, poured the water over the Salmon, added the onions, celery, garlic and threw in a couple of bay leaves.  Covered and let sit in the frig overnight. (it sat in the brine for around 14 hours). 



The next morning, I took the Salmon out of the brine and sat it on a rack to let it dry.  This is when the pellicle is formed.  Leave it out in a cool, airy place for 2 to 3 hours.  It won't spoil due to salt acting as a preservative.

Smoking the Salmon

I soaked a couple handfuls of hickory wood chips for about 20 minutes, then added them all to the smoker. Let it smoke for 2 hours.  Due to varying temperatures and the thickness of the Salmon, check yours it may or may not be ready after 2 hours.  It is ready when it flakes easily.   My wife heated up some black beans, a little bit of brown rice, and made us a salad to go with it.  Delicious!!!