How To Smoke Salmon?

You must be aware of the innumerable benefits of consuming salmons as a part of your diet. Salmons are highly rich in omega 3 fatty acids, selenium, vitamins, and many other nutrients. Having these as part of your regular diet can improve heart and brain development.

However, it is very important that you know how to smoke salmon. It should be done following the right procedure, with the right time. So, here we have put down the full procedure of smoking salmon step by step.

1. Smoked salmon – Salmons is very easy to smoke. If you go for other types of meat, then they take more time, as well as more effort to smoke. But with salmon, there is not much required. Even the time that you input is very less. The only thing that you need to keep in mind is that the pieces of your fish should be large enough. The first step in how to smoke salmon is to prepare the brine.
2. Preparing the brine – For this, you need sufficient amounts of celery, fennel, garlic cloves, onion, brown sugar, salt, bay leaves and some water. Mix all of these ingredients to get a smooth paste. After that, add your salmon pieces to this mixture. You will have to put this in a container which is nonreactive. So it will best if you have a plastic container. Put the container in the refrigerator and let stay for some time.
3. Curing the fish – This is, indeed, a very important step in how to smoke salmon. You need to make sure not to skip this one as it cures the fish of all impurities. It also lets the salt seep in thoroughly for a great taste. The moisture inside of the fish is reduced, so the fish is cured. For this step, you need to keep the fish for 8 hours at least, if the fillets are thin. In case they are thick, keep them for a day. The greater the time, the better for you.
4. Drying the fish – This is something which most of the people fail to do correctly. After curing the salmons, you need to dry them in a cool place which has access to a good This is done so as to develop a layer called pellicle on top of the salmons. This layer is vital, as it seals the salmons, and makes the process of smoking them easier.
5. Smoke the salmons – This is the final step of how to smoke salmon. After all the efforts, your fish is ready to be smoked. Make sure that you hot smoke them. This is because hot smoking preserves the salmons better than cold smoking.

One thing you need to keep in mind is the temperature at which you are smoking the salmons. Make sure that this temperature does not exceed 140 degrees.

See, wasn’t that super easy? Now you can enjoy your smoked salmons as and when you want to!