Smoked Salmon
1 Salmon Filet
2 cups Dark Brown Sugar
2 cups Kosher Salt
1/4 cup coarse-ground black pepper
Apple Wood (or favorite wood) for smoking
1 two gallon sized zip lock baggie (or large plastic container and some plastic wrap…not metal!)
1.wash salmon in cold water
2.pat dry with paper towel
3.mix salt, sugar, pepper together
4.cut filet in half
5.place some salt mixture into a two gallon baggy (or the bottom of a plastic container)
6.place fillets into baggy (or bottom of plastic container)
7.pour rest of salt mixture into baggy (or on top of fillets in bottom of plastic container)
8.make sure fillets are covered in salt mixture and there are no bare spots on the filet
9.take out as much air as you can from the zip lock baggy and seal tightly (or cover your fillets with plastic wrap if you are using a plastic container, making sure you take out as much air as possible between the plastic wrap and the fillets)
10.place baggy or plastic container in fridge for at least 5 hours (over night is good, I've gone two days in the fridge…some people put them in the fridge for up to 5 days, I haven't tried that long though)
11.when you are through curing your fillets, remove them from their container and thoroughly rinse them with cool water
12.again, pat them dry with a paper towel and then put them on drying racks so air can circulate all the way around the salmon (you can do this inside your house at room temp for up to 2 hours, but you can also put the racks into your fridge and let them dry for longer if you want)
13.once your cured fillets are dry and sticky to the touch, put them into your smoker (your smoker should be set as low as possible trying to keep it below 200 F but above 100 F. Try to keep your smoke cool, but you can hot smoke at around 300 F if you prefer but the texture will be more like cooked salmon and the cooking time will be extremely less for this technique—maybe a couple hours or so) For a cold smoke you should smoke your fillets for at least 5 hours or longer…hot smoke cook until internal temp reaches 145 F.
14.once fish is finished smoking you can eat right away, but I usually vacuum bag them and put them in the fridge overnight before eating, then when I take it out of the bag, I leave on a rack in fridge for another 5 hours or so to let it air out a bit (increase the flavor profile by doing this step! You don't have to do it, but if you try it and compare, you will notice the difference in the flavor mellowing!)