New Zealand’s salmon fishing season draws to a close in late April, so autumn is the perfect time to really make the most of your late-season catch! Here’s how you can smoke it at home, and serve it in a way that will seriously tickle your tastebuds.
Smoke Your Own Salmon
The ‘smoked salmon’ you find at the supermarket is actually cured salmon, and never sees even a whisper of smoke. Truly smoked salmon, which is cooked by the heat of smoke, is infused with a rich smoked flavour.
If you’ve never attempted it, smoking your own salmon at home is easier than you think – and you don’t need a fancy, dedicated smoker to get the job done! DIY-ing a small stovetop smoker from things you already have in the kitchen works just as well. Here’s how.
You’ll Need:
- 1 cup wood chips
- Aluminium foil
- Baking pan
- A large cooking vessel like a roasting pan
- A cake or cooling rack that can fit inside the cooking vessel
Ingredients:
- 1kg skin-on salmon filet
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup coarse sea salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetable oil, for the rack
Method:
- Remove the pin bones from the salmon
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, and pepper
- Spread around one-third of the mixture evenly on the bottom of a large baking pan
- Place the salmon on the pan and cover with the remaining sugar-salt mixture
- Cover and chill for at least 4 hours (ideally overnight)
- Soak your wood chips in water for 30 minutes in a large bowl, then drain
- Put the soaked wood chips in the bottom of your roasting pan
- Lightly grease your cake or cooling rack with vegetable oil and set it over the wood chips
- Rinse the cure from the salmon under cold water and pat dry
- Put the salmon on the rack, skin-side-down
- Heat the roasting pan on high until the chips start to smoke
- Reduce heat to low and cover pan with several layers of aluminium foil and seal very tightly to keep the smoke inside the pan
- Cook undisturbed for 30 minutes
- Turn off the heat and let salmon cool in the sealed smoky pan
- When the pan is cool enough to touch, unwrap the salmon
- Serve salmon warm, at room temperature, or chilled
7 Simple Ways to Serve Smoked Salmon
- Drape thinly sliced smoked salmon onto small chunks of warm crusty bread and top with a dab of sour cream and a twist of black pepper
- Mix chunks of salmon with cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice to make a delicious dip that you can spread on crackers
- Cut slices of smoked salmon into 3cm strips, squeeze fresh lemon juice over each, sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Roll the strips up and spear them with a toothpick
- Toast multigrain bread, top with scrambled eggs, then layer a couple of thin slices of salmon over top
- Cut some hearty chunks of French stick, spread over some mashed avocado, and top with smoked salmon and a dollop of sour cream
- Cut your salmon into chunks and toss into a salad with lettuce, red onion and cherry tomatoes, then drizzle with lemon juice and mayo
- Slap your smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese and be done with it! This might just be our favourite way to enjoy it
