This is from the beginning of summer. My lazy arse is just getting around to posting it... Enjoy!

Smoke Salmon

Actually, I used farm raised steelhead trout, but this method works well on any species of fish in the Salmonidae family. Soon Kings and Sockeyes will be making their presence in grocery store refrigerated merchandisers and I thought this procedure would be great for the summer when you get bored of baby backs, butts, and briskets.

This is two 1.5lb steelhead trout filets that I cleaned up a bit by trimming off the belly and fat.
For the cure I use a 4 to 5 ratio, by weight, of salt to sugar. I started with #1 sea salt and #1.25 light brown sugar. For the spices I decided to go with;

1T white pepper
1.5T fennel seed
2t Sichuan peppercorn
4ea cardamom pods
1ea Ceylon cinnamon stick
1ea clove
1ea star anise
All spices are toasted and ground to a fine powder is a coffee grinder.

I normally add coriander seed but the cupboard was bare. Luckily, my cilantro was going to seed so I harvested a few green coriander seeds. This has a pretty unique flavor and was a welcomed improvisation in the final product. The fresh seeds were processed in a mortar and pestle with a tsp of salt to assist as an abrasive. All of this was added to the sugar and salt.

I decided to add gin to give the cure a bit of moisture and compliment the spices. I added 40ml of Opihr which has a very assertive cardamom flavor and 40ml of Bombay Sapphire Far East which is flavored with the same 10 botanicals of original Bombay Sapphire and the addition of lemongrass and black peppercorn. Olive oil was then added until the cure resembled wet sand and formed a loose ball when compressed in the hand.

Each side of trout was placed on a rack lined baking sheet, coated liberally with cure, and covered with parchment. An additional sheet tray was placed on top and weighted to help extract moisture from the curing fish. Normally, I cure salmon for 24-36 hours but these were a lot smaller so I took these off after 12 hours. The fish was rinsed under cold running water to remove the cure and then patted dry with paper towels. If time permits I will refrigerate the salmon overnight to form a pellicle which is believed to help smoke adhere to the surface. I just refrigerated the fish while I prepared my smoker.

I guess I won’t be using the Masterbuilt… I have a 1/4” steel plate on the bottom and middle racks to diffuse heat which allows me to smoke at a lower temperature for a longer time. Usually I smoke my salmon for 4 hours checking it every hour to make sure the smoke and heat are ideal. The little thermometer on the door is unreliable so I usually set the temp on the control dial half way between med and hi. I know that sounds like extremely precise direction but smoking is an art, not a science. I recommend keeping the temperature between 125 and 135*F for the first 2-3 hours and then kicking the heat up to 155-165 to finish the cooking process.

I set up my weber for indirect smoking with hickory chunks and lump charcoal. I kept the temperature low and it worked well enough to impart smoke flavor without overcooking the fish. This fish cooked a lot faster than my traditional method and after two hours I pulled it.

Overall I was satisfied with the taste and texture. The color could have been better but such is life.

[TL/DR]
Smoked Salmon Steelhead Trout
2 #1.5 Steelhead Trout Filets, skin on
#1 Kosher or Sea Salt
#1.25 Light Brown Sugar
80ml Gin
1T White Pepper
1T Fennel Seed
2t Sichuan Peppercorn
4ea Green Cardamom Pods
1ea Star Anise, Whole
1ea Clove
1ea Cinnamon stick (ceylon)
10ea Green Coriander Seeds
2-4oz Olive Oil

Remove bones, belly, and excess far from fish LEAVE THE SKIN ON
Toast and grind spices
Mix all ingredients together
Place fish on a rack line sheet tray and coat with cure
Place parchment, sheet tray and heavy objects on top of fish and refrigerate 24-36 hours
Remove from refrigeration and rinse off cure
Return to refrigerator uncovered 12-24 hours
Smoke @125 2-3 hours then increase heat to 155 and smoke 1 additional hour
Uses include but are not limited to; Smoked Salmon dip, omelets, salmon cakes, rillettes, add it to a salad, add it to a cheese board, eat it plain or on crackers with cream cheese etc…