Cured and smoked salmon
Mad Scientist BBQ · ♥ 7.2K likes · 333.1K views · 22 min video
Read about fillet in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- salmon fillets
Trim the fin remnants and the belly fat from the fillets; push the flesh back and up along the pin bone line and pull any pin bones with pliers.
Trimming fins and belly
Cut the fillets into sections of about equal thickness so they cure evenly.
Sectioning for an even cure
- 1 parts kosher salt
- 1 parts light brown sugar
Line a pan with plastic wrap, scatter a little cure on the wrap, set in the fish and pack it with the 50-50 kosher salt and light brown sugar cure.
Pin bones and lining the pan
Cover with plastic wrap, set a pan on top and weight with about 10 pounds of water in zip bags to compress the flesh.
Weighting the fish
Cure in the refrigerator 36 to 48 hours depending on thickness.
- cold water
Rinse the fillets and soak in cold water to cover 20 to 30 minutes to draw excess salt from the surface.
- fine sea salt
- orange zest
- lemon zest
- sugar
- white peppercorns
- coriander seeds
- juniper berries
- pink salt
- orange
- lemon juice
- 1 whole grated beet
- 2 oz vodka
Variation, Russian style cure: mix fine sea salt, orange and lemon zest, sugar, white peppercorns, coriander seeds, juniper berries and pink curing salt; squeeze orange and lemon juice over the fillets, add a grated medium beet and a couple ounces of vodka, mix well with gloves so the nitrite is evenly spread, pack on, wrap, weight and refrigerate 36 to 48 hours.
Russian style cure
When the flesh is firm, pat dry with paper towels, set uncovered on a trivet in the refrigerator and air dry 24 to 36 hours until a pellicle forms.
Hot smoke at about 200 degrees with a clean fire: about 60 to 70 minutes for the larger pieces and about 45 minutes for the small one.
Variation, cold smoke: smolder a tiny twig fire at the far end of the firebox to keep the smoker at about 70 to 80 degrees; 6 to 8 hours for larger pieces, about 4 hours for the smaller.
- hard boiled egg
For garnish, hard boil eggs 10 minutes, rest a couple of minutes and ice; press the whites and yolks separately through a sifter with a rubber spatula.
Sieved egg, capers and herb cream cheese
- capers
- cream cheese
- salt
- white pepper
- sliced sandwich bread
Season cream cheese with salt and white pepper.
For toast points, cut the crusts off sliced white bread, cut diagonally into triangles, and toast in a 350 oven, turning once.
Slice the cold smoked salmon by cutting down and gliding the knife along the skin; flake the hot smoked salmon. Serve on toast points with the cream cheese, capers and sieved egg.