Smokin' it up...

The Fall Chums and the Silvers (Coho) are still running out there in the Yukon, but we are about done putting salmon away for the winter.  The drifts made over the summer have produced just about all we will need when it comes to salmon.  Maybe it has something to do with raising a few hundred million of the buggers, or maybe just a personal thing, but I am not that big a salmon eater.  There are too many other fish that just blow it out of the water, for my two cents worth.  That said, this recipe came out absolutely DELICIOUS, and if I'm going to have to eat salmon, this is the way I'd like to do it. :)

We started by using a dry cure, instead of the 'traditional' soak in a bucket of some sort of soy sauce or teryaki-like mixture.  And it seems to make a difference.  We had heard that a dry cure is better for salmon because instead of drawing the moisture from your brine into the fish, the moisture in the fish is drawn OUT, making the process more effective at fully 'cooking' the finished product and keeping unwanted moisture around to spoil shelf life.  This, also, is more of a sweet cure than a salty one.  Think of it like adding sugar to a bowl of strawberries and putting it in the fridge - you know all the juice that comes out?....same thing. Salmon can be trickier to smoke and then keep around, because of all the moisture and fat content.  That is jacked up even more so here in the Yukon, as our chums have been tested to have one of the highest Omega-3 oil content levels of any fish - not just other salmon elsewhere.  (If you want verification on that, let me know, I'll get it for you). :)  I'm not sure if the shelf life thing applies here though - cause when this stuff comes out of the freezer, it's going to be gone, as in yesterday.  Here's a rundown of the rub mixture ingredients:

2 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 Tablespoon onion salt
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
1 Tablespoon celery salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon dried mustard
1 Tablespoon dried lemon peel
1 Tablespoon dill weed

Once you have all that thoroughly mixed together, thoroughly coat the fish (not worrying about the skin side of course) with the mixture, and rub the dry mixture into the meat.  You can't really over do it...the above mixture will get 4 average-sized Yukon chum salmon ready for smoking.  Once you have "rubbed in" the rub:

Place the pieces of fish, skin on, whatever size you like, into bowls or, say, baking dishes, (large enough for the liquid that will be drawn out to increase in volume a good bit) in the fridge for 24 hours.  Keep checking the liquid levels, as you won't want this sticky stuff leaking out all over the shelves in the fridge. :)  After the 24 hour curing period, you are ready to smoke.  We are using a Big Chief electric smoker.

For the smoking portion of the recipe:    Get your wood chips well-soaked, and then drained, prior to starting.  I put in enough chips to evenly fill the pan that goes in the bottom of the Big Chief, and this lasts about 1 hour to an hour and a half, depending on how much water you got into them, what kind of wood, etc.  Here is a shot of the necessities just before putting in a batch:

The pieces of fish, the soaked chips and the pan for the Big Chief.  This go around I used a blend of hickory mixed in with the chips from the "mountaineering beaver".  Just had to do it for the nostalgic flair... Hah!  (in case you missed that post, check it out here: View post here...

Here is a shot of the gathering, back then:

And here are those chips in action.  The mountaineering beaver's work comes full circle. :)

Anyways, as mentioned, one pan of chips should last 1-1.5 hours.  I smoked this batch, a mixture of small. medium, and thick pieces, for six hours.  Make sure you keep adding new chips to the pan you are soaking them in as you put each new batch in the smoker, so you don't end up using dry chips - they burn WAY fast and add an off taste.  As long as each pan of chips lasts works well for a soak time, so if you keep replacing them (and the water) as you change each time, you will keep yourself in business.

Now, once smoked for the ~6 hours, remove the fish from the smoker - it will look something like this:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees once you take the fish out of the smoker.  They are now ready to place on sheet trays and be glazed.  You can use either maple syrup or honey as a glaze, (or, of course, anything else you like) but I prefer the honey.  For this batch I placed them on a pizza pan and a cookie tray.  As a side note, if you don't put foil in the oven as a catch, you may end up with some burning honey that drips down on you.  Using JUST enough honey to cover the fish evenly after spreading it around with your fingers helps with that too, as the honey will get thinner as it gets hot and it runs all over.  Here is a shot of the glazed pieces, ready for the last step:

Once done, place the trays on separate shelves and cook slowly at the above-mentioned 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.  This will not only ensure that the fish gets fully 'done', but also will encrust and seal the glaze.  When they come out 25 minutes later, they will likely have some more well-done looking edges, but I assure you, they will be moist and absolutely delicious on the inside, and the 'crust' the honey glaze makes will keep all that goodness in.

That one on the lower left that looks 'pale' is a piece of belly strip.  Super oily but oh so good!  And to think I used to always throw these away!  Shame Shame!  Look at all that Omega-3 !!

This recipe is soooooooo goooooooood!  Enjoy!