Posted by All of you Henry’s with the Alaska connection, I recently acquired a smoker and have been experimenting with the standard stuff like chicken, ribs, corn… this weekend however I went way out there and along with a friend, processed 65 pounds of Alaskan salmon.
We made about half the weight in Squaw Candy and the other half Scotch Cured Fillets. Smoked cured salmon is the color of Alaska in my mind and I was dazzled by the real deal. We had more fun making this incredible food and wanted to pass on the recipes and to see if any of you had any you would like to share…
Santa Fe Mike’s Smoked Salmon Recipes PDF
Scotch Cured Smoked Salmon – cold smoke Preparation should be done in an environment with a temperature not to exceed 45F.
- 1. Salt fillets. Use Kosher flake salt without iodine and cover the thicker parts evenly with less going on the thinner areas around the tail. Salting draws out the moisture and the fillet should be set on a rack so the moisture can escape. Let sit for 6 hours.
- 2. Air Dry. Rinse salt off the fillets under running water and let air dry on rack 6 to 8 hours.
- 3. Oil. Wipe with olive oil and let set on rack for 6 hours.
- 4. Wipe with scotch. My friend John Breitinger, who has been honing this recipe for years, laughed when I pulled out a bottle of J&B because it’s a blended whiskey… his recommendation is for a single-malt. Let sit on a rack for 6 hours.
- 5. De bone. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and pull the bones as carefully as possible.
- 6. Brown sugar. Cover the topside of the fillet with brown sugar. Let sit on a rack for 6 hours.
- 7. Wipe with scotch. Wipe off the sugar and wipe down with scotch one more time.
- Smoke. The fillet is now cured and all that is left is to reduce the moisture content a little more and add the smoky flavor. Place on oiled racks and set in the smoker. It is very important that the temperatures in your smoker stay below 50F so you may have to locate your smoke source away from the smoker to allow the smoke to cool before entering the chamber. We set a stainless steel pot full of oak chips from a planner on an electric hot plate and waited until the sun went down so the outside temps started to fall keeping the inside of the smoker cool enough that we didn’t need to remote our smoke source. Depending on how much smoke you produce let your fillets smoke for 8 to 12 hours and they are ready to eat!
The fillets will last about 3 weeks in a refrigerator and up to a year in the freezer… more if you vacuum pack them.
Squaw Candy – hot smoke Again, this should be prepped in 45F or less temperatures.
- Cut fish. Cut up all of your fish in roughly ½” square sections 4 to 6 inches long.
- Cure. The curing mixture consists of 4 cups of brown sugar to 1-½ cups of kosher salt. Toss all of your fish in a bussing tub with the curing mixture and allow to sit covered for 6 to 8 hours.
- Rinse. The curing mixture will draw moisture out of the fish so your tub will be filled with a syrupy mixture. Run cold water into the tub while mixing until the run off is clear and drain thoroughly. We separated the thinner “bellies” from the rest of the sticks and sprinkled red chili, garlic and onion powder on them. Allow to air dry on oiled racks skin side down.
- Smoke. Starting with a cold smoker bring the temperature up to about 120F over an hour period. Try to keep the temperature around 120F for the next 4 hours and bump it up to 150F for ½ hour to finish it off. If you notice a white ooze forming you have taken the temps up too fast.
- Cool. Allow the pieces to cool on the racks in the smoker by opening the door and turning off the heat. Get ready for one of the delights of the universe!!
Squaw Candy will last 3 weeks in the refrigerator and a year in the freezer.