Smoking Salmon In The Rain

On Sunday, Tash noted that I should smoke something.

Since she desired some fresh smoked salmon, some fresh smoked salmon she would have.

I bought a salmon fillet and after curting it in half as it was rather large, and washing it off covered it in a mix of 1 cup salt and 3 cups brown sugar, covered over the tray with saran wrap and left it in the fridge overnight. By morning there was a syrup-consistency and colored fluid all about it in the tray as the salt and sugar did their work to draw the moisture from the salmon. I drained it, flipped it and went to work.

Coming home from work last night I removed it from the tray and there was even more liquid, briefly rinsed it off, patted it dry and started the smoker.

It was rainy and cold and I found that peanut oil really helps get the coals going when you soak the newspaper in it.

I added boiling water to the smoking bowl and placed the locally-sourced apple wood in the smoker in the base and waited for the charcoal to be ready.

Then I took the fillet and placed it on the smoker.

Then I added the burning charcoal, placed the smoker top over the base and let it smoke away. It was hard to get it up to temp as it was cold and wet out but after 2 and a half hours of smoking it was ready.

It tasted great when served with some freshly mashed potatoes and all concerned, including the dog, were quite happy with the way the salmon came out.

Yes, the Salmon was most agreeable, I must say.