Recipe for hot smoked salmon with pepper
I am a big fan of hot-smoked salmon, and as a Gastro Nerd, it is, of course, something I want to master myself.
My primary inspiration comes from DR’s TV program: “The Taste of Denmark” with Morten Lindberg (known as Master Fatman) as the host.
Here, he visited a smoke master who shows him how he can simply hot-smoke a salmon himself.
If you haven’t seen the program, give it a shot – it’s super cozy.
I reached out to my fishmonger, as it was possible to get hold of a whole salmon side with plenty of meat on it, which I find difficult in stores.
Ingredients
- 1 pcs. Salmon 1 salmon side
- 36 gram Salt
- 13 gram Peppercorns
Instructions
Preparation of the salmon
- As previously mentioned, I got a whole salmon side, so the first thing I had to do was to scrape the scales off the fish.
- I did this by running the knife back and forth on the skin.
- The fish was then rinsed under a cold water tap and well dried with a clean tea towel.
- A whole fish means bones - fortunately, there aren’t too many in a salmon. There are a few at the end that can be removed with a large pair of tweezers.
- Now poke a bunch of holes in the fish’s skin so you can season it on both sides. I did this with a scalded meat needle, being careful not to press all the way through.
- Once the fish is prepped, it needs to be "seasoned". I tried two variants - one with only salt and one with salt and pepper.
- The spice mix for salt and pepper was made in an old coffee grinder where it was blended.
- Sprinkle the mix on both sides of the fish and place it on a rack.
- I have a small and cheap smoking oven, made for cold smoking, so it was a somewhat makeshift solution.
- I made a fire with wood and got it going well.
- Then I placed the rack with the fish over the fire for 10-15 minutes. This should ensure that the salmon is "cooked".
- The TV show said it should be around 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit) - it was a bit hard to measure.
- The rack was removed and the fire was covered with smoking dust.
- The rack was then placed back and the lid was put on.
- The fish was smoked for about 60 minutes thereafter.
- Voila - hot smoked salmon and what a great result.
- Going forward, I must try many variants and see how I can perfect the process.
