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.
