Home-made Hot Smoked Salmon - yes you can

I love hot smoked salmon. I can take or leave the cold smoked, but the hot (ie cooked) smoked salmon I find versatile and scrummy and I’m told the oils are good for the brain and for your mood.  So the perfect food. 

Except that it’s really expensive.

So I’ve been making my own. Sounds difficult, but is not!

Firstly, you’ll need something to smoke in.  You can buy something new, but I bought something old – from the Sally’s around the corner.  A decades old roasting dish.  I only use it for smoking, so it doesn’t matter how tarnished it gets and it does the trick beautifully. 

That plus tin foil and something that will smoke when it’s hot are the only essentials.  The rest are choices. 
Here’s how I do it.

I line the roasting dish with tin foil.  Then sprinkle that with something to burn.  I’ve been using this wood recently. 

But in the past, I’ve tried rice.  You need something to slowish burn – so wood or rice are good.  Then some flavours – the wood is pre-flavoured being lovely manuka and kanuka. I’ve also soaked it in booze (pinot gris – cougar-juice as someone advised me the other day – or beer work well).  If you do soak in booze, then let it dry afterwards.  Or at least semi-dry.  Try rosemary or tea (green or earl grey maybe) as flavour enhancers.

On top of that, you need another piece of foil.  If you’re lucky enough to have a metal rack that fits in your dish, this is where it comes in. I don’t, so it’s foil for me!

On the foil goes the fish (pin bones removed with tweezers if it’s salmon).  I used to oil the foil, but forgot to once and the fish didn’t stick so now I skip that step. 

There’s more options for flavour here.  Some add salt, pepper and a bit of sugar.  Chilli flakes would be good.  Or one of those steak rubs.  I’ve been using the smoked salt Smoke & Spiced Solar Salt from The Original Smoke and Spice Co.  It’s brilliant.

Once you’ve flavoured the salmon – or not, it’ll be grand without more flavour – it’s time to get hot.  I put the whole thing on the very  hottest element and turn the element up.  Once it starts smoking, which can be a matter of a minute or so, I turn it down to low (though it’s quite a big element, so it’s still pretty hot) and time the fish for 5 minutes.  No more. 

If you can avoid peeking, please do.  The smoke can ruin curtains! 

Once the 5 minutes are up, turn the heat off.  Don’t lift the lid!  Then let it cool.  And enjoy.  In pasta, on pizza, in salads, on crackers, make it into a mousse with crème fraiche.  Try this terrine.  Put it in pie.
 

I have done this with white fish, which also worked well.  I made that into traditional fish pie, in combination with fresh fish.