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. 

Hot and Cold Smoked Salmon Terrine (easier than it sounds!)

Served on a platter for everyone to help themselves

One of the joys of cooking is that you can make it the way you like it, rather than how someone else makes it. This recipe called for dill in the original, and while I acknowledge that dill and seafood are alleged to have a natural affinity, I don't go for it myself.

Plus Pav and I really like hot smoked salmon (and have been known to make our own), so we used that as a mixer with the originally suggested cold smoked salmon (in the mousse, not the wrapping).

The difference between hot and cold smoking is that hot smoking is at a higher temperature than cold smoking – usually above about 75C – and it therefore cooks the food while it is smoked. Cold smoking imparts the smoked flavour but does not cook the food. In order to preserve anything being cold smoked curing or cooking or salting or some other preservation method is required in addition to smoking.

Also, it had horseradish and I didn't have any, so I used its close relative wasabi. Worked a treat. 

This is a terrine, which makes it sound difficult, but because it's not layered, it's brilliantly easy.  And super delicious.  

Smoked Salmon Terrine with Apple, Cucumber and Caper Relish

Adapted from a Celia Harvey recipe from Cuisine Issue #149.

Start the day before serving, or at least the morning of the evening. First line the sides and base of a terrine or loaf dish with a layer of cling film. Sprinkling the inside of the dish with a bit of water helps the film to cling. Mine is 22cm x 12cm and worked perfectly with this amount of ingredients. Make sure the film hangs over the edges enough to fold over completely.

Place the following in a food processor or bowl:

• 450g hot smoked salmon pieces, broken up
• 100g cream cheese (don't skimp on the fat content here) a bit warmer than fridge temperature
• 2T chopped parsley

Mix until just combined. Gently stir through the following:

• 300g crème fraiche or quark or similar
• juice of one lemon
• pinch of cayenne pepper

That's now your mousse lining for the terrine. Frankly, it's so nice you could just use it as a dip without completing the rest of the dish! (But the rest is great too, so do keep going!).

Line the sides and base of the dish with

• 300g cold smoked salmon slices (best to buy pre-sliced), hot smoked won't work for this part

Making sure that the pieces line up well, so that the mousse when poured in won't push through this wrapping. Keep enough slices to line the top (which will be the bottom when turned out). 

Before covering with slices

 Pour in the mousse, smooth it out, cover with the remaining cold smoked salmon slices slices and wrap with the cling wrap. Chill for at least 8 hours. 

All wrapped up and ready for the fridge

When ready to serve lift out, unwrap and serve with relish to follow. Garnish with extra chives (from the relish) or parsley (from the mousse) or both.

For the relish, sprinkle

• 2 green apples, peeled, cored and cut into fine matchsticks, sprinkled with 2T white vinegar to prevent browning

gently fold in

• 2T capers drained and chopped to a fine paste
• 2 lebanese cucumbers diced into 5mm pieces
• 2T finely chopped chives
• 2T grated horseradish or wasabi
• black pepper

You can either slice the terrine and plate with relish and crackers/bread. Or serve on a large platter, which is what we did. It serves 8-10 easy.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Feel free to fiddle with the ingredients to get your perfect mix, just like we did.