How to cure and smoke salmon

You can just cure the salmon, which is basically Gravad Lax or you can then go onto smoke it. For smoking you will need some kind of smoker. I use a Big Green Egg, which is a ceramic bbq with a lid, and a small smoking device such as a Pro Q smoker placed inside.

Only smoke fish when the weather is cool. Otherwise the summer heat cooks the salmon. This is cold smoking, so you don't want that.

If smoking, do not have the fish scaled. You need a thicker skin for smoking.

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Pescetarian

Cuisine: Scandinavian

Keyword: Fish, Home curing, Home smoking, How to cure and smoke salmon

Servings: 15

Equipment

BBQ with lid
Smoker such as a Pro Q

Ingredients

2 sides good quality salmon, pinned, boned, fat cut off.
3 cups thick salt such as Sel Grise or Kosher salt
3 cups caster sugar
3 cups mixed herbs of your choice and or fennel flowers

Instructions

Mix the salt and sugar.
Cover the bottom of a dish long enough to lay out the salmon, with half the sugar/salt mixture.
Chop all the fresh herbs I had in the food processor (mostly tarragon, some basil, dill, thyme, and parsley).
Spread half the herbs on the salt/sugar mix in the dish.
Lay the filets, skin side down on the salt/sugar mix.
Cover the top of the filets with the herb mix and salt/sugar mix.
Place another dish on top, weighing it down (with cans or jars)
Leave in the fridge for 12 hours,
After 12 hours, take off the weighted dish,
Scrape away the salt/sugar/herb mix to one side and drain off some off the liquid
Turn over the filets (you will notice they are stiff now) and cover the exposed side with the reserved herb/sugar/salt mix.
Replace the weighted dish and leave for another 12 hours.
After a 24 hour cure (although I left mine for 48 hours so I guess it doesn't matter if you do it a bit longer), remove the filets and wash off the mixture.
Pat dry with a non fluffy tea towel.

For smoking:

The idea behind cold smoking is that you have a small flame burning up the wood which never gets very hot. If it gets too hot, it cooks the salmon, which you want to avoid.
If you have a posh smoking cupboard then it's much easier. Follow the instructions that came with the device.
Using the Pro-Q, which is like a wire maze which you fill with sawdust in the wood of your choice, underneath which is a tea light which burns the sawdust at a low heat. A Pro-Q is a cheaper way of smoking at home.
It can be a bit hit and miss. Sometimes you've lit the sawdust and hours later you go to check and it's gone out/burnt out meaning your fish isn't smoked. I found that making sure the sawdust is bone dry (I leave it for half an hour on the top of the Aga) and ground very fine means it will work better. I also traced a line with my finger tip to guide the flame from the candle. I used a tea light that is slightly taller than usual so that it reaches the sawdust. Look for the small stream of smoke coming out of the lid of your bbq.
A Pro Q device lasts about six hours. You will probably have to do at least 2 if not 3 sessions of six hours, depending on how smokey you want the fish.