Recipe courtesy of Wildwood Restaurant & Bar
Apple Cider-Cured Smoked Salmon
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 4 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 4 servings
- Calories
- 527
- Total Fat
- 17
- Saturated Fat
- 4
- Carbohydrates
- 73
- Dietary Fiber
- 6
- Sugar
- 59
- Protein
- 25
- Cholesterol
- 62
- Sodium
- 958
- Total: 56 min
- Prep: 30 min
- Inactive: 6 min
- Cook: 20 min
Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt
4 cups apple cider or juice
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 sprigs thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 large salmon fillets (about 1 pound each), skin and pin bones removed
A small bundle of wood chips or chunks
Directions
- To make the brine: In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, salt, and apple juice and bring to a boil. Add the remaining brine ingredients, remove from the heat, and cool. This brine can be made 2 to 3 days in advance and kept in the refrigerator.
- Submerge the salmon fillets in the liquid brine for at least 6 hours or overnight, refrigerated. Remove the salmon from the brine and place, uncovered, on a wire rack set in a sheet pan. Refrigerate the fillets for at least 6 hours, or overnight, to dry them out. (A dry fillet will take on smoke quicker than a moist fillet)
- To smoke the salmon: In an outdoor grill, make a small fire using mesquite charcoal or briquettes. Once the fire has burned down to a hot bed of coals, after about 1 hour, place the soaked wood on the coals. Position the grate 8 to 12 inches above the smoking wood and place the salmon fillets on the grate.
- Cover the grill and shut any open-air vents. After 5 minutes, check the heat of the grill; large fillets will be cooked and smoked through in approximately 30 minutes if the heat is low, about 300 to 350 degrees F, while a hotter fire will cook the fillets in 15 to 20 minutes. Serve the salmon hot off the grill.