Traditional Smoked Salmon - Recipe

My fishing buddy, Ted Pritchard, with a big

 hooknose silver caught on the Skagit River

I spent my youth with fancy recipes and brines, then I met Mike Cladoosby, and I learned that all you need is salt!  I now make traditional smoked salmon with salt.  One of my greatest discoveries was learning to use vegetable oil, it restores the color, texture and that sticky oil grabs hold of the smoke particles making your salmon taste like it was smoked for much longer.  This salmon is not a hard smoke, but more like a kipper.  Whatever you call it, this method of smoking salmon is absolutely delicious!

Ingredients

salmon

non iodized salt

vegetable oil

Directions

• fillet your salmon – leave the skin on

• lay it on the racks, skin side down

• salt your salmon a little heavier than you would a steak, it will

  look like a little too much, but a lot drips off and it will be okay

• smoke at about 150 degrees for approximately 4 hours

• about ½ hour before your salmon is done, paint it with vegetable

  oil, I like to use olive oil because it is healthy

• for a nice presentation, smoke your fillets whole and serve on a

  garnished salmon plank, I like to use grape leaves and a dahlia

  as garnish when in season

• for large groups, I like to smoke it in serving size chunks

  and serve it up in roasting pans