Home-smoked wild salmon

Turn a fresh piece of fish into a sweet, salty glossy slab fit for the best bagel

Wild California king salmon after three hours of smoking. Photo by @foodaism

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. This is hot-smoked salmon, not lox, which is cold-smoked at a much lower temperature. Hot-smoking, which is much easier for the home cook, results in a bright orange slab that can be used in a salad or pasta, eaten on its own, added to cream cheese for a smoky spread, or sliced on top of a bagel. I own a Traeger,l which allows me to smoke this fish at a low temperature. If you don’t have a home smoker, you can easily fashion one using a wok or heavy pan. This recipe uses a side of salmon, but you can reduce it to make a single filet.

Related

• This summer, may all your lox be wild lox

Ingredients

Brine

• 1 whole side wild salmon, 3-4 pounds

• 4 cups water

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/3 cup kosher salt

• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Rub

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Curing

1. Using a sharp knife, cut three slashes in the skin side of the salmon to allow the salt mixture to penetrate. Combine water, salt, sugar and paprika in a Ziploc or glass bowl. Add salmon. Cover with plastic wrap if using a bowl and refrigerate 8-12 hours.Remove the salmon from the brine. Rinse quickly. Place on a wire rack, skin side down, and let dry at room temperature for 2 hours, or place in the refrigerator for 6 hours.

Smoking

1. Set smoker to 165 F. Mix rub ingredients together and rub into both sides of the salmon. Smoke for 3 hours. Remove and let cool.

Rob Eshman is Senior Contributing Editor of the Forward. Follow him on Instagram @foodaism and Twitter @foodaism or email eshman@forward.com.

Print This Recipe This article was originally published on the Forward.