The Fourth 2011: Part Two - Smoke 'em if You Got 'em!

Whether right or wrong, I sometimes think I can do things just as well as other people - if not better. While this may or may not be true, there's always something to be learned along the way and something gained by the experience of wading into that uncharted territory.


I bought quite a bit of salmon last year from a guy at the Kingsfield Farmers Market. A pleasant fellow, he talked about how he smoked it himself and it struck conversations that day and following days, as I queried friends I know who have smoked ribs or chickens, salt and cheese, salmon and Spam. (I know, that last one raised some tangient questions, I assure you! Why, might be one...)

Okay, okay, so what I learned is that you first brine your meat or fish (the cheese or salt need none of this Tom Foolery), and brining is the key to locking in both flavor and moisture. If you want to read about the process, I found this instructional to be quite, well, instructional.

So you're brining for a time based on pounds of meat or fish to be smoked...and I might recommend that you do not start the brining in the evening hours: oh say, Happy Hour, given that in the four or five hours it might take, the exacting process of brining might not seem as though it needs to be exacting anymore. Things like rinsing off the fish get forgotten right in the middle in lieu of falling on the couch for a little bit of shut eye. It can happen to the best of us...and as you will see, the smoking process is quite forgiving. (And still I'm enjoying the benefits, a week or so later).


After the brining and the rinsing, the fish needs air drying just a bit to develop a glossy protective layer that brining develops for you. This is akin to searing a roast before you Aga it to perfection. You're tightening the top layers so that juices and flavors are kept inside. Ergo the reason you brine, rinse and dry in the first place...


The fish is then put on racks, placed into the smoking mechanism and the smoking is underway. Our Grizzled Jamie Oliver here is using an electric smoker that has a heating element at the bottom under the pan of wood chips. These alder chips let their smoky essence filter up through the racks and over nearly six hours (for the larger pieces) the smoke mingles its flavor with those already inside whatever you are smoking. The chips were changed for new about three times during the smoking.


Ah, our native brothers and sisters were some very smart folks to develop this way of perserving and enjoying the bounty of their hunting seasons. The low level of heat slowly allows the fish to cook, dry a bit and become wonderfully flavorful.


I don't think we waited until the crackers were open or the cream cheese unwrapped...

With the head, skin and bones of the whole smoked trout, I sense a fish chowder somewhere this fall. Or a lovely stock for a risotto...

This is a piece of pink salmon that had been completely fileted, so it had no skin layer underneath. To work around this, I used a couple pieces of cherry "smoking papers" that a friend gave me last Christmas. A lovely substitute and a delicious outcome!