Smoked Salmon

Today we’re smoking salmon on the new Weber Searwood pellet smoker.

Alaska Seafood Company sent me both the Marbled Wild King Salmon and the regular Wild King Salmon.  I’ve been going back and forth between the two trying to figure out which one I like better.  So, I smoked them both exactly the same way to see which one is better smoked.

The salmon comes frozen in individual portion sizes, so I let them defrost in the fridge overnight.

I made a rub with 4 parts brown sugar and 2 parts salt and then eyeballed some granulated garlic, paprika, black pepper, and granulated onion.

I rinsed off the salmon, dried with a paper towel, and then painted on some worcester sauce.  In a glass dish, I put a layer of rub, then the salmon skin side down, and then more rub on the top and sides.

I covered with plastic wrap and then put in the fridge for 5 hours.   

After rinsing and drying them one more time, I put them on a wire rack and then back in the fridge overnight.

The next morning I smoked them at 180 degrees for a couple of hours until the internal temp hit 140 degrees.

I removed them from the heat, tented with foil, and let rest for a few minutes.

Going into this experiment, I thought the Marbled salmon would be better smoked because of the higher fat content, but overall the regular King salmon was the winner.  While the marbled was definitely more tender, the regular salmon was more moist, flavorful, and sweeter.  Both were wicked good, but if I had to do it again, I’d only smoke the regular salmon and pan sear the marbled.

Steps:

1. Rinse
2. Dry
3. Apply Rub
4. Sit in fridge for 5 hours
5. Rinse
6. Dry
7. Sit in fridge for 5+ hours
8. Smoke at 180F until internal temp hits 140F.