Time to make some more smoked salmon!

Time for some more smoked salmon!

 As we all know there is good smoked salmon and there is some really ropey stuff around, well we make our own and its surprisingly easy to do. Lots of our guests have commented on how special it is and I am always telling everyone that its really easy to make, so I thought it was time to blog all about it.  That way you can just get on and try it out.   It’s  great fun and very rewarding so go on, have a go!!

 First, you will need a side of salmon, try and find a good fishmonger as ideally you don’t want farmed, but don’t worry if all else  fails swing  into your  local Morrison’s their fresh fish is pretty good  ask the deli guy to take out the pin bones though to make life easier for yourself.

When you get home put the side of Salmon on a plastic board, skin side down,  don’t use anything metallic as this woud react with the salt and you’d end up with a rusty piece of fish – not wholesome!

 Cover the open side with freshly ground pepper you can be quite liberal give it a good covering using a pepper mill of course, then make up the cure,  100g of table salt & 100g of caster sugar.  Mix together well and spread it all over making sure all the flesh is coated. Wrap up in cling film lots of it, (it is worth using a catering size it’s wider)  then bang another chopping board on top and put it all in a tray (good to catch the drips ).  Pop it into the fridge and then put something heavy on top – like a brick  leave alone for 5 days , then unwrap wash the cure off and pat the side down with some kitchen roll,  the ground pepper can stay and will stay on

Then pop it in a smoker for about 4 hours, if you don’t have a smoker yet check out the blog post on how to make yourself a home smoker .

Cutting the smoked salmon can been a little daunting, I would suggest the easy way is to cut the fillets as in the picture you’ll  need your sharpest knife – if you get into trouble no worries just cut the slices a little thicker,  this will easily keep in a fridge for 7 to 10 days .   If you prefer just slice the whole thing  and portion up say a couple of slices wrapped in cling film and store in the freezer until you  fancy it, it will only take a few minutes to defrost  and will be good and tasty for at least a month.

 You’ll never buy the shop smoked stuff ever again!