With this recipe and some basic equipment, you can cure and smoke salmon at home.

Smoking is one of the oldest food preservation methods, probably having arisen shortly after the development of cooking with fire. Smoking is the exposure of cured meat and fish to smoke in order to preserve them, with the added bonus of adding a lovely smoke flavour. The drying action of the smoke preserves the meat, and many of the natural chemicals present in wood smoke act as preservatives as well. It’s all good!

The smoked salmon and other smoked products we buy at shops are almost always cold smoked. Cold smoking can be done at home, but you need some special equipment and it takes 24 hours or more. Cold smoking doesn’t actually cook the fish, it cures it while adding smoke flavour, resulting in a soft end product. Hot smoking however does cook the fish and is therefore safer for home cooks to try.

Equipment List:

• Metal Baking Tray, at least 6cm deep – an old one is perfect as it will be discoloured by the smoking.
• Rack that fits inside the baking tray. I used the rack from the oven toaster. The mesh was quite wide so I covered it with aluminium foil and poked holes all over to allow the smoke to flow through.
• Aluminium foil – large enough to be able to tightly cover the baking tray.
• Small aluminium tray from the ￥100 shop. Alternatively, make a 10cm square tray from aluminium foil (see photo below)
• Smoking chips – Hickory, oak or applewood chips are best. Available on Amazon Prime, for example: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B000AR1L0/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_M28X8PC2502BV2QQ2Y21?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Ingredients:

• 400g sashimi grade salmon fillets
• 20g sea salt
• 20g sugar

Method:

• If necessary, cut the salmon to pieces that will fit on your rack.
• Mix the salt and sugar and rub all over the salmon. Place in the fridge for at least half an hour.
• Prepare your smoker – Place a small handful of smoking chips in the aluminium tray or homemade tray and place in the centre of the baking tray. Place the rack on top of the aluminium tray.
• Remove the salmon from the fridge, rinse well in cold water and dry well with kitchen paper. Return to the fridge for at least an hour to dry out.
• Place the salmon on the rack and cover the baking tray tightly with alumumium foil, trying not to allow the foil to touch the fish.
• Put the tray over a medium heat until the chips begin to smoke (you will see a little smoke coming out of the edges) then remove from the heat and leave to smoke for around 20 minutes
• Carefully lift the salmon from the smoker and check that it is cooked through. If the fillets require more cooking, transfer to a hot oven for a few minutes
• You can either serve straight away or leave to cool and store wrapped in the fridge for a day or freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, wrap in foil and heat in the oven until warmed through

Serving Suggestion: smoked salmon and scrambled eggs are one of my favourite weekend brunch dishes. And waking up early this morning gave me plenty of time to make some ciabatta bread to serve with them. Ciabbatta is quite a difficult bread to make, being a very wet dough, but it’s worth the effort!