I don’t have a love for salmon, but seeing so many suggestions on this board on how to prepare and smoke salmon, I thought I would give it a try. The following is my version of Sugar-and-Spice Brined Salmon that is in S&S. I should warn you that for some reason the salmon stuck to the racks, and I used the jerky racks and sprayed them with Pam. Fortunately, I smoked salmon with the skin, so the skin stuck to the racks and I was able to take the meat off in solid pieces.
Another suggestion, since you do not rinsed the brine off in this recipe, you may want to reduce the amount of salt. I had used three tablespoons, and although it was not overly salty, it was a bit more salt then I would have liked. My brother, who hates salmon, enjoyed this batch. If you can’t find Maple Syrup Granules, I feel you can substitute brown sugar and get a similar taste.
Caution: there are several Old Bay products out there; the product I used was McCormick Old Bay Seafood One-Step Shrimp & Crab Boil Spicy Blend. The following link will show you what Old Bay blend I am referring to
http://www.mccormick.com/productdetail.cfm?id=6218 . One other caution, I suggest you use Vincent Van Gogh Wild Appel Vodka; not all flavored vodkas are equal.
1½ – 2 lbs. Salmon fillet with skin, cut into 1 ½ inch wide strips
¾ C. Apple Flavored Vodka (Vincent Van Gogh Wild Appel)
1/3 C. Maple Syrup Granules (or brown sugar)
3 TBS. Kosher or Sea Salt
2 TBS. OLD BAY Seafood One-Step Spicy Blend
Slightly crush the whole spice seeds in the Old Bay seasoning. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well, ensure that all salt and maple granules (or brown sugar) are dissolved. Place cut up fish in a plastic Ziploc bag, pour mixture over the fish and refrigerate 2 - 8 hours. Place salmon skin side down, on a jerky tray that has be sprayed with Pam. The more spices that are clinging to the fish, the better the flavor will be. I used 4 apple pucks, and smoke at 160 degrees, until the salmon temperature was at 140 degrees.
Hope you will enjoy
<font color="red">I made an error when I originally posted this recipe. It should be 1/3 cup of Maple granules, not 1/4 cup, as first posted.</font id="red">