Smoked Salmon

My brother likes to smoke. Meat, that is. A while back he gave me an electric meat smoker that he wasn't using. Over the weekend I finally found time to test it out.

I decided to try salmon and chicken. The salmon turned out great, but the chicken was kind of rubbery, although the flavor was good. (I used boneless breast of chicken. Next time I will try chicken with skin and bones to see if that improves the texture.)

I used my favorite recipe for brining the salmon. I use this all the time for grilled salmon, so you don't need to use a smoker to use this technique. I adapted this from a recipe I found in Bon Appetit. It is truly a wonderful way to do salmon, adding a sweet and salty flavor that is delicious. This salmon is great to use as a main dish or in a salad or pasta. I usually use one of those big salmon fillets at Costco, and freeze some of the extra to use in other ways.

Grilled Brined Salmon

4 Cups water
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup white sugar

1 large salmon fillet

Put water, sugars, and salt together in and pan. Boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let cool.

Put salmon and brine in a zip lock bag. Put into a bowl (to prevent leaks) and marinade for one hour in the refrigerator. DO NOT marinade for over an hour - the salmon becomes too salty!

I grill this on a gas grill. I have even used my George Foreman grill - but it takes several batches to cook it all. My guess is that it would work fine to cook in an oven as well.