Smoked Labrador Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Immerse the salmon in soft cold water for 48 hours, changing the water at least three times.
Clean the outside of the fish with a medium-hard brush and warm water, focusing on the fins and tail.
Remove the skin and small gut with a brush and sharp knife, and take out the gills carefully.
Brush the entire face side until clean and red, scouring the bone until no residue remains.
Remove the backbone neatly and shape the fish.
Dry and smoke
Suspend the fish by the tail in a barrel of clean cold water for 12 hours.
Hang the fish to drip for 6 hours, then insert three sticks into the back.
Hang the fish in a chimney with a warm heat for 2 hours.
Apply strong smoke for 24 to 30 hours, or until the fish turns dark red.
Cool the fish for 12 hours, then slice it obliquely.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Labrador salmon
- Is the main ingredient, whose flesh becomes firm and smoky as it is cured and smoked.
- Soft cold water
- Draws out blood and impurities during the long soak, leaving the flesh cleaner in flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the fish and helps draw out moisture, firming the flesh for smoking.
The step that matters
Apply strong smoke for 24 to 30 hours. Smoking must run long enough to dry the surface and colour the fish evenly; if the heat or smoke is uneven, the flesh can cure unevenly or spoil before it sets.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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