This is how I fixed the centerpiece of our Christmas Eve dinner this year. It is the combination of a Japanese marinade and American hot smoking, and it turned out very well.
3 lb salmon filet cut into two pieces
3/4 cup miso
4-1/2 Tbs sake
4-1/2 Tbs mirin
½ cup sugar
Mix together the miso, sake, mirin, and sugar and pour into a large ziplock baggie. Add the salmon filet, expel all the air, roll up the bag and zip it closed.
Marinate the fish for 48 hours, periodically turning it over to ensure that the fish is evenly in the marinade. The salt and sugar in the marinade will lightly cure the fish.
When ready to cook, quickly scrap off the marinade and also pat it with paper towels.
Place the salmon on baking parchment and then on one of the racks of an electric box smoker. I cut the fish into two pieces so that it would fit on one rack. Heat the electric box smoker to 220 degrees. When it is at full temperature, add wood chips, and smoke the salmon for about an hour until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees.
Heat the oven broiler. When hot, put the fish in the oven under the broiler for about 5 minutes until the surface is nicely browned. Serve and enjoy.
We made this recipe twice now with improved results.
The first time we followed the recipe to the letter, pulled it at 140 degrees and finished it under the broiler, but found the salmon overcooked.
The second time we marinated it for only 36 hours and pulled it off the smoker at 130 degrees with much better results. The typical salmon fillet cut is uneven with both a thin and a thick side which makes it a challenge to cook evenly. Next time we will try pulling it at around 125 degrees to find the perfect smoker temperature/time.
Brad – I look forward to hearing the results of your experimentation.
This recipe has become a regular addition to our smoker cooking. We use Atlantic Salmon which typically has both thin and thick sides. Our experience is to pull the salmon from the smoker at between 125 and 130 degrees F as measured by the smoker’s built in thermometer inserted into the thick portion of the salmon. We then follow up with the oven broiler which provides a nice light crust.
One additional comment. We placed the salmon on aluminum foil in the smoker instead of parchment paper. This made it easier to slide into the oven broiler as parchment paper is, well, paper and not recommended for the broiler (unless you prefer blackened).
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
I don’t know who you are but certainly you are going
to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
How do you think it will work if I only have 6 hours to marinate the salmon?
I have never tried it, so I can’t say for sure. You will certainly not get the full effect since one of the things the marinade is doing is curing the fish, and that takes time. If you only have 6 hours, I would go for it and see how it turns out. I think it will be better than if you had not marinated it. Send back a comment on how the shorter time turned out. Good luck.