This is How I get PERFECT Smoked Salmon EVERY Time

This delicious smoked salmon recipe is brined in a wet brown sugar and citrus brine then finished with a sweet orange glaze for incredible flavor. The taste of this smoked salmon is amazing, and you can serve it hot or cold.

Smoked salmon is a process where fresh salmon is either cold or hot smoked. Hot smoking is where the salmon is smoked at temperatures between 120° and 180° until the desired internal temperature is achieved. You can also hot smoke the salmon for several hours if you plan to wrap it, cool it, and serve it cold after several days, but the texture can be dry.

The other method is cold smoking which smokes at temperatures between 70° and 90° for several hours and even up to a few weeks. If smoking for several weeks, it turns the fish into salmon-jerky. If you brine the salmon and cold smoke it for several hours, you will get something known as lox.

My smoked salmon recipe is known as kippered salmon. This method is brined and hot smoked and can be served hot or cold. I prefer to cook it to 140° to 145° internally because I like to eat it warm.

Ingredients for this recipe:

• 3 cups water
• 2/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sea salt
• zest of 1 orange
• zest of 1 lemon
• 4 to 4 ½ pound side of salmon

For the Glaze:

• ½ cup brown sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 orange
• ½ stick unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

[ZachReynolds]

I smoked 3.5 lbs of grocery store salmon with this recipe and it was phenomenal. Everyone scarfed it up. I had just enough left to make an omelet with it the next morning. I really recommend this recipe. People here complaining about the sweet but it's perfectly balanced with with smoky fish flavor. I like fish a little more done, so I took mine to 150º internal and it was perfectly melt-in-the-mouth juicy.

[Timmytom]

I’ve tried this recipe twice in two weeks and it’s a winner! Sweet, savory, smoky, and moist each time. I highly recommend anyone to try this recipe. I did add minced garlic, red onion, and turbinado simple syrup to the brine. Darn good!!

[debfera]

I just finished trying this recipe for my first time trying to smoke my own salmon. It turned out really great! The glaze is amazing, and Billy's tips are really helpful! It is now my go-to.

[suevanderostyne]

I bought a little smoker tube for pellets to use my gas grill as a smoker. (I’ve NEVER smoked anything) it was amazing! Thank you

[arcticmorning]

Living in Alaska for 45 years and smoking and eating salmon all my life, although I don't claim to be an expert. I don't like to brine my fish as it sucks most of the moisture out of any type of fish especially salmon causeing it to be firm textured accompanied with dryness. Just put salt on your fish at the time of smoking at around 100 degrees for 3 hours then finishing it off at 400 degrees for one minute will give u an unbelievable texture and flavor . Squeeze plenty of fresh lemon with a nice ripe advacado will leave your guests in awe.

[Lecon]

I live in the Cook inlet shore in Alaska. I'm going to be doing some new smoke techniques I've learned. I've been a fisherman my whole life, I'm 55. May is coming and we dip our nets off the shore for King Salmon. May 15th I'll be cooking my first king Salomon of the season.

[housemail]

Looks delicious. I love the expression on your face when you taste the food and when you walk away with your arms in the air. Makes me want to run to the kitchen and start cooking. You make cooking look so easy and fun. We truly love watching your videos and learn so much.

[ErikPierreR]

Making this again right now. Always a hit and my guests beg for more!

[timothypitts]

My Salmon is sitting in the brine since 9am this morning. Thinking I might take it out later tonight after 12 hrs and rinse it, then pat dry and let sit until tomorrow morning to smoke it. Hopefully the overnight sitting will not create any issues! This is what I do for smoking mackerel but that is a whole other fish to smoke!

[diegolby]

I made this during the superbowl weekend and it was fantastic. It took me 3.5 hrs to reach the 140 F and was concerned that the salmon would dry up, but it came out great and not dry. Maybe the glaze helped keep it moist.
I should point out that I used a gas grill with a smoke box and just kept the temp near the fish fluctuating around 150-180 F. Came out great. Love you videos! I'm now looking for other fish to smoke as well. Beef and pork just take too long for me.

[joonpark]

I made this over and over again. I serves with tomahawk, brisket, prime rib… and always winner was the salmon. Thank you.

[derrill]

I gotta say every time I cook this it gets better and better! A little taste of heaven! Thanks for the recipe! Want to try your brisket next

[sturdevantphotography]

Wild Salmon is prohibitively expensive here, but I regularly catch Rainbow trout in the 3-5 lb range, and they are great for smoking with this process. Mackerel or Bluefish are otherworldly. In my experience 2 hrs isn't enough to get a full pellicle, I do 10 hrs in the fridge or 3 hrs outside in cold windy weather with a fan. For something different, try orange wood, it's great with fish

[mazzith]

I finished making this last night and it was a hit. We modified the glaze slightly by adding a tablespoon on honey. It was delicious and some of the best salmon I've ever had. My neighbor who hates fish thought it was delightful. It was very sweet though, next time I might cut the brown sugar some on the brine as with the glaze its probably not needed,

[christopherrobbins]

Love your stuff! Thanks. I have an oven w a convection fan. I put my salmon in it, no heat, and a 1 gallon milk jug of water, frozen. Then use the convection for 4-6 hours to develop a pellicle in a controlled environment freeing up my fridge and keeping the flies and Labradors out of it.

[TheBeezKneez]

Coming from a career Chef I your videos. You put so much detail and information into your videos that you're literally giving away decades of experience i
and it's a beautiful thing. Thank you for sharing your craft and giving it back to the people.

[joedennehy]

Great video. Glad you understand the importance of the pellicle. I cold smoke with air in a smaller hot smoker for a couple of hours., then hot smoke for 20 minutes. But I have a dry brine 50 % salt 50% brown sugar. And I leave it for 24 hours. I like it saltier than you.

[Lewisusa]

I like using honey instead of the brown sugar, gives a sweet sticky surface to absorb smoke. I am going to do this tonight

[beckysaala]

This is the second time we smoked our salmon according to your video. WOW. Is all I can say. I wish I could share the photo so you can see how awesome the fish turned out. I did post the photo of the fish on facebook and shared your link. Thank you! A real keeper.

[danielloher]

I’ve made this numerous times, always fantastic. Kids experiment with the off cuts, learning to cook at the same time!! Great recipe!