Smoked Atlantic Salmon - just in time for Christmas

We both love to have special treats on hand for guests, especially Christmas-time.  

Hubby really enjoys making things like moose jerky and  smoking fish and salmon. 

We bought four small whole salmon last week.  

To prepare them for the smoker, he filleted them and seasoned with sea salt and pepper, 

and a generous sprinkling of brown sugar.  

The fillets then set overnight with to absorb the seasonings......

 Roger built a new smoker about three years ago, and jumps at any chance to fire it up. 

 The smoker is built from plywood, and has a small electric burner mounted in the bottom.  

A small frying pan is filled with cherry wood chips and placed on the burner to slowly smoulder.

 There is a door on the smoker, which is closed to contain the heat and the smoke.  

The fish slowly cooks while being smoked at the same time.   

The smoking process takes about eight hours. About every hour, the door is opened to add more chips.  

The burner is turned up on high until chips start to burn well, then it is turned back to medium, to allow the chips to slowly smoulder,creating lots of smoke and a nice slow heat.   

 The smell is amazing during the entire process, but the end result is a true delight to 

see, smell & taste!

 

 Each piece is turned upside down to cool, then vacuum-sealed for
when company comes!!!

Cheers

:)