Premium Smoked Salmon -- A Healthy Gourmet Seafood Gift
by Liz Brown

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Not as fatty as the preceding species are the Pink or humpback salmon. The smallest of the Pacific varieties, Pink salmon weigh from 3 to 5 pounds. Generally too small to be used for smoking, Pink salmon are therefore primarily used in canning.

The process of properly smoking salmon involves two steps. Before actually smoking the fish, fresh salmon is first prepared, cured or brined according to select smokehouse recipes with special spices, herbs and seasonings to enhance natural flavors.

Smoking is usually done by one of two methods--hot-smoking or cold-smoking. Warm smoky air in the smokehouse gradually dries and naturally preserves

food while at the same time flavoring it. The smoke is obtained by burning alder or a similar wood under low draft to give the fish a distinctive and recognizable taste. Hot-smoking is a process by which the salmon is smoked from 6 to 12 hours at temperatures ranging from

Smoked Wild King Salmon
from Seabear

Cabela's Copper River
Sockeye Salmon

120 degrees to 180 degrees F. The time and temperature depend on the size of the fish, how close it is to the source of smoke and the degree of flavor desired. A 2-lb. fillet of premium Wild King salmon, traditionally smoked over alder wood can be purchased for $49.95 from Seabear, a specialty smokehouse famous for their Pacific Northwest smoked salmon gifts and samplers.

In cold-smoking, a cooking temperature of 70 degrees to 90 degrees F is maintained by controlling the smoke intake into the smokehouse. The fish is gently smoked and might remain in the smokehouse for anywhere from 1 day to 3 weeks. Scottish-smoked, Danish-smoked and Irish-smoked salmon are all geographical references to cold-smoked salmon. Nova or Nova Scotia salmon is an idiom used in the United States that also broadly describes cold-smoked salmon.

There are many types of smoked salmon. Indian-cure salmon is brined and cold-smoked for up to 2 weeks, resulting in a form of salmon jerky. U.S. style kippered salmon is a chunk, steak or fillet that has been soaked in a mild brine and hot-smoked. European kippered salmon is a whole salmon that has been split before being brined and cold-smoked. Lox is brine-cured cold-smoked salmon, saltier than other smoked salmon.

Traditionally smoked Pacific, Northwest, or Alaskan salmon usually is an entire fillet smoked over alder wood, resulting in flaky, smoky and moist meat. Merchants such as Cabela's, well-known for their outdoor products and gear, offer 18-oz. fillets of smoked Alaskan Copper River Sockeye salmon as part of their gourmet meat selection. A   three-pack of this premium smoked fish sell for $84.99. Smoked salmon is ready-to-serve and can be used as appetizers or hors d'oeuvres with crackers and cheeses or crusty breads. -- 9/20/02.

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