Salmon cooked at low temperature in the smoker Hot smoked recipe

Salmon marinated then cooked in the smoker with the hot smoking method. A low temperature cooking method resulting in ultra tender fish. A delight.

The smoker is, for lovers of low temperature cooking or fans of outdoor cooking such as barbecue or plancha, a fantastic cooking method.

Cooking in the smoker

Cooking in the smoker can be done either hot smoked like in this recipe, either cold smoked as for smoked salmon. I explained all this to you in this article. I invite you to discover the cooking method.

What does cold smoked mean: Basically, in the smokehouse, when you smoke cold, you slowly burn sawdust which will slowly but surely flavor the food you are smoking. The wood essence perfumes with its characteristics.
There is no cooking, which is why depending on the food either we put it raw or as is (salt or cheese for example) or we pre-cook it in a dry marinade like gravlax salmon. This is the case for home-smoked salmon. This operation can only be done from fall to spring, when outside temperatures do not rise too high.

How to cook in a smoker while smoking hot

There are several forms of smokehouse. Some are very long, others are very high… But for each, the principle is the same: you can either smoke cold, that is to say at room temperature with just sawdust which, when consumed, perfumes a pre-cooked food or not as I have just described.
Or smoke hot with wood chips on embers which will heat and cook. Can hot cooking be silent throughout the year? I explain to you:

How is a smokehouse made for hot smoking? The smoker has several compartments: first embers, like in a barbecue, on which we place wood chips previously wet and wrapped either in a utensil that can go on the embers, or wrapped in aluminum foil. In both cases, it must have a hole on the top so that the smoke can escape.
So embers which will heat up, moistened wood chips on top which will give smoke and a smoky taste, and finally a large bowl of water which will bring humidity to everything and also and above all regulate the temperature, thus preventing it from heating up too much like in a barbecue.
And finally a grill on which we place the food that we want to smoke hot.
All in a smoker which has a lid, with small vents to regulate the temperature.

We use a thermometer with a probe to measure core temperature cooked food. Depending on the type of food, the desired temperature varies.

My smoker is from the Barbecook brand (this is not a promotion or a sponsor, just the equipment that my family gave me). It looks a bit like a Weber barbecue but taller. I am providing you with some photos (and a video to come) so that you can see the principle described in these few lines: embers, wood chips, water and food to cook. From memory the price of this model is around €250.

For wood chips, you can use different species (beech, alder, fruit tree, etc.) each giving a specific taste. They can be found with barbecue accessories in stores or online.

You can possibly divert your bell barbecue If you don’t have a smoker, make this recipe by putting the wood chips in aluminum foil on the embers and placing a bowl of water on your grill next to your salmon. But the system will not be optimal so be careful to monitor the cooking carefully.

Steps for hot smoking

• We start with light a fire as for a classic barbecue. Either with charcoal or with wood. We want nice embers.
• During this time, we soaks wood chips in water. I put several big handfuls. We leave it in the water for half an hour, until the wood chips are well soaked with water. Then we drain and put on aluminum foil and germinate like foil. We do small holes on the topthis will allow the aromas to escape.
• We boil a large volume of water2 to 3 liters minimum, it depends on your smoker model.
• When the embers are very nice, we place the wood chips wrapped in aluminum foil on the embers. Then in the large basin we put previously heated water. In this water you can add aromatics such as thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, etc. which will perfume the whole. It’s optional.
• Then when all this setup is ready, we arrange our food to be cooked on the grillwe close the lid and we cook while monitoring that the internal temperature does not rise too much. Depending on the function, we play on the more or less open ventilation grilles.
• The cooking time depends on the food and its size, we seek to calculate the core temperature rather than the cooking time.

How to cook this salmon in the smoker

In this recipe, the salmon fillet(s) with the skin preserved – I put it in the plural because I often make several – are previously marinated for 1 to 2 hours in a mixture: soy sauce, olive oil water, honey, lemon zest, garlic, grated ginger, 5 crushed berries.

Then the salmon is cooked in the smoker thus prepared at a temperature between 100 and 120°C (taking care not to exceed 140°C), therefore at relatively low temperature, until it reaches a core temperature of 60 to 65°C. Personally I aim for 60 to 62°C.
That’s all. You’ll see, it’s super simple.