My latest Addiction!

Smoked salmon! Man is this stuff good!

I made it for the first time about a month maybe six weeks ago but I can't get enough and neither can the SpecialEd Siblings.

I can't afford the good stuff (wild) so I get farm raised fillets of Atlantic Salmon from Costco.

The first step is to rinse it well in cold water, dry it with paper towels and apply the cure.
The cure consists of one part kosher or sea salt to two parts brown sugar plus a couple tablespoons of freshly cracked black pepper. For a 1.5 lb fillet, I use about a cup of sugar, a half cup of salt and a 1/4 cup of pepper.

Let that sit overnight and the next day the fillets will be sitting in a pool of liquid that the cure has pulled out of the salmon flesh.
Wash the cure off very well and if it's still overly salty you can soak it in cold, fresh water for a little while.

Now lay it out on a rack or cutting board to air dry until it is no longer tacky to the touch (about an hour or so). I use a small fan to help the process along.

Then dust it with your favorite spice rub--for salmon, I use Dizzy Pig's Raging River. Let that "melt" in to the salmon for say 30 minutes then put it on the smoker.

I smoke it at about 210-220 degrees until it reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees. That's it! Chill it in the refrigerator, get some crackers and cream cheese and it don't get much better 'n that!

BTW, I have been using Sugar Maple and or Cedar from Lexington Outdoors of Maine but I just ordered a bag of Alder chunks from them so I can finally try the traditional salmon smoking wood. The ever helpful Dorie of LOofM also gave me some of her own recipes and ideas for recipes to try so check back soon.