Smoking a Salmon

Jenn and I both love smoked salmon that you get in those little tiny 150 g packets from the grocers. The only thing is you pay $10 dollars for so little of salmon I almost feel guilty for buying it. So with my success with smoking a rainbow I thought I'd pick up a large fillet of Salmon from Costco. I don't have a cold smoker so, I had to hot smoke it like the rainbow on my performer. I tried brining the salmon with a wet brine composed of 2 cups water 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup sea salt. Brined for 4-6 hours then rinsed and dried.

Once the flesh was dried the salmon was placed on a sheet of aluminum foil with holes poked in the bottom every few inches. This was just to allow for easy transfers of the fish on and off the grill without tearing it apart. The salmon had a sprinkle of lemon pepper applied to the surface. The grill was heated to 250 degrees with 1/2 a cup of wet Alder chips. It was smoked for about 1.5 hours. A good way to tell when it is done is when you see a lighter pink liquid form on the surface which is a protein that is released while cooking. The fish was excellent, nice smoke flavour that was not over powering and the fish flavour was front and center.