Smked Salmon

By Margannl

SMOKED SALMON HAS earned its place as a delicacy. But what happens if you take it yet another step and create peppered salmon? The result is even more flavorful and reflects characteristics of pastrami (lightly smoked, peppered corned beef), the food that inspired this salmon evolution.
In the spirit of lighter eating, peppered salmon is a delicious alternative to that spicy meat. Enjoy peppered salmon hot or cold, as an appetizer or a main dish, accompanied with the usual accessories: sour cream (or light sour cream to keep fat down), chopped onions, lemons or limes,
and crisp toast.
Slow smoking in a covered barbecue is easy to control. Use vents to regulate heat and an oven thermometer to guide you. Offer salmon warm, cool, or chilled with condiments as an appetizer or entree.

Ingredients

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 or 3 dried bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon crushed whole allspice
• 1 salmon fillet with skin, 3 to 3 1/2
• pounds and 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
• 1/2 About 1/2 cup mixed whole
• peppercorns (pink, green, white,
• black; for mildest flavor, use
• mainly pink and green
• peppercorns)
• About ½-cup apple or hickory
• wood chips
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 or 3 thin red onion slices
• Fresh dill sprigs

Preparation

Step 1

In a 1- to 1 ½-quart pan, bring 1 ½- cups water, sugar, salt, ginger, bay leaves, and allspice to boiling over high heat; stir until sugar dissolves completely. Let cool slightly.
Rinse salmon fillet, pat dry, and lay flat with skin down in a rimmed pan about 12 by 15 inches. Pour sugar-salt mixture over salmon. Cover pan tightly and chill fish at least 4 or up to 24 hours.
Occasionally spoon brine over the fish.
Mound 16 charcoal briquets on the fire grate of a barbecue with a lid. Ignite briquets.
Meanwhile, pour enough hot water over peppercorns to float them; soak at least 15 minutes. Also pour enough warm water over wood chips to make them float; let soak at least 15 minutes.
Pour brine off fish; rinse fish with cool water and pat dry. Set skin side down on a large sheet of foil; cut foil along outline of fish.
Rub honey over top of fish; drain peppercorns and scatter evenly over fish, patting to set them lightly in place.
When coals are dotted with gray ash, 25 to 30 minutes, push half to each side of fire grate. Drain wood chips and scatter 2 tablespoons on each mound of coals. Set grill 4 to 6 inches above the
fire grate; lightly oil the grill.
Place salmon on foil in center of grill (no coals should be beneath fish). Set an oven thermometer on the center of the fish. Put lid on barbecue and adjust vents to make ¼-inch openings. After
30 minutes, add 3 briquets to each mound of coals; repeat every 30 minutes of cooking.
Check thermometer often to be sure temperature stays about 160°. If temperature drops, open vents slightly; if temperature goes up, close 1 or 2 of the vents. Add wood chips as needed to
produce a faint, steady stream of smoke. Moisture that accumulates on fish will evaporate. Cook salmon until it is 140° in center of thickest part, about 1 ½ hours.
Using foil and wide spatulas, slide fillet onto a baking sheet without sides, then transfer fish from sheet to a platter. Serve salmon warm, cool, or chilled.
If making ahead, cover airtight and chill up to 3 days.
Garnish with onion and dill. Cut fish across grain into ¾-inch-wide slices; lift off skin. Serve with condiments. Makes 12 to 14 main-dish servings.