Brown Sugar-Cured Salmon
- Total Time
- 25 minutes, plus at least 4 hours’ curing
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4skin-on, center-cut wild king or other salmon fillets (2½ pounds total)
- ¼cup light brown sugar
- 2teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- 1teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼teaspoon ground mace
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus lemon wedges for serving
- Olive oil
- 1½cups hickory chips, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
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Preparation
- Step 1
Pat fish dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine sugar, salt, pepper, spices and zest. Rub mixture all over fish. Place in a dish, cover and let cure in the fridge for at least 4 hours and preferably 8 hours. Rinse fillets and pat dry. Generously oil salmon.
- Step 2
Light the grill. Once coals are hot, scatter drained hickory chips over coals. (If you’re using a gas grill, place them in a disposable metal pan on the grill next to the salmon.)
- Step 3
Place salmon flesh-side down on grill and cover, closing top vent so not much smoke is released. Smoke salmon, covered, for about 5 to 6 minutes, then flip. (If the fish is sticking to the grill grate, then it’s not ready to flip. Cook for another 3 to 10 minutes, depending upon how hot your fire is. The fish is done when the interior is medium pink and exterior crisp and smoky. Serve with lemon wedges.
Private Notes
Comments
This recipe is a keeper. We have made this twice already. First, with wild Copper River salmon. Then, with wild Pacific King salmon. We are fortunate here in the Pacific Northwest at this time of year, to have so much variety of fresh, wild fish. No mace? Use extra nutmeg. Make this all summer long!
The spice mix is lovely -- I'm using it on all sorts of things. Smells Christmassy and very inviting. Andy Gustafson's right, the salmon is really easy and tasty. I also like it with some red pepper flakes added.
This spring and summer please give cooking times for those of us who have gas grills. They are not always the same as using coals.
Thank you.
I'm going to make this tonight and the fillets are curing now. But in the instructions, it says to "rinse fillets and pat dry" after curing? Won't this remove the rub mixture?
Pretty good results. Could not find mace, unfortunately (Montana markets are not well-stocked). Biggest issue is to UNDERCOOK the salmon! I cut the times in half.
This method works much better when you cold smoke it rather than cooking it on a hot grill immediately. Cold smoke it first and grill it the next at high heat and you will be amazed. You also can just eat it cold smoked sliced thin on crackers or even Puree it into a mouse to your liking. It's all possible if you cold smoke it first!
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