Smoked Salmon and Salmon Pate

The River Ouse used to provide salmon for the folks in York in the 10th Century. Since cooking over fire was the norm then, smoked salmon would be a common, simple, and delicious meal. Unfortunately, pollution from the growing City of York killed off the salmon in Ouse in the 11th or 12th Century. (It is quite possible that salmon were killed off by 999 A.D., but Dianne and I both really like salmon. So for the purpose of "eating like its 999", enough hearty salmon survived to get to our dinner plates.)

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh salmon, 3/4" - 1 1/4" thick
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 

Instructions

• Brine salmon in salty water for 20 minutes. (Without brining, salmon will sometimes extrude a gray goo when cooking. The goo is protein based, doesn't taste bad, but unaesthetic.) 
• Set up the stove top smoker as per directions that comes with the smoker, using 1 Tbsp of a mild smoking wood such as alder.
• Place salmon on smoker grill, skin side down.
• Liberally add salt and pepper to top of salmon.
• Set stove to medium heat and smoke salmon for 20-25 minutes, or when salmon flakes easily with fork.
• Remind guests that the skin is still on the bottom of the fillet when serving. 

Notes

• http://www.amazon.com/Cameron-Cookware-Stainless-Stovetop-Smoker/dp/B00004SZ9D is the stove top smoker that I use for this dish.
• If you have leftovers and don't want to have cold smoked salmon, the following salmon pate recipe is great:

Smoked Salmon Pate

Good for the leftover salmon 

Ingredients

For each pound of smoked salmon:

• 6 tblsp butter
• 2 tblsp apple cider
• 1 tblsp nut oil (almond, walnut or hazel if you can find it, olive if you can't find nut oil)

Instructions

• Place all ingredients and salmon in a food processor (blenders work, but require much more work pushing down pate with spatula). 
• Blend until smooth, and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.