Hot Smoked Salmon

Ingredients

• 4 lb sockeye salmon — 2 pieces, 2 lb each
• For the brine:
• 1 quart cold water
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• For the brown sugar rub:
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• For the garlic dill rub:
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. In a large plastic container with a lid, combine the water and salt. Add fish skin side up. Brine for 4-8 hours in the fridge.
2. Remove from the brine, rinse well with cold water and pat dry.
3. Set a drying rack on top of large baking sheet and place the fish, skin side down on it.
4. Let the fish dry for 8-12 hours in the fridge to form a pellicle.
5. Preheat your pellet grill. Set the temperature to 180 F. You can start smoking the fish at 150 F and gradually increase the temperature to 180 F.
6. Remove fish from the fridge.
7. In two small bowls, combine the ingredients for the sweet and savory rubs.
8. Rub one piece with the sweet rub and the other with the garlic dill rub.
9. Place salmon on the smoker skin side down and smoke for 3-5 hours, until the internal temperature reaches 135 -140 F. (FYI Our larger pieces pictured here took 11 hours.)