Apple Cider Cured Smoked Salmon

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup salt
• 4 cups apple cider (or juice)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 6 sprigs thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 1 large salmon fillet, skin and small pin bones removed (about 1 pound each)
• 1 bunch wood chips (soaked)

Recipe

• 1 to make brine:
• 2 in a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, salt and apple cider; bring to a boil. add remaining brine ingredients, remove from the heat and cool. the brine can be made 2 to 3 days in advance and kept in the refrigerator.
• 3 place the salmon fillets in the liquid brine for at least 6 hours up to overnight(making sure it's submerged), refrigerated. remove the salmon from the brine and place uncovered, on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan(or a cookie sheet). refrigerate the fillets for at least 6 hours, or overnight, to dry them out. (a dry fillet will take on smoke quicker than a moist fillet)
• 4 to smoke salmon:.
• 5 in an outdoor grill, make a small fire using mesquite charcoal or briquettes. when the fire has burned down to a hot bed of coals, after about 1 hour, place the soaked wood on the coals. position the grate 8" to 12" above the smoking wood and place the salmon fillets on the grate.
• 6 cover the grill and shut any open-air vents. after 5 minutes, check the heat of the grill; large fillets will be cooked and smoked through in about 30 minutes if the heat is low, about 300* to 350*f., while a hotter fire will cook the fillets in 15 to 20 minutes. serve the salmon hot off the grill and enjoy!