A piece of smoked salmon with bourbon marinade on a baking sheet with lemon slices and a fork.

5 / 5 votes

Smoked Salmon with Bourbon Marinade

Most people I know have a love-hate relationship with salmon. Here’s one way to make everyone fall in love: add smoke, bourbon, and sweet tea. You’ll need to cure the salmon the night before, but the process is totally worth it. I like to start smoking as the fire is burning down from a different smoke and there aren’t many coals left.

Prep Time40

Cook Time2

Total Time11

Course: Mains

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 257

Equipment

Wood chips
Smoker

Ingredients

▢ 1/2 cup granulated sugar
▢ 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
▢ 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
▢ 1/2 cup kosher salt
▢ 1/2 cup bourbon
▢ 1 cup brewed sweet tea, cold
▢ 1 (1/2 to 2 pound) salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed
▢ 1 lemon, thinly sliced into rounds
▢ Grilled lemon slices, for serving (optional)

US - Metric

Instructions

To make the brine, in a medium bowl, mix the granulated sugar, brown sugar, black pepper, and salt. Add the bourbon and sweet tea and whisk until the sugars and salt are mostly dissolved. The mix will be a little syrupy.
Place the salmon in a large 1-gallon (3.8 L) zip top storage bag. Pour the brine into the bag. Add the lemon slices and close the bag. Refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours, flipping from top to bottom two or three times during the cure.
☞ TESTER TIP: Place your marinating bag inside a large bowl, just in case it decides to spring a leak.
Remove the salmon from the bag, discard the brine and lemon slices. Rinse the salmon under cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate until you are ready to smoke it or for up to 2 days.
Set your smoker at 200°F (93°C), or when the smoker cools down to 200°F (93°C), go get the salmon, pat dry again, and then place the salmon on the grates of the smoker. Put the lid on and then add some small wood chips to the firebox, adding more chips as needed to get a lot of smoke on the fish quickly.
Cook until the fish reaches an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C) on a digital probe meat thermometer, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
☞ TESTER TIP: Add a few slices of lemon to the grill in the last 30 minutes to have a zingy accompaniment to the salmon.
Remove the fish from the smoker and place skin-side up on a cutting board. If serving immediately, gently peel the skin off and discard. Carefully flip the fish back over, cut the fillet into 4 pieces, and serve, with grilled lemon slices, if desired. Alternatively, you can let the fish cool, and flake the meat from the skin.

Nutrition