Smoked Salmon

Ingredients:
5 pounds salmon (trout or char)
Birch or maple syrup for basting

BRINE
1 quart cool water
1/3 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt (about 2 ounces of any kosher salt)
1 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Mix together the brine ingredients and place your fish in a non-reactive container (plastic or glass), cover, and put in the refrigerator. This curing process eliminates some of the moisture from the inside of the fish while at the same time infusing it with salt, which will help preserve the salmon.

2. You will need to cure your salmon for at least 4 hours, even for thin fillets from trout or pink salmon. In my experience, large trout or char, as well as pink, sockeye, and silver salmon, need 8 hours. A really thick piece of king salmon might need as much as 36 hours in the brine. Never go more than 48 hours, however, or your fish will be too salty. Double the brine if it's not enough to cover the fish.

3. Take your fish out of the brine, rinse it briefly under cold running water, and pat it dry. Set the fillets on your cooling rack, skin side down. Ideally, you'd do this right under a ceiling fan set on high, or outside in a cool, breezy place. By "cool", I mean 60°F or cooler. Let the fish dry for 2 to 4 hours (or up to overnight in the fridge). You want the surface of the fish to develop a shiny skin called a pellicle. 

This is one step many beginning smokers fail to do, but drying your cured, brined fish in a cool, breezy place is vital to properly smoking it. The pellicle, which is a thin, lacquer-like layer on top of the fish, seals it and offers a sticky surface for the smoke to adhere to. Don't worry, the salt in the brine will protect your fish from spoilage. Once you have your pellicle, you can refrigerate your fish for a few hours and smoke it later if you'd like.

4. Start by slicking the skin of your fish with some oil, so it won't stick to the smoker rack. Know that even though this is hot smoking, you still do not want high temperatures. Start with a small fire and work your way up as you go. It is important to bring the temperature up gradually, or you will get that white albumin "bleed" on the meat. I can control my heat with my smoker, so I start the process between 140°F and 150°F for up to an hour, then finish at 175°F for a final hour or two. 

NOTE: What my smoker is set at is not necessarily what the actual temperature is. Smoking is an art, not a science. To keep temperatures mild, always put water in your drip pan to keep the temperature down. If your smoker is very hot, like a Traeger can get, put ice in the tray.

5. After an hour in the smoker, baste the fish with birch or maple syrup, or honey; do this every hour. This is a good way to brush away any albumin that might form. In most cases, you will get a little. You just don't want a ton of it. Even if you can't control your temperature this precisely, you get the general idea. Your goal should be an internal temperature of about 130°F to 140°F. (Incidentally, yes, I keep the smoke on the whole time. I don't find this to be too much smoke, but if you want a lighter smoke, finish the salmon without smoke or in a 200°F oven.)

6. You must be careful about your heat. Aside from failing to dry your salmon long enough, the single biggest problem in smoking salmon is using too high a heat. If you've ever seen salmon "bleed" a white, creamy substance, that's a protein called albumin. If you see lots of it, you've screwed up; a little is normal. 

Here's what happens: If you cook a piece of salmon at too high a heat, the muscle fibers in the meat contract so violently that they extrude albumin, which immediately congeals on the surface of the fish. It's ugly, and it also means your salmon will be drier than it could have been. You prevent this with a solidly formed pellicle, and by keeping your heat gentle. 

If you let your heat get away from you and you do get a white mess on your salmon, all is not lost. Just flake it out and make salmon salad with it: The mayonnaise in the salad will mask any dryness.

7. Once your fish is smoked, let it rest on the cooling rack for an hour before you put it in the fridge. Once refrigerated and wrapped in plastic, smoked fish will keep for 10 days. If you vacuum-seal it, the fish will keep for up to 3 weeks. Or freeze your fish for up to a year.

Notes:

One last piece of advice: Try to fill up your smoker with fish. This process takes a while to do, and your smoker doesn't care if it's full or half-empty, so you might as well make a big batch.

And keep in mind, this recipe is for basic smoked salmon. Other options are smoked salmon candy, a great snack, and, once you have your smoked salmon, you can use it in smoked salmon dip on crackers.

Sous Vide Beef Pastrami

Ingredients:

• 1 home-cured or pre-packaged corned beef brisket (approximately 3 to 4 pounds)
• 3 tablespoons pastrami rub

Directions:

PREPARE:

1. Put the corned beef in a pot slightly larger than the meat and cover it with cold water. Refrigerate for at least 8-10 hours. This will remove the excess salt from the meat. It is best if the water is changed a couple of times; at 3 hours, and 6 hours. 
2. Prepare the Immersion Circulator for Sous Vide and set the water temperature for 65.5°C/150°F.
3. Remove the desalinated corned beef from the pot. Pat it dry with towels and place into a vacuum sealing bag, or a gallon-sized sealable freezer bag. 
4. Vacuum seal the bag, or carefully submerge the freezer bag in the water bath until most of the air has been removed before sealing the bag. 

COOK:

1. Once the bag is sealed, place it in the water bath and cook the corned beef for 30 hours.
2. Fill a large container with a 50/50 mix of ice and water. Place the bag of sous vided corned beef in the ice water for 30 to 60 minutes to quickly reduce the meat's core temperature to 1-3°C/34 to 38ºF. Place the meat in the refrigerator until ready to smoke (up to two days ahead of time).

SMOKE: 

1. Set your smoker to 107°C/225°F or prepare a grill for 2-zone cooking and get the indirect side to about 107°C/225°F. If you are using a gas grill, simply turn off the burners on one half of the grill for indirect cooking, adjust the grill temperature to approximately 107°C/225°F, then add a smoker box or smoking wood pouch according to the manufacturer's instructions for the full smoke flavor. Use lots of wood.
2. 
   Prepare the brisket again. Combine the rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
3. Remove meat from the vacuum/freezer bag. Trim excess fat. Pat the surface dry with paper towels and season generously all over with the dry rub mixture.
   
4. Place the meat in your smoker or on the cooler side of the grill as far from the heat source as possible. Allow the meat to smoke until it reaches an internal temperature of 52°C/125°F, about 1 hour. 
5. Now, you have pastrami! The pastrami was fully cooked during the sous vide process. The goal is to convert the Corned Beef into Pastrami by adding a smokey flavor to the meat while reheating it to a temperature that is pleasant when served.

SERVE:

Remove the pastrami from the grill, wrap it in a double layer of foil, and allow it to sit for 1 hour before slicing. Slice the Pastrami against the natural grain of the meat for the best texture. 

Sous Vide Home Cured Canadian/Back Bacon

Our local Supermercado LaCoope in Atenas sells Hormel Canadian Bacon. It has been reported to be selling for around $15 USD per pound, or ¢16,500 CRC per kilo. Now we love Canadian Bacon, but $15 per pound is a splurge and beyond our normal budget. I have nothing against Hormel, but I do consider ABC (already been chewed) meats that have been chopped and formed, very disappointing.

We've been making our own Canadian/Back Bacon for several years now and have been pleased with the overall results. Every now and then we get a batch that is just a little too tough and dry. This week we tried a Sous Vide method to finish the cooking and this is a total game-changer.

So here you have it… A lean pork loin is soaked in a salty-sweet maple cure then smoked with applewood, finished off in the SousVide, and ultimately sliced to be pan-fried. This process produced amazingly moist and fork-tender bacon. The best we have ever eaten.

We picked up a beautiful boneless pork loin for about $2.10 USD per pound. Combined with the ingredients needed for the brine and the cost of electricity for the smoker and Sous Vide our cost will come in around $2.75 USD.

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon of water, divided into 1 quart & 3 quarts
• 1 cup kosher or pure salt, coarse or fine grind will work because it will be dissolved in the brine.
• 1 cup maple syrup (imitation maple will also work)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 2 teaspoons pink curing salt, or 1 teaspoon for every 5 pounds of meat (aka InstaCure or Prague Powder). This is called "Sal de Cura" in Costa Rica and I have found it at the Alajuela Central Market at vendor booth #34)
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
• 4 medium cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 tablespoon of peppercorns
• 1 boneless pork loin, trimmed of excess fat (about 8 to 10 pounds). A thin layer of fat will caramelize and add flavor when the bacon is fried.
• 1 to 2 large chunks of light smoking wood, such as apple, pecan, lemon, or coffee wood

Directions:

• 
  
• Make the brine by combining 1 quart of water, salt, maple syrup, brown sugar, pink curing salt, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic, and peppercorns in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve all the salt and sugar. Boil for about a minute.
  
  
  
• Pour 3 quarts of very cold water into a large container (I use an inverted plastic cake safe). Add the brine mixture and when it is completely chilled, submerge the pork into the cure. If the meat tries to float, place a heavy weight on top of it to keep it in the brining solution. Place the container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Turn the pork over every day to make sure it cures evenly.
• Remove the pork from the cure and dispose of the brining solution. Fill the container with fresh cold water and submerge the pork again for a minimum of 90 minutes. Remove pork from the water and pat it dry with paper towels.
  
  
  
• Heat your smoker or grill to about 165°F and when it at temperature, add the wood chunks (we prefer coffee wood) for the smoke and place the pork in the smoker. It is best to use indirect heat for this process. Smoke the pork for 90 minutes in the smoker. While the meat is smoking, heat the water bath for the Sous Vide to 60°C/140°F. 
  
• After the pork loin has been smoked, place it in a large vacuum seal bag (you may need to split the loin into two pieces to fit properly in the water bath container) and seal it. Place the sealed bag(s) in the water bath for 5 hours. 
• Remove the bag(s) and place in a 1/2 ice & 1/2 water bath until chilled. 
• Chill the bacon for several hours before attempting to slice.
• Slice the bacon to your desired thickness and seal packets of the sliced bacon in vacuum-sealed bags for freezing. Bacon may be stored in the freezer for 6-9 months.
• 5 pounds of Pork Loin yielded 48 slices of Sous Vide Home Cured Canadian/Back Bacon.
  

Pan-fry the slices and enjoy!

Kicked Up Rustic Mashed Potatoes

I recently read about mashed potatoes made with garlic and chipotle adobo sauce. It occurred to me it might be fun to use my Phantom Chipotle Salt to really kick the potato experience over the top. Wow, what a tasty treat for a side dish! This salt blend adds a subtle smokey background heat that is most enjoyable.

Ingredients:

• 6 medium/large potatoes, cleaned and cut into large chunks with the skins on.
• 2 tablespoons oil
• ½ cup of milk or cream
• ¼ cup (½ stick) of butter
• 2 large cloves of garlic, either finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 1½ teaspoons of Phantom Chipotle Salt (If you can't make this salt blend, finely mince ¼ of a dried Chipotle pepper without the seeds and mix it with enough plain table salt to reach your desired level of heat.)
• ¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.

Directions:

• Place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water. Then add the oil to prevent the water from boiling over the top of the pot.
• Cover the pot and bring the potatoes to a rapid boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to medium-low and let the potatoes cook for about 15 minutes, until fork-tender.
• Heat the milk and butter in the microwave until the butter is melted.
• Mash the potatoes with the milk, butter, garlic, Phantom Chipotle Salt, and pepper.
• Serve hot.

Chipotle Mayonnaise

Just the other day, we smoked a new batch of fresh Jalapeño chili peppers to make Chipotle peppers. Today it was time to make up some more amazing Chipotle Mayo. This mayo is a special treat with burgers, sandwiches, wraps, dips, etc. Just use you imagination.

Ingredients:
1 cup of mayonnaise (regular or lite is fine)
1 whole dried Chipotle pepper, without the stem
½ teaspoon of garlic powder
½ teaspoon of smoked paprika
Juice from one lime
Pinch of salt

Directions:
Grind the Chipotle pepper to a fine powder, seeds and all. Whisk the powder together with all the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Place the Chipotle Mayo into a small jar and chill for about 4 hours. This Chipotle Mayo will just get better as it ages. If you are planning a weekend barbeque, prepare the Chipotle Mayo about 3 days in advance for the best flavor. This will keep in refrigerator for months, if you can make it last that long. Enjoy!

Phantom Chipotle Salt / Sal de Chipotle Fantasma

A good friend sent me a simple recipe for Jalapeño Salt and it started me thinking about the batch of Smoked Chipotle Peppers I made a couple of weeks ago. (I left half of the batch as dried peppers, and put the rest in an adobo sauce.) Then I remembered we already have Smoked Ghost Pepper powder in the freezer from last year's pepper harvest. So I ground some of the Chipotle Peppers into a coarse powder, and put everything together to come up with my version of Phantom Chipotle Salt. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup of salt
1½ teaspoons of Smoked Chipotle Pepper powder (my chipotle powder is made with smoked & dried Jalapeños, seeds and all.)
¼ teaspoon of Smoked Ghost Pepper powder (or more if you can take the "heat")

Directions:
Add all ingredients to a jar and shake well to blend. Done!

Suggestions:
This salt can enhance the flavor of just about anything. There is just enough back heat with a pleasant overall smoky flavor. This would be good on steaks, popcorn, eggs, grilled corn on the cob, potato salads,  etc. Use on just about any meat, vegetable, or soup, guacamole, salads, even on the rim of a Bloody Mary or Margarita glass.

Chipotle Peppers

Chipotle Peppers are simply Jalapeño Chili Peppers that have been smoked and dried. The unique smokey flavor with the peppery heat is the perfect addition for so many recipes. Add them to soups, chili, sauces, salad dressings, and just about anything you want to kick up a notch.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 ripe Jalapeño peppers
• Sharp knife
• Plastic gloves

Directions:

• Fire up the smoker with your favorite mild wood chips; coffee, pecan, oak, or hickory chips.
• Wash the peppers.
• Put on some gloves and split the peppers in half with a sharp knife.
• Smoke them in the smoker for about 12 hours
• Add more wood chips when needed to keep the smoke billowing.
• Continue smoking for another 24 hours without adding more wood chips.
• Remove the peppers from the smoker and allow them to come to room temperature. If they are not completely dry, place them on a cookie cooling rack in a baking sheet and place them in the oven until they are completely brittle.
• Store chipotles in a cool, dry place. Place the chipotles in warm water for an hour to re-hydrate them. This makes it easy to dice them up to add them to your favorite recipes.
• You can also grind up the dried chipotles in a spice grinder to make chipotle chili powder to season any dish that needs a little smoke and spicy heat.

Pimientos - Preserved Smoked Sweet Peppers

The Costa Rica Sweet Peppers are delicious raw or cooked without the bitter after taste of the common Bell Pepper. Whenever I find them in season at a great price I pick up about 3 kilos to make smoked and roasted peppers and preserve them for pimiento cheddar cheese, roasted red pepper dip, in meatloaf or soups, or as a sandwich or salad topping. These peppers are amazing.

Ingredients:

• 8-10 large sweet red peppers
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup vinegar (any kind)
• Kosher salt
• 1-pint canning jar

Directions:

• Fire up the smoker with your favorite wood chips; coffee, pecan, apple, cherry, or hickory chips. If you don't have a smoker you can still smoke these with indirect heat on your barbeque grill. Just place the peppers on the grill away from the heat source and place a disposable tin pan filled with wood chips directly over low heat. 
• Wash the pepper and split them in half.
• Smoke them in the smoker for 90 minutes, turning at the halfway point.
• Remove the peppers from the smoker and place them on a cookie cooling rack in a baking sheet.
  
  
  
• Roast the peppers in the over at 400°F until the skins are charred and blackened. It will take about 40-50 minutes, and you should turn them over from time to time so they blacken evenly. 
  
  
  
  
• When the peppers are mostly blackened, place them in a large bowl with a tight-fitting lid, or a paper grocery bag and roll up the bag to seal in the steam. Let the peppers steam in their juices for about 30 minutes and the skins will soften for peeling. 
  
  
  
• When the peppers are cool enough to handle, remove the skins, stems, and seeds, and place them back in the bowl. Don't rinse the peppers in water, but try to remove as many seeds as you can. Save the juice in the bottom of the bowl!
• Pour the vinegar in a shallow baking dish. Dredge each pepper in the vinegar to thoroughly coat each one and place them in another bowl.
• Sprinkle the bowl of peppers with the salt, and very gently mix the peppers with the salt. 
• Pour about a ¼ inch of vinegar and ½ in of olive oil into the bottom of the jar. Pack in the pepper, leaving at least an inch or two at the top of the jar. 
• Use a butter knife to run down the side of the jar to release any air bubbles. Pour in the leftover pepper juice.
• Pour about a ¼ inch of oil on top of the peppers, and screw the lids on.

These peppers will keep at least a year in the refrigerator without traditional canning methods, like a water bath, etc. But, as good as these are, they'll be gone in no time.

Use them in pimiento cheese spread, sandwiches, roasted pepper dips, meatloaf, soups, salads, etc.