Sriracha Smoked Salmon


Last year I got a Brinkmann smoker and my goal once I got it was to learn how to smoke salmon. So far I have been pretty successful considering it is very hard to keep a low consistent temperature in this type of smoker. 

I started using charcoal and then bought the electrical converter hoping it would help with the temperature issue. It doesn't. I thought it would come with a control for the heat output but instead it's just either on or off. So there's still some learning to do.

But on the flavor front, I like a bit of spice and so I decided to incorporate Sriracha. I put it in the brine and also in the basting sauce. Turned out pretty good. 

I'm not going to go into the details of how to smoke fish in this post. I'm just going to share my Sriracha recipes.  I buy a side of salmon at a time when I smoke, so the recipes cover that amount. 

For the brine:
1 gallon water
1 cup of kosher salt
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of Sriracha sauce

Mix together, set the salmon in the brine and let soak overnight in the refrigerator.

For the basting sauce:
1/4 cup of Sriracha sauce
1/4 cup of honey
Cajun spice (optional)

Before placing the dried salmon on the grill to smoke, baste the fish with sauce in a thin coating. Sprinkle Cajun spice over the salmon if desired. Smoke fish per instructions. You can baste another time during the smoking time or when the fish is freshly removed from the smoker at the end.