Smokin'

No, not cigarettes, and not doobies.

I will admit, I am semi-obsessed with clam digging. I can't really put my finger on why. I do love the beach. The worst part about living in "the big city" is not having the beach in your backyard, like at home (I have two homes, my home, and my parents home. It could get confusing I suppose, so home #1 will be my Anchorage home, and home #2 will be my parents' Ninilchik home.) Soooo, yes, ah...the beach. Who doesn't love the beach? If you're unfamiliar with the beaches here - they are not white sandy beaches. No they're not. BUT the rocks are beautiful, and there is usually a crisp breeze that dances through your hair, and across the vast inlet that lies in front of you are moutains that are a photographer's dream. Home #2 is four miles from my family beach site. So, as you can imagine - we've all spent a great deal of time there in our lives. There aren't many things that beat bonfires with family and friends - roasting hot dogs, wading in the ocean, fishing, beach combing, etc. OH! And really, there is nothing like a sunset while you're on the water, agreed?

Although clamming is not what this post is about, go figure! Instead of clamming this morning, since I will be doing that the next two days, I decided to take advantage of my dad's smokehouse while I'm here! I brought what little remaining red salmon we had in the freezer from last summer down with me - and a few hours later, as I write this, it is hanging safely in the smoke house! SMOKED SALMON = LOVE MY LIFE.

The slideshow below shows a little bit about the process of making smoked salmon (how we accomplish it anyway!) We used red salmon for this batch (I've also done silver and king - both delicious.) The fillets need to be a little bit frozen when you cut them into strips. The thicker the strips, the longer they will take to get done. We did ours pretty thin this time since I like mine harder rather than soft, and I'm only going to be here a couple of days... so we'll just smoke it until until the very last minute and I'll snag it on the way out of the driveway! We made a brine out of salt, brown sugar, and water - the trick on knowing if you have enough salt is plopping a potato in the mixture and if it floats then you're good to go! Stir it up good. We brined the strips for 25 minutes -much longer than that and they may taste too salty. Then they are ready for hanging. As I write this they are still hanging and drying - this evening we will start the fire and get them a smokin'! They will smoke for just about 2 days. I will post photos of the finished product then... wipe your drool!

Oh, and if you were curious, yes, I have eaten so much smoked salmon at once - that it made me sick. And yes, it was worth it.