Bourbon Molasses Smoked Salmon

It’s been awhile since I’ve made salmon.  It is truly one of my favorites when it comes to fish.  Of course my most favorite has to be grouper.  Living in Florida I have become spoiled with fresh grouper right off the boat.  It literally melts in your mouth and has no fishy taste at all.  Now believe it or not, I am really starting to enjoy hog fish as well.  I had never had it until 2 years ago when we were with a group of friends in Key West and our friend Captain Mike ordered it.  Let my tell y’all something.  I had no way of knowing what was about to come out on his plate.  It was a whole hog fish deep fried with the head on.  That is nothing to bother me, I eat many fish whole.  But this thing was looking right at me and it had the nastiest little needle sized teeth.  It actually looked like it could jump off the plate and bite me.  Of course Captain Mikes wife took that advantage and put it right up in my face.   NOT PRETTY, even with that little orchid in front of it as you can see below.

So back to my salmon and away from that very tasty yet ugly as all get out hog fish.  As you most know I now have an electric smoker.  Most everyone that knows me thinks I am addicted to it.  (I think addiction is a very strong description)  I have been getting quite a bit of use out of it.  In fact you will see many of the recipes popping up on here under my “smoker” link.

Well tonight I saw some amazing salmon at the grocery store and decided to give it a try in the smoker.  I’m going to tell you what, it was amazing.  There was just enough smokiness to it that it was not overwhelming.  The smoke melded with the dry rub I put on the salmon wonderfully.  Then once it was at correct internal temperature (145°F), I brushed it with a bourbon molasses glaze and let it smoke for another 10 minutes.

If y’all have a smoker, then this is a must to add to your smoking line up.  If not, well click here for my other salmon recipes.

Ingredients:

• 2 large pieces of salmon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• bourbon molasses glaze (see below)

1. Pat salmon dry
2. Combine the brown sugar, salt, pepper and garlic powder to make a dry rub.
3. Coat the salmon with the dry rub.  (only the flesh side, not skin side)
4. Place uncovered in the refrigerator for 1 hour to allow rub to dry some
5. While salmon is in refrigerator bring your smoker to 265°F
6. Make sure to put water in your water pan so you don’t dry out your salmon while it’s smoking.
7. Once smoker reaches temperature, place salmon on wrack near middle of smoker. (I used hickory chips to smoke and kept it smoking the entire time)
8. Put foil lined tray on next shelf down to catch drippings (saves so much time in cleaning)
9. Smoke until the salmon reaches an internal temperature of 145°F
10. Now brush the salmon with the glaze and let it smoke another 10 minutes.
11. You can add more glaze after taking it out before serving.  I myself brushed it with glaze and then hit it with my torch to caramelize it. It did make a great added touch to the salmon, but is not necessary.

Glaze:

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 4-6 tablespoons bourbon (yes, I used a bit more, LOL)

1. Bring all this to a boil over medium heat and let reduce till it slightly thickens
2. Brush on salmon.
3. Serve