Campbell River BC, Canada

In Campbell River, you either have some salmon in your freezer — or you like salmon.  Though, I’d bet there are folk who dislike salmon and have some in their freezer anyways… I dedicate these two yummy salmon recipes, along with this pointless introduction to you.

Recipe for Salmon Neptune

Ingredients:

• 2 Salmon Fillets
• 1 package of cream cheese – 1 pound (454 grams)
• 1 cup of small shrimp (peeled and de-veined)
• 1 can of crab meat (drained)
• 1 lemon
• fresh garlic or garlic powder to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• a dash of paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all of the ingredients except for the Salmon Fillets and Lemon. This will be your Neptune stuffing mix.

Take one Salmon Fillet and place half of the neptune mix in the center of the Fillet. Roll the ends of the Salmon fillet around the mix and tie with cooking string. Repeat procedure for the second Salmon fillet.

Place the stuffed fillets into covered pan and bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. Season with lemon.

This recipe also works well with Red Snapper Fillets also. Experiment and have fun!

Recipe for Smoked Salmon Candy

Ingredients:

• Salmon Fillets (see bottom of recipe for slicing info)
• Kosher Salt – 1 cup
• Dark Brown Sugar – 1 and a half pounds
• 1 Gallon of water
• Half a cup of Honey
• Apple, cherry, or maple wood chips (or a combination of any of them)

Combine the 1 gallon of water, 1 cup of salt, and 1 pound of the brown sugar in a large pot.
Place salmon fillet pieces into pot containing the above solution. Put pot into fridge and let the salmon marinate for at least 12 hours.

Remove fillets from marinade and place on towels. Cover the fillets with remaining brown sugar. Allow salmon to air dry for about 3-4 hours.

Place the salmon fillets into your smoker, and hot smoke for approximately 3 hours. Combine honey with a bit of water, and brush over the salmon while smoking (this is optional). After 3 hours worth of woodchips are used, allow the salmon to cook for an additional 5-9 hours in the smoker. Total time in smoker: 8-12 hours.

Near the end, check on the salmon every hour to half-hour, taste and decide how soft or hard you want your final product to be.

Notes:
# Optional ingredients to throw into the marinade: maple syrup, molasses, honey (feel free to experiment…I don’t know anyone who makes candy salmon the same way as anyone else).
# For “chewy” jerky like salmon – slice fillets into thinner strips (about 1 inch thick) or smoke for a longer period of time.
# This recipe used salmon fillets sliced into 4 inch thick pieces. Cooked for a total of 8 hours. The result was that the ends and outsides became slightly chewy, while the inside remained a bit softer. This produced a great snack, and middle was soft enough to place on top of crackers with some cream cheese….mmmmm….

Both these recipes are tried, true, and absolutely delicious.