A far cry from traditionally hot or cold smoked salmon, using liquid smoke (face it, they did the work for you) cuts the time for this delicacy by around 90%. Flavorful, moist and buttery, this salmon can be served hot or cold, eaten on its own or flaked over salad, rice or pasta.
If you’ve already got the smoker out, give the salmon 10 minutes of heavy smoke right before baking for another level of smoke essence. A note about liquid smoke; look for a 100% natural seasoning condensed from wood smoke. There should be no other ingredients or chemicals in the best liquid smoke products.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 8-ounce salmon fillet
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
In a shallow dish, mix butter, liquid smoke, salt, sugar, molasses and pepper until thoroughly combined. Skin salmon fillet and marinate on each side 10 minutes at room temperature.
Bake in a preheated, 325º oven or grill in foil on medium-low heat for 18-24 minutes or until fish reaches desired doneness or an internal temperature of 130º.
Tip: “Remove The Pin Bones”
Face it, there’s no truly boneless salmon fillet until the pin bones are removed. Because removing the pin bones when the fillet is raw, can tear the flesh and make it soft and even mushy upon cooking, try removing the pin bones once the fillet is cooked. The fat around the individual bones will cook away, making the meat more flavorful and the bones, easier to remove.
Once cooked, the ends of the pin bones will protrude from the fillet, making them easy to grab and pluck out with tweezers. Over a decade ago I picked up a Shun Fishbone Tweezer. It’s design makes it easy to handle and it’s held
up great on countless salmon, trout and bottom fish over the years.
