THE VIRAL $80 Smoked candied Salmon from @solovey

Should I do a slower breakdown on the smoke machine?

So first and foremost, the salmon is not a scam. Nobody should do all this work unless you’re gonna sell them lol, just get it from the company. This is just content, They are nice people. The process of making this salmon was not as extraneous as it may look in the video. It’s really more about waiting time. The main thing is having the proper smoking machine, which I got from Amazon. I put the link in my bio in case y’all want to purchase the exact same one. You’re technically supposed to use it with a grill, but you know, I’m a scientist, so I bend the rules a little bit. I used an aluminum pan with some ice instead.

First, pat your salmon completely dry. Then mix ½ cup white sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, and ¼ cup kosher salt — and it must be kosher salt. Coat the bottom of a pan with the mixture, lay the salmon on top, and fully coat the salmon on all sides. Refrigerate it for 24 hours. This step pulls moisture out of the fish.

After 24 hours, remove the salmon from the fridge, rinse off the cure with cold water, and pat it dry. Place the salmon on a rack in the refrigerator, uncovered, for 12 hours. Once that’s done, slice the salmon diagonally to create those diamond cuts.

Next, add ice to the bottom of a pan and place a rack above the ice. The salmon should sit on the rack and must not touch the ice. Cover everything tightly with foil, insert the smoke tube into the foil, and poke holes on the opposite side so the smoke can flow through properly.

Cold smoke the salmon in cycles: smoke for 45 minutes, then let it rest for 30 minutes. Repeat this cycle up to four times, depending on how smoky you want it. The more cycles you do, the stronger the smoke flavor will be. Personally, I’m not a big fan of heavy smoke flavor, so if it wasn’t for this video, I probably would’ve stopped at one or two cycles.

Once smoking is complete, wrap the salmon in foil and refrigerate it for another 12 hours. After that, lightly brush it with maple syrup or honey and refrigerate it again for about 15–20 minutes. Then do your thing — eat it. And yes, it is raw. It’s definitely raw, in case y’all didn’t know.

Now, the truth about my salmon: I did not follow the traditional salt-to-sugar ratio. When I tried the company’s version, the flavor was a bit overpowering. When I made mine before and baked it, it tasted really good but was almost too salty. This time, I leaned more toward sweetness and less salt, and I feel like it ended up slightly under-seasoned. That’s really the only critique I have.

As for the wood pellets, I used cherry wood, and honestly, it just wasn’t giving what I wanted.

If you’re making salmon, the best wood pellets to use are:

• Alder (the classic and best overall choice for salmon)

• Applewood (light, sweet, and clean)

• Maple (mild with a subtle sweetness)

• Beechwood (very traditional for cold-smoked fish)

Those woods complement salmon without overpowering it. Cherry can work, but it’s not my first recommendation for this kind of smoke.