Oven Baked Smoked Salmon

Oven Baked Smoked Salmon

2lbs. Fresh Fillet of Salmon
1Cup Brown Sugar
1teaspoon Hickory Liquid Smoke
2teaspoons Sea Salt

Place oven rack on second from bottom setting. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (not a typo) Cover a sturdy cookie sheet with heavy aluminum foil. Wash salmon and pat dry placing it with the skin next to the foil. Sprinkle sea salt evenly over the top of the salmon, which should make it seem that it has been over salted. Mix the brown sugar with liquid smoke, and cover the top of the salmon completely with the brown sugar/liquid smoke mixture. Bake for 15 minutes for a 1/2 inch thick piece of salmon, or 17 minutes for a 1 inch or thicker piece. Do not over cook. Take the salmon from the oven and IMMEDIATELY remove the fish from cookie sheet, leaving the salmon skin stuck to the foil. Dispose of the foil, and place the spatula into soapy water. (Once the brown sugar hardens it goes from gooey when hot, to hard as a rock-can-use-this-for-cement consistency.) Refrigerate any left over salmon. Enjoy!

*This is an old basic recipe used by many to smoke salmon and tuna using a smoker. Many years ago I was craving smoked salmon, and not having a smoker at the time I decided to try using my smoked salmon recipe in the oven. It worked! It comes out very close to the real thing,- it just isn't "cured".