Smoked salmon is a delicious and nutritious fish that can be enjoyed both cold and warm. However when heating up smoked salmon, it’s important to do it properly to avoid drying it out or causing harmful bacteria to grow. Follow this simple guide to learn how to safely and deliciously warm up your smoked salmon.
Why Warm Up Smoked Salmon?
While smoked salmon is commonly served cold, especially as an appetizer on crackers and bread, there are times you may want to warm it up, such as:
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Serving smoked salmon warm over a salad, pasta, or potatoes adds variety to meals. The contrast of temperatures is interesting.
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Warm smoked salmon is great on breakfast dishes like eggs benedict or alongside baked potatoes. It makes the salmon more aromatic.
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If refrigerated smoked salmon is too firm gently warming it makes it more tender and easier to flake into chunks or slices.
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Warming up smoked salmon enables it to absorb flavors when served with sauces, dressings, or glazes
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Some people simply prefer the richer taste and softer texture of warm smoked salmon compared to eating it directly from the fridge.
Tips for Warming Smoked Salmon
Follow these tips to properly and safely warm your smoked salmon:
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Use low, gentle heat. Smoked salmon can dry out and toughen quickly under high heat. Use the lowest temperature possible – ideally below 200°F.
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Warm it just until heated through, about 101°F internal temperature or until it is hot to the touch. Do not actually cook or fry the smoked salmon.
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Add moisture. Wrap smoked salmon in foil with a teaspoon of water or white wine to steam and prevent drying out. Or, serve salmon atop dressed greens.
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Warm smoked salmon for no more than 10 minutes. Any longer can cause the delicate fish to toughen up.
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Avoid microwaving, which creates hot spots that can make the salmon rubbery. However, microwaving at 50% power for just 30-60 seconds can work.
Best Methods for Warming Smoked Salmon
Here are easy methods for warming up smoked salmon:
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Wrap slices of smoked salmon in foil with a little liquid. Bake in a 275°F oven or toaster oven for 5-10 minutes until heated through. The foil prevents drying.
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Heat smoked salmon slices gently in a skillet or saute pan with a little oil or butter on medium-low. Cook just until warmed, 1-2 minutes per side.
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Steam smoked salmon by wrapping in parchment paper and steaming for 5-10 minutes. The paper keeps moisture in.
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Place smoked salmon on top of dressed cooked grains, vegetables, or salad greens just before serving. The hot food beneath will gently warm the salmon.
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Fold smoked salmon into scrambled eggs, omelets, frittatas or hashes. The salmon will warm up perfectly as the eggs cook.
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Mix flaked smoked salmon into macaroni and cheese, rice dishes, potato preparations, or pasta right before serving so it heats through.
Recipes with Warm Smoked Salmon
There are many delicious ways to incorporate warmed smoked salmon into recipes:
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Smoked salmon Benedict – Toasted English muffin, warm smoked salmon, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce.
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Warm salmon salad – Flaked smoked salmon served atop leafy greens dressed with a vinaigrette.
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Smoked salmon carbonara – Crisp pancetta and smoked salmon tossed with hot pasta in a parmesan cream sauce.
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Salmon hash – Smoked salmon gently cooked with potatoes, peppers and seasonings.
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Salmon potato cakes – Shredded smoked salmon and mashed potatoes formed into patties and pan fried until golden.
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Salmon fried rice – Smoked salmon flakes stirred into hot fried rice with peas, carrots and eggs.
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Salmon quiche – A flaky smoked salmon quiche with spinach, onions, and swiss cheese is delicious.
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Salmon pizza – Smoked salmon on flatbread with creme fraiche, capers, onions and dill.
So go ahead and warm up that smoked salmon! With a little care, you can safely transform refrigerated smoked salmon into a hot and tasty treat.
How to Make Smoked Salmon That’s Way Better Than Store-Bought
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (3 3/4 ounces; 105 g)
- 1/2 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt (5 ounces; 144 g)
- 1 (3 1/2 to 4 1/2-pound) skin-on side of farm-raised or wild salmon, pin bones removed, and belly fat trimmed (see notes)
- In a small bowl, combine sugar and salt. Place salmon on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Spread sugar mixture evenly over the entire surface of flesh, pressing gently to adhere. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 5 hours.
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Serious Eats / Vy Tran - Rinse salmon under cold running water, rubbing gently with your hands to remove any remaining sugar-salt mixture. Return to wire rack and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate, uncovered, until the surface of the fish is tacky to the touch and matte, at least 5 to 24 hours.
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Serious Eats / Vy Tran - If using wood chips: Using a double layer of aluminum foil or a single layer of heavy-duty foil, wrap 2 cups wood chips into a roughly 8 by 5-inch foil packet. (Make sure chips do not poke holes in sides or bottom of packet. ) Cut 2-inch slits evenly spaced in the top of the packet.
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Serious Eats / Vy Tran - For a smoker: Heat and maintain the smoker temperature between 225 to 275°F (105 to 135℃) following manufacturer’s guidelines and tips. Nestle prepared wood chip packet or three (3-inch) wood chunks into coals or heat source (see notes if using a pellet smoker). Set cooking grate in place. Go to step 7.
- For a charcoal grill: Open bottom vent halfway. Light large chimney starter half filled with charcoal briquettes (3 quarts). Place 1 quart unlit briquettes on 1 side of grill. When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour into a steeply banked pile over unlit briquettes. Place the prepared wood chip packet on coals with slits facing up or nestle three (3-inch) wood chunks into coals. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent halfway. Heat grill until hot (about 300°F; 145℃) and filled with smoke, about 5 minutes. Go to step 7.
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Serious Eats / Vy Tran - 6. For a gas grill: Remove cooking grate and place wood chip packet (do not use wood chunks for a gas grill) directly on primary burner (The primary burner on a gas grill is the burner that is connected closest to the gas source. It is the burner that you ignite first on the grill). Set grate in place; turn primary burner to high (leave other burners off); cover; and heat grill until hot (about 350℉) and filled with smoke, about 15 minutes. Turn primary burner to medium. (Adjust primary burner as needed to maintain grill temperature between 225 to 275°F (105 to 135℃).
- Clean and oil cooking grate. Double layer 2 pieces of heavy-duty foil and cut into an 18 by 6-inch rectangle. Spray lightly with vegetable oil spray. Place the prepared foil on the cooking grate (centered on the grate if using a smoker and on the cooler side of the grill for a charcoal or gas grill). Center the salmon on the prepared foil. Cover grill (positioning lid vent over salmon if using charcoal) and cook, while maintaining grill temperature between 225 to 275°F (105 to 135℃), until center of thickest part of fillet registers 120°F for wild salmon or 125°F for farm-raised salmon, and the flesh is still translucent when cut into with paring knife, 50 to 75 minutes.
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Serious Eats / Vy Tran - Using the foil as a sling, carefully transfer the salmon to a platter. Using a spatula if needed, carefully slide foil out from beneath the salmon. Serve immediately or allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.
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Serious Eats / Vy Tran
Why You Need to Let a Dry, Tacky Surface Form on the Fish Before Smoking
Once the fish is properly seasoned and firmed up from dry-brining, we then need to rinse the excess salt and sugar off of the entire fillet to make the fish palatable (it would be way too salty and sweet without this rinsing step). But then we have a wet piece of fish, and if you just chuck it in the smoker while still wet, the smoke will cling to the water and slide off the surface of the fish, which means our fish won’t get that delectable smoky flavor. We need to create a dry, clingy surface that the smoke can adhere to from the start of cooking. One of the most important steps to smoking salmon, whether it’s hot- or cold-smoked, is to dry the salmon to form what is called a pellicle on the skin after dry-brining and rinsing and before smoking.
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The salt and sugar in the dry brine dissolve some of the proteins in the salmon and draw them to the surface, and as water evaporates while the salmon is sitting and drying in the fridge, the proteins bond together to form the sticky film that is the pellicle. The pellicle coating helps smoke adhere to the salmon during cooking. When the fish goes on the grill or smoker, you want it moist enough to capture the flavorful vapors in the smoke but not wet, which would cause the smoke to slide off. I found that a drying time anywhere from five to 24 hours dried out the surface of the salmon just enough to ensure a robust smoke flavor.
This is How I get PERFECT Smoked Salmon EVERY Time
FAQ
What’s the best way to heat up smoked salmon?
A tip for reheating: It is important that the fish does not lose its juiciness when heated. You can either heat it very shortly in the microwave oven. Or wrap the fish in baking paper that can withstand the heat of the oven. Put the roll on a baking sheet in a 100°C oven for about 20 minutes.
Are you supposed to cook already smoked salmon?
- Smoked salmon does not need to be cooked or heated before eating. It is safe to consume straight out of the package
- When storing smoked salmon, it is best to keep it refrigerated.
- In terms of food pairings, smoked salmon can be enjoyed in various ways.
How do you hot smoke salmon?
Hot smoking salmon is a specialty of the Pacific Northwest of the US. The salmon is cured or just brined and then smoked at 50-80C for around 4-8 hours to get the core temperature of the fish to around 70C. The salmon is therefore both smoked and cooked giving it its flaky texture.
Is it OK to heat cold-smoked salmon?
Cold-smoked salmon is best enjoyed cold and fresh. In other words, don’t cook it or bake it. Top bagels and cream cheese with thin slices of cold-smoked salmon and capers. Use it in homemade sushi rolls, on crackers, or on blinis.