Arctic Cloudberry: wood chips

BBQ Smoked salmon - Come on England!

23:19

I can't believe this weather. This is what it should be like always, regardless of season everywhere in the world! Endless days, even weeks of sunny, hot days. Today is again around 30 degrees. Shame about the football, we can't move far from the house because husband needs to see the games. On his new ultrahyperHD TV which is way too big for our living room. But that was a battle I was always going to lose, so without too much grumbling I followed him to Currys and the screen of his dreams and home it came, ready for the football.

Ready for smoking

So I have been mainly sitting in the garden reading a book, barbecuing and then serving him food in front of the TV or taking my new borrowed doggy for walks while husband watches football. I found this cuter than cute yellow lab girl in Borrow my Doggy and we've been going out quite a few times. She looks like an angel, but can be a bit naughty. She eats everything she can find on the pavements, which is pretty normal for a lab. My parents lab was particularly fond of chewing gum. And moose droppings, which is not so much the problem on Hammersmith pavements. Also this one can sometimes just stop without any fathomable reason and not move. Whatever you do she won't budge. Just tilts down her pretty blond head and digs her heels in.

I read a lot of online dog training blogs and other advice. A common theme seemed to include extra delicious treats to reward good behaviour. So I took some chicken pieces with me of course checking with the owner that she was ok with this to reward her (the dog) when she was walking nicely and not stopping or eating shit off streets. And off we went. About 2 minutes into the walk she jumped and snatched the whole bag from my hand, biting my thumb accidentally in the process and before I could do anything ate all of it. Including the plastic bag.

I was just thinking that the plastic bag probably is not good for her when she found an unblown bright red balloon and ate it. So I thought, maybe the thin little bag with the chicken is not going to be the main reason for any near future indigestion.

Next time she didn't steal my training treats but those of an unsuspecting bloke in the dog park. I quickly apologised and explained that she wasn't my dog. During our last walk she decided to lie down and not move right in front of a pavement cafe full of dog-owners with their well-trained, shiny and poised canines serenely sitting next to their tables observing my futile efforts to move the slightly overweight stubborn balloon-eating bitch muttering something about Borrow my Dog.

Today obviously was always going to be arranged around afternoon's England game. Football is apparently coming home! Whatever that means. My easy to swallow while shouting at the team, coach and the ref meal was a delicious BBQ smoked side of salmon with gorgeous roasted vegetables and red pesto wholewheat fusilli.

Smoked side of salmon in coal barbecue

Wood chips (ideally alder)
Side of salmon (around 1kg)
Salt
Lemon pepper or Blackpapper
Zest of lemon
Dried herbs (optional)

Remove any bones and pat the fish dry. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with dried herbs of your liking and zest of a lemon. Cover and refrigerate for a 3-4 hours.

Soak a couple of handfuls of wood chips for 30 minutes.

Light your coal bbq and once the coals are ready move them to one side. Sprinkle half on the wood chips on the coals and place the fish on the other side of the barbecue skin side down - I usually just use a piece of tin foil under the fish. Cover.

You don't want to keep checking the fish too much because the smoke will escape every time you open the lid. Halfway into the cooking (after about 10 minutes) add the rest of the wood chips on the coals.

Cook for about total 20 minutes or until the fish is done.

alder

Smoker bag salmon - smell and taste of a Finnish summer

18:49

Finnish and Scandinavian Cuisine is not just about smoking, but smoke definitely features as I have mentioned. When we go back home for summer holidays and visit my siblings and parents in their respective summer houses by the gentle, quiet lakes or the sea we are often treated to beautiful, freshly smoked fish - salmon, trout, arctic char, vendace, whitefish or common bream.

It’s a taste and smell that immediately transports me to summer and Finland from wherever I may be. And this is the time of year I really start missing it. The nights there are getting whiter, the birch trees are bright green and people are escaping the towns every weekend.

After midsummer the country shuts down for an entire month when everyone just relaxes in their summer cabins heating their saunas, swimming in the lakes, where the water is pure enough to drink if you don’t mind a few bugs, reading old paperbacks in their hammocks, playing darts and barbecuing and smoking fish like there’s no tomorrow.

They also do other things and most Finnish babies are born nine months later in March or April. In our family the share of summer holiday babies is 60%, me included.

Greece can choose to pay their debt or not, Russia can fly their planes where they like, hell or high water may come, but Finns are not available to care or comment because they are all sitting naked on the front porches of the saunas their grandfathers built, looking at the lake with a beer in one hand and sausage in the other. Like real sausage I mean, I just realised how this could be interpreted. We sometimes cook sausages wrapped in foil on the sauna stove for a little post-sauna snack.

I love my little coal barbecue and recreating those familiar summer smells and tastes. So far I have stuck with my Finnish “Savu” smoker bags, you can buy them online here in the UK as well. There is an Alder version made with Finnish Alder chips for an authentic Nordic smoke taste which is lovely for fish and vegetables. Savu also do a stronger American BBQ style hickory version more suited for meat. I haven't tried these yet, but I have one bag so I might try something soon.

This is what I'm talking about. A proper
smoker with wood from own forest.

People and a dog waiting to enjoy the hot smoked salmon

End result and the dog asking
if she will be getting any.
She will.

Finnish Savu Alder and Hickory smoker bags for coal and gas barbecue and oven use

I
saw someone in YouTube make a little smoker box from a foil food tray adding some soaked wood chips in it and covering the top with foil and pricking it so the smoke could escape. You then place it on top of the coals and you put your food on top and keep the barbecue covered as much as possible to keep the smoke in.

I might try that, but one of these days I must get a proper smoker box. The real kind where you put the chips in and the food goes in the box on top of the chips (see the image with my dad's smoker). It gets properly smoky in that small space and you get an amazing taste and texture.

It's also entertaining, because the metal always bends with the heat, so they are a real pain to open and the the fish is so stuck it takes an amazing amount of various swear words to get it out. Fortunately the Finnish language is very rich in swear words.

My dad though, he doesn't really swear, so it's even more entertaining. His worsts thing to say is "Crap berries" or "Oh Russia". It's a Finnish thing, there is a bit of history between the two countries, which explains.

So, smoking bags though, to escape the politics, in the absence of anything more robust the bags work a treat. They are also great for indoor oven use during the long winter months when you want that little reminder of summer but don’t really fancy standing outside in the rain minding the BBQ.

I had quite a massive, over 2bls, side of Atlantic salmon which I seasoned in the morning with salt, lemon pepper, lemon zest and a herb mix for fish. You can use whatever herb mix you have that works for fish. I have a Greek one which I use sometimes, for this I used my Finnish herb mix for fish. You can also sprinkle on just some dried dill if you don’t have a herb mix, or leave it out altogether. This is all about simplicity. I wrapped the fish tightly in cling film and let it sit in the fridge for several hours absorbing the flavours.

I then heated my coal barbecue to very hot, patted the salmon fillet dry removing any excess salt and put it in the smoker bag sealing the end carefully. I placed the bag on the hot barbecue for 15 minutes covered. It’s important you get it really hot in the beginning so the smoking process starts.

If you're doing this in the oven or gas grill you can just turn down the temperature after the first 15 minutes. On a coal barbecue you can try to move it to the side, which is what I did. I then used the rest of the space to grill some yoghurt, honey and dijon marinated lamb cutlets in case kids would not like the smoked fish. When the cutlets were done so was the salmon. I let it rest in the bag for about 5 minutes while I gathered the boys and got everything else on the table.

I served the fish and lamb with Persian baghali polo – rice with dill and broad beans, a crème fraiche and mayonnaise sauce with dill and lemon, garlic bread, oven chips and mixed salad. Everyone loved the fish, but chops went down well too.

Recipe: Smoker bag side of salmon

Savu Alder smoker bag

Side of salmon (or you can use fillets)

Sea salt

Lemon pepper

Lemon zest

Dried herb mix (optional)

For garnish:
Lemon wedges
Fresh dill

Pat the salmon clean and remove any bones using tweezers. Season with sea salt, lemon pepper and herb mix of your choice. Grate some lemon zest over the fillet. Wrap and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. Before smoking scrape off any sea salt crystals, pat the fillet dry and place in the smoker bag. Seal the end of the bag carefully and place on the hot barbecue for 15 minutes on full heat. If you are using a gas barbecue you can turn the heat down now, or on a coal barbecue move to the side. Let cook for another 15 minutes. Take the bag off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Open carefully, a lot of steam will come of when you open the bag. Serve immediately.

BBQ Smoked salmon - Come on England!

Smoked side of salmon in coal barbecue

Smoker bag salmon - smell and taste of a Finnish summer

Recipe: Smoker bag side of salmon

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