Salmon Bacon!
If you have been looking for an alternative way to prepare salmon look no further. My salmon bacon recipe is unique and easy to make, the hardest part is trying not to eat it all in one setting!
I am a big fan of salmon not only for its flavor, but it has incredible nutritional value. It is loaded with omega 3s and is a good source of fat and protein. But, even I can get bored with preparing it from time to time, so I started playing around with a few ideas.
My goal was to create a recipe that would provide the fish with a different texture, mouth feel and taste while keeping the basic flavor profile of salmon. Human taste buds can detect 6 main forms of flavor – sweet, salty, bitter, sour, astringent and umami. The umami is the key to the success of the salmon bacon. The word is Japanese and means, “pleasant savory taste”. NPR produced an interesting story worth listening to.
I used pink salmon for this recipe because it is mild in flavor, inexpensive and readily available. Pink salmon is most often used for canning and is considered the least attractive of the species, but in the hands of the right cook, it can be delicious.
I started with cleaning my fish and patting it dry. I used two pounds of salmon. I bought a five-pound fish, but decided to use the tail end for this recipe and keep the top half, for another project.
I used a brine made of kosher salt and dark muscovado Mauritian sugar. This sugar is dark-brown and has a wonderful molasses flavor.
I packed my fish in the brine mixture, covered it with plastic wrap and placed it in the refrigerator for two hours. Just long enough to draw out some of the moisture and add the flavor of the brine. After two hours the brine turned to liquid as it mixed with the moisture from the salmon.
After rinsing the brine off of the fish and patting it dry I slice it in sections.
Once slide and dried I put it on the barbecue grill for about 15 minutes. Roughly five minutes with the lid open, 10 with it closed.
I took my fish off the grill and let it rest. The white fatty stuff that looks like egg white is actually coagulated protein and fat. It can occur when the fish is cooked at a high temperature. It is edible and does not pose a problem for this recipe.
Once the salmon cooled, I crumbled the fish onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. I used natural liquid smoke to add more flavor and sprinkled it with dried parsley. If desired, you can store the fish in the refrigerator for a couple of days and then make the bacon, it turns out great either way.
Once the liquid smoke was added. I placed the salmon in a 250 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Once the time was up I turned off the heat and allowed the fish to cool in the oven. This is a vital step because this is what dries the salmon out and gives it the unique bacon-like texture. I have left the fish in the oven anywhere between 3 hours and overnight. I advise you to play around with the length of drying time. For a soft meaty texture leave it in for a few hours. For a more dense chewy texture leave it in overnight. This is what it will look like after 4 hours.
Once this process is completed, you will have yummy salmon bacon to use as desired! Store it the refrigerator in a plastic bag or sealed jar.
I love to use this on salads, crumbled on top of scrambled eggs and sprinkled over an avocado half. It makes a great gift. My sister, Leslie, covets this stuff.
14 thoughts on “My Fabulous Salmon Bacon Recipe!”
Delicious! How long will this keep?
You can keep this in the fridge for 30 days or so.
Awesome! Will it work the same if you slice instead of crumbling it?
No it won’t work the same as it tough to keep the salmon sliced – it will fall apart.
Looks great! I will probably make this sometime soon. I will probably just use my dehydrator. I’m also a little tempted to mix a tiny bit of maple syrup with the liquid smoke.
This looks AMAZING! Can be made into breakfast strips?
Hi Ebony – Strips don’t work so well with this recipe. The salmon tends to fall apart.
Hello! So excited to try this recipe.
Do you have suggestions for how much sugar, liquid smoke, etc. should be used throughout this process?
Thank you!
Hi Matt – Good question! 1 tablespoon should do the trick!
I love your show and recipes. I watch your show on The Africa Channel. I would love to find out and see some of the foods and activities you have working on during and after covid quarantine time. Plus new adventures and places you’ll hopefully get to experience following this period.
I am looking to make this and I just noticed that I do not see any ingredients or the recipe. Just the blog post. Is there somewhere I can find that info or am I just completely missing it?
I love this recipe and it is so great to see different ideas to cook with Pink Salmon. I supply pink salmon in many countries and think it is highly underrated so it is so good to read such good uses. Thank you.
I have recently become very interested in the pescatarian diet. This looks and sounds delicious but i am a bit nervous about the brine and being to salty if I use to much salt and not enough sugar. Would you possibly be able to give me a head start with measurements? Please!
And if I can’t find that brown sugar is dark brown sugar ok?