From Chef's Table · 2015- · Reconstructed
String-Smoked Whole Salmon
Serve when
Serve when Francis Mallmann suspends a whole salmon from strings over the embers, letting it twirl slowly in the smoke until the skin glistens.
In the series
Volume 1
- S1E3 · ~00:29:15 Francis Mallmann hangs a whole wild salmon from strings above a smoking fire, turning gently in the heat until it's cooked through
In the series
This is one of the episode's signature images: an entire fish hung on strings, slowly turning over the fire like something ceremonial. Mallmann treats the technique as proof that a live fire, handled with patience, is a more honest tool than any kitchen equipment.
Ingredients
Method
- Pat the salmon dry inside and out, and season generously with coarse salt, inside the cavity and out. Rub the skin lightly with olive oil.
- Build a fire and let it burn down to smoky embers with some low flame still present — this is a slow smoke-roast, not a sear.
- Tie kitchen twine securely around the salmon just behind the head and again near the tail, leaving enough line to suspend it a couple of feet above the fire.
- Hang the fish so it turns slowly in the rising heat and smoke, rotating it by hand occasionally so it cooks evenly on all sides.
- Smoke-roast until the flesh is opaque, flakes easily, and reads 145°F at the thickest part behind the head, 45 minutes to an hour depending on size and distance from the coals.
- Lower, untie, and serve whole with lemon wedges.
Substitutions
- Suspending the fish over open fire: A home cook without an outdoor fire pit can approximate the effect with a covered kettle grill: bank the coals to one side, set the whole fish on the cooler side on a fish rack, and add a few soaked wood chips for smoke.