Smoked Salmon- Coho in the Cure & Puppies

Ahhh... Summer in Oregon.. Hot sunny days, cool nights, great BBQ's.   

NOT!!!

Well, at least not the sunny days.   We've had plenty of cool nights ( and wet days )... but dire predictions aside, summer IS coming and the weather will turn nice soon.   Nothing goes better at a BBQ than a whole side of smoked salmon with Grand Central baguettes and a homemade horseradish Dill spread.

In case you're not from the Pacific NorthWest, I have to let you know that we have Salmon coming out the wazoo... you can't swing a dead cat without running into a native fisherman or store selling fresh salmon out of the columbia river ( we don't eat the salmon out of the Willamette, but that's another story ).  Unfortunately, I'm so swamped with work due to my new slavedriver of a boss ( Hi Harry!! ) that I can't seem to find time to swing a dead cat or get fresh Salmon.

So here we are:  two fillets of Coho, Fresh from the waters of QFC Supermarket ( previously frozen so we don't get any nasty parasites ).  Each one is about 1 1/2lbs and beautifuly colored.

Cure is simple ( Ella wanted to get in the blog, so there you go baby )

2cups kosher salt

1cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp pink salt( sodium nitrate )

1tsp cayenne pepper

and for something totally new

2tbsp roughly ground wild fennel seed.

Into the manfridge for 3 days, then for a good rinse and sitting in the fridge for 24 hours to develop a good pellicle.    I'll be smoking them using either cherry or hickory on Saturday or Sunday, if Pence can get off his butt and get the smoker back to me.

Oh Yeah.. We're getting a puppy too.  Say hello to the newest member of our family, Rainy.

She's a 7 week old Chocolate lab pup ( named by Ella of course ).

She's being weaned at the Breeders, but Amy's picking her up tomorrow and after a checkup at the Vet, we'll be bringing her home.

This is going to be a huge lifestyle change for us, as we haven't had a puppy in years.   We've even had to change our summer vacation from a tour of southern oregon and california, to a week in Sunriver, so we can bond with our new girl.   We're really excited and looking forward to having some fun with her.