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Smoked Salmon Maritime

Smoked salmon recipe: Atlantic salmon cured in a maple brine and cold-smoked at home until silky and amber. A Maritime twist on a classic Canadian delicacy.

⏱ 15 minPrep time
🔥 30 minCook time
🍽 4Servings
🏷 DinnerCategory
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Silky maple-brined cold-smoked Atlantic salmon slices with dill, capers and lemon

Smoking fish is one of the oldest traditions on the Atlantic coast — the Mi’kmaq smoked salmon over alder fires long before the first settlers arrived, and the smokehouses of the Maritimes kept the practice alive for generations. It was the original way to keep a season’s catch for the months ahead.

This version adds a Maritime twist: a cure of salt, brown sugar and maple syrup that turns the flesh amber and glossy before it meets a gentle cloud of alder smoke. The result is silky, sweet-smoky salmon, sliced thin and served on crackers with lemon and capers — or just eaten straight off the board.

Step by stepInstructions

  1. Combine the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup and pepper, and rub the mixture all over the salmon fillet.
  2. Wrap the salmon in plastic and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours to cure.
  3. Rinse the cure off the salmon and pat it completely dry, then let it sit uncovered in the fridge for 2 hours to form a glossy pellicle.
  4. Set up a smoker or covered grill with soaked alder chips and smoke the salmon at a low temperature, around 175°F, for 2 to 3 hours.
  5. Cool the smoked salmon completely, then slice it thinly on the bias and serve with lemon and capers.

💡 Chef tips & storage

Keep the smoker temperature low and steady — hot smoking turns the salmon into something closer to cooked fish. Sliced thin, it keeps in the fridge for a week or freezes beautifully.

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Recipe details

Prep15 min
Cook30 min
Servings4
CategoryDinner
PublishedAugust 17, 2026
Emily — the cook behind My Comfort Recipes

Hi, I'm Emily 🧡

Hi, I'm Emily — the cook behind My Comfort Recipes. Simple, tested comfort food for real weeknights, written down the way grandma would. Pull up a chair. More about me →