The whiff of goodness that emerges from a smokehouse is reassuring. Its a promise of something delicious and nourishing. Smoking fish is an age-old tradition throughout the Maritimes. The Mi’kmaq have been smoking and curing fish in this region for thousands of years. More recently, the Acadian, Scottish, Irish, and other settlers have brought their fish smoking techniques and have relied on them to preserve fish throughout the seasons. We absolutely love all sorts of smoked fish and seafood but, for us, smoked salmon is particularly special - we include it in a meal to mark a moment - such as our marriage, a birthday, or to ring in the new year. And we love it smoked hot or cold.

The difference between cold and hot smoked salmon is essentially temperature and time. Salmon smokers will brine and cure sides of salmon and then smoke at a low temperature for cold smoked or a higher temperature for hot smoked.

We’d love to know how you prefer your smoked salmon and if you have a smoked salmon story or recipe you’d like to share please. All responses will be kept confidential. We will post the results of our survey in June and we’ll select from submitted stories and recipes to share one on our site this summer. Please include your email address so we can contact you directly if your story or recipe is selected.

Further reading:

Salmon is Plamu (pronounced bê·la·mu) to the Mi’kmaq. The UINR has compiled Mi’kmaq Ecological Knowledge on Plamu in their report: Plamu, Mi’kmaq Ecological Knowledge: Atlantic Salmon in Unama’ki

The Atlantic Salmon Federation is a science and advocacy organization dedicated to conserving and restoring wild Atlantic salmon. Their website and magazine offer lots of reading.

Conservation efforts are helping recover salmon populations in the region - here’s a story about one such case and another here.