Smoked Salmon Burnt Ends for a seafood spin on one of our favorites. These sweet and salty, bite size pieces of salmon were absolutely delicious! I started these salmon burnt ends by curing them overnight in some brown sugar, salt and spicy honey. The following day, I put them on the smoker and glazed them in a spicy honey butter mixture as they finished cooking. It wasn’t long after that when I was able to enjoy these tasty “burnt ends”. So freaking delicious!
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Smoked Salmon Burnt Ends
We all love classic burnt ends. The tips of a smoked brisket, cut into cubes and sent back to the smoker to continue cooking in some delicious sweet sauce. So, why Smoked Salmon Burnt Ends? Well, for one thing, it’s a good way to switch up our proteins. Secondly, it cooks in a fraction of the time as the traditional burnt ends. If salmon isn’t your style, that’s okay. You can check out my Classic Smoked Maple Sriracha Burnt Ends Recipe here. Alternatively, if you’re pressed for time, I also have a Poor Man’s Burnt Ends recipe and it’s pretty stinkin’ delicious too.
As I mentioned above, we started these Smoked Salmon Burnt Ends the night before by curing them. Curing is a process similar to marinating. However, curing involves salt and sugar whereas marinating can involve a variety of ingredients. Both are used to add flavor to food. If you want to compare the two processes, you can make this recipe and then try my marinated salmon recipe!
First, mix the brown sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Next, sprinkle that onto the salmon and mix together. Continue this process until all the brown sugar/salt mixture is gone. Then, add the spicy honey. Mix again until each one has an even coating of honey. From here, cover the salmon and place them in the fridge to cure overnight.
Smoking Salmon and Burnt Ends
The following afternoon (or morning, you can have this for breakfast if you want), start up your smoker and bring it to a temperature of 185-200F. Then, pull your future salmon burnt ends from the fridge and space them across a cooking sheet. Place that cooking sheet into the smoker and close the lid. We will leave them here to smoke for 3-4 hours.
We will start making the smoked salmon glaze about an hour before the salmon finishes cooking. This go round, our glaze consists of melted butter, sriracha and more honey. I used a basting brush to spread this sweet and spicy glaze across each salmon cube. Now, close the lid and let these Smoked Salmon Burnt Ends finish cooking.
Let’s Eat!
Pull the salmon from the smoker once they are cooked to your liking. I garnished mine with some multicolored sesame seeds and chopped scallions. From here, it’s time to chow down! Best enjoyed with friends and family. Cheers!
For more delicious recipes, check out my cookbook Food X Fire!
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Smoked Salmon Burnt Ends, let's get after it!
- 1 Side of Salmon skinned & cubed
- 1.5 cups Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Kosher Salt
- 2 tbsp Spicy Honey
- 2.5 tbsp Melted Butter
- 1 tbsp Sriracha Sauce
- 1 tbsp Honey
- Sesame Seeds
- Scallions Chopped
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Cube and skin your salmon first. Next, add it to a bowl or food safe bag. In a separate bowl, mix together your brown sugar and kosher salt. Add the mixture to your salmon along with the spicy honey. Mix together and place the salmon into the fridge. Let cure for at least 8 hours but ideally 12-24 hours. Make sure to mix the salmon every 4 hours so that it gets evenly cured.
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When the curing is done, pull the salmon out and gently wash with cold water to release any excess cure. Place the salmon cubes on a baking sheet, and place in the fridge uncovered for 1-2 hours until the outside has developed a tacky texture.
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Preheat your smoke for 185F-200F. Add some wood chips or wood chunks for added smoke flavor.
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Pull your salmon out of the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Place the salmon into the smoker and cook for about 3-4 hours until they have become browned and caramelized all over. Make sure to keep the temperature within 185-200F as the white protein inside the salmon will leak out if hotter.
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About 1 hour before the salmon is done, mix together the honey sriracha glaze. Glaze the salmon all over and let sit in the smoker until done. Once done, pull the salmon out and let cool for 5 minutes.
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As the salmon cools, garnish with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Video
Derek is the driving force behind Over the Fire Cooking. He started cooking with live fire in 2016 and decided to start a social media page so his friends and family could follow the journey. Fast forward to today and Over the Fire Cooking has spread across multiple platforms with millions now following Derek’s fire cooking journey. He’s a southern fellow who enjoys everything from classic BBQ to Central and South American inspired dishes. Whatever he’s cooking up, it’s guaranteed to be so freakin’ delicious!
Delicious, this is a great new take and flavoring with salmon. Very good.
I would absolutely abort ship on this recipe!! The salt content … just look to the end where you see the nutrition facts … that much salt is criminal! And what’s worse is that I just wasted $30 worth of fresh, wild caught salmon. Not sure why anyone would ever want 3 days worth of salt on anything you plan to eat. Potentially with some amendments this one would have better potential. Overall, would pull WAY back on salt if you move forward with this one.
So most of the salt is actually for the cure! That much salt will get washed off before it hits the smoker. This is to create the outside texture that is sticky so that the smoke will adhere to the salmon. This is very similar to candied salmon or cured salmon! Hope that helps.
Awesome dish, thank you
Can you marinate instead of curing while still producing the same sticky texture? Don’t have 24 hours and wondering if a 4 hour marinade will do the trick instead!
So a marinade wont get the same sticky texture on the outside because the curing process makes a thin layer of sugar on the outside of the fish. That being said, I would just cure it for 4 hours!
No internal temp to determine when the salmon is done. Just normal temp for fish?
It is more of an outside texture when they are done rather than the internal temperature.
Awesome! Make sure you rinse the salt off like the recipe says. My kids love these!. Thanks for another great recipe. Will do this recipe many more times in the future.