We favour keeping the silver Chum Salmon for Candy Salmon. Chum salmon has a subtle taste and lower oil composition than other salmon types. Nevertheless, it remains a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids and serves as a nutritious option for obtaining lean protein.

These salmon are perfect for cold smoking, a traditional skill deeply rooted in the coastal First Nations’ culinary heritage.

The first step in creating Indian candy salmon is drying it. I made many attempts, but the perfect recipe had yet to be discovered. It would help if you had a lot of air moving, like a convection oven, with multiple layers for volume in a dehydrator.

The convection oven could only handle small batches. I used a 12-tray plastic dehydrator with analog thermostatic control. The issue was that it was hotter on the lower racks, where the element was, so rotating trays were necessary for even curing.

Today, I use a 24-tray, floor-free-standing digital thermostatic control. It has extreme air movement, so the curing temperature does not degrade from the low rack to the top rack or the front to back.

I also wanted to penetrate 100% of the salmon, and that doesn’t often happen when doing large volumes. Creating a vacuum bag forces the candy brine through the full depth of the salmon slices. The photo displays a ten-pound bag of salmon in a vacuum bag soaking in the brine. One of the biggest mistakes is to pour all the brine over the cut salmon, hoping it will penetrate. It won’t, as all the pieces will adhere to each other.

It is efficient to put small portions of the salmon in a large steel bowl, pour the brine over them, and hand-mix all the pieces until all parts are wet. Once wet, they will not stick together, and the brine will want to travel throughout the bag due to the vacuum. I will pour the brine once all the wet slices are in the bag. I flip the bags over every 12 hours and massage the bag to move pieces around. I normally let the salmon sit in the bags for two days, but I left it for three days this time. WOW! What flavour!

The recipe I liked:

2 cups of Soy sauce

2 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of granulated sugar

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic

1 tsp sea salt

4 teaspoons of lemon pepper

1/2 cup maple syrup

option: liquid smoke

It is important not to remove 100% of the air from the bag. 90% will allow movement between the brine and salmon pieces, forcing the brine into the salmon pieces. The fluid is moved by a combination of osmotic and hydrostatic pressures. This is my Asian candied salmon.

Lock and loaded. I’m unsure how long my hands will smell like the sweet brine, but it’s fragrant. Six large Chum Salmon filets produced enough to fill 8 racks for the dehydrator. The vacuum bag is about 3 feet long.

It’s been four years since I made my candy salmon. I now have the floor standing with 24 racks of digital dehydrator.

I set the timer to 12 hours with the new dehydrator at 145 degrees. I love the end-cycle programs. It has a slow cooling-down cycle. However, I forgot that you lose about a third of the volume, so next time, I will cut it a little thicker, as some pieces have become very thin.

Fantastic flavour, not brittle. The result is more like Jerky.