Smoked salmon candy is Alaska's gift-shop and bar-snack staple: salmon cured with brown sugar, soy and salt, then slow-smoked to a sweet-savoury jerky that holds for weeks.

Salmon candy traces its roots to Indigenous Alaska preservation methods, scaled up commercially after statehood. Alaska Sausage and Seafood Co supplies most of the city's bars and gift shops, and 49th State Brewing carries it as an Alaska bar bite. The Tlingit and Haida peoples of Southeast Alaska have smoked sweet-salt salmon for centuries, the modern brown-sugar-and-maple glaze a 20th-century commercial adaptation.

Where to eat Smoked salmon candy in Anchorage

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Make it at home

Serves 50024 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 900g sockeye salmon fillet, skin on, cut into 2cm strips
  • 150g brown sugar
  • 60ml soy sauce
  • 60ml maple syrup
  • 30g sea salt
  • 1 tsp coarse black pepper

Method

  1. Combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, maple syrup, salt and pepper into a brine in a glass bowl, then add the salmon strips and turn to coat.
  2. Cover and refrigerate the brine for 12 hours, turning once midway.
  3. Remove the strips, pat dry and lay on a wire rack set in a sheet pan. Air-dry uncovered in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours until a tacky pellicle forms.
  4. Set a smoker to 80C using alder or cherry wood chips.
  5. Smoke the salmon strips for 6-8 hours, brushing every 90 minutes with a 50:50 mix of brown sugar and warm water.
  6. The salmon candy is done when it is firm, mahogany-coloured and sweet-savoury. Cool fully before storing in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Editor tip. Alder is the canonical Alaska smoke wood for salmon candy. Cherry or apple work; avoid mesquite or hickory which overpower the fish.

Common allergens: Fish, Soy.