Gratitude

What did we do on our summer vacation? A whole lot of smoking, curing, cooking, and serving ... with enough room for pleasure.

Thanks

We've been blessed with a beautiful, blissful, and extremely busy summer ... and we owe a lot of it to the Duluth weather gods, but also to you.

Northern Waters Smokehaus has added many new staff members, lost a few (to the wilds of Alaska, the hipster-sway of Portland, and the ever-present tug of Minneapolis haute cuisine) - but we remain faithfully the same old Smokehaus we've always been: hungry, exuberant, curious, and earnest.

As our Smokehaus family continues to grow, so does our food knowledge and desire for more flavors, products, and service, so we've been spending some time in the basement, developing new recipes and refining some old favorites. Stay tuned for recipes and hints; for now here are a few images that conjure fragments of what was a remarkable summer.

Thanks, everybody. Sincerely.

We Love Our Shop

Summer is here! Our deck is set up, our sandwich menu is booming, and we are ready to take your order!

We are truly excited to help out in "the tents" during Marathon Nights, an annual music/food/local beer celebration here at The DeWitt-Seitz Building. 

We plan on grilling up some sausage and getting down to Charlie Parr. It's all in honor of Grandma's Marathon, Duluth's world-class running challenge (that happens to have a finish line on our figurative back porch). It's all happening on the weekend of June 21 - Join us!

Until then, here are a few faces to get familiar with this summer - we love meeting new customers, chatting about charcuterie, pig roasting techniques, or fishing the big lake. Whether you stop by our little shop on your way up the North Shore, to check out the Tall Ships, or maybe even to get your hands on a Saucisson Sec, we can't wait to see you.

A Day in the Life of a Fish Smoker Part 2: The Rack

After the fish has been brined, Tyson rinses the excess salt and sugar off the salmon. Now comes the racking process: pretty simple except it is important to leave just enough room between the salmon pieces to prevent them sticking together during the smoking. This would be very simple if we didn't have to stuff the smoker every time we smoke - so we try to squeeze every millimeter of space to accommodate as much fish as possible.

As the fish is racked, Tyson spices some and leaves others bare - our Traditional smoked salmon. The spices - Black Pepper and Coriander; Dill; and Cajun - are evenly sprinkled (or perhaps doused) over the salmon pieces. Once the salmon is sufficiently gussied up, the fish will chill in a constantly-circulating cooler. This creates a kippering affect, sealing in moisture and simultaneously fostering a thin bark around each slice.

A Day in the Life of a Salmon Smoker Part 1: Brine Time

Meet Tyson, our fish smoker here at Northern Waters Smokehaus. Tyson is awesome: he has the skills, patience, and energy to make the best smoked fish in the world - and he does it several times a week. The following is a pictorial essay on the first stage of fish smokery: cutting and brining.