Longboat Smoker provides Korea's best smoked salmon

Matt Douma, owner of Longboat Smoker, prepares salmon snacks, March 12. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Jon Dunbar

Salmon is hardly unfamiliar here, and smoked salmon is widely available in many supermarkets. But that stuff is no preparation for trying Longboat Smoker's smoked salmon, which is all prepared locally in Yeonhui-dong, in a small shop crammed with specially made metal equipment.

"One of our challenges is to inform customers ― or reinform them ― about quality salmon," said Matt Douma, Longboat Smoker's Dutch Canadian owner first came to Korea at a young age in 1992.

"About once a week I have customers that want to enjoy salmon, but can't due to past experiences. I encourage them to try mine, and more often than not, their faces light up with delight over the tastes they experience."

He opened his shop just last June, taking over a space used previously to make bagels. From across the street, the comfortable scent of oak wood smoke can be detected in the air. What can't be smelled, not even inside the shop, is any remotely fishy odor.

Matt Douma, owner of Longboat Smoker in Yeonhui-dong, western Seoul / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

"I use the freshest ingredients I can get my hands on," Douma explained. "It is with these methods that I can avoid the over saltiness and fishy smell and taste that often bring an about-face to people looking to try smoked salmon."

Smoked salmon is made by curing in either a dry or wet brine, and then smoking at either a low or high temperature, of which Douma does both.

"Smoked salmon is a quasi-scientific art form practiced all the world over with different results and endless possibilities," he added.

Smoked salmon is low in calories while high in protein, minerals and vitamin D, according to him.

Smoked salmon at Longboat Smoker / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

"I'm the only one in Korea that does this like this," he said.

It is not a casual boast: there may be others smoking salmon here, but he hasn't found anyone else smoking fresh unfrozen salmon. He claims some types of smoked salmon aren't even smoked at all, but flavored with additives to create an artificial smoked flavoring.

As well as using only unfrozen North Atlantic salmon, he exclusively uses the choicest cut of salmon called Balyk, a tenderloin cut that is at least double the price of the frozen kind.

"But it is worth it," he said. "Every piece is heavenly. Other people do not focus only on fresh salmon and prime cuts despite them being most coveted."

Salmon at Longboat Smoker / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

It is, unsurprisingly, not cheap. But with salmon, you get what you pay for.

"Since I am the only one that is making Balyk, or the only specialty salmon shop, I need to break through the current perception about salmon. The salmon that I make and sell would never be found at a food buffet. The quality is that good."

Douma has a long history with salmon, having grown up near Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada, and recalls eating the delicacy mostly for special occasions.

He had been smoking salmon for a while using basic equipment, but after he gave a few samples to local shops, he started getting orders from a local bagel shop. He started taking it more seriously and purchased a custom-made smoker from an overseas company, clearing out his personal savings.

Matt Douma, owner of Longboat Smoker, prepares salmon for smoking, March 12. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

But when it arrived, it was much bigger and more powerful than he'd expected. He had to hire a crane to lift the 500-kilogram machine onto the roof of his apartment. But once he got it up there and hooked it into the power supply, he caused an electrical outage in the building.

"I could hear my wife in an unpleasant tone on the first floor calling up, 'What's going on up there?' I remember feeling a shiver of stress roll up my body. I had to explain that we can't use the smoker at home," he recalled. "After being in the dog house for a few days, a friend offered up a close by location to use as a business. I took him up on the offer and the rest is history being written."

He said he is in touch with other specialty smokers around the world who have a shared passion for their craft. He also gets new ideas from everywhere.

"Most recently, one of my customers, who happens to be a physicist, visited my shop. I think we instantly hit it off. He asked about my smoker and we discussed better methods to capture the moisture of smoke residue before it enters the smoking chamber. This led to a friendship where salmon was the currency. We came upon an agreement ― salmon for the secrets of a physicist…"

His setup is always changing and being upgraded. He uses Chinese stainless steel liquor distilling equipment, and some of his parts are fabricated in downtown Seoul's Euljiro.

"One of my worries is that Euljiro will totally disappear," he said. "Every time I return, it gets smaller as shops are closing down and moving on."

Matt Douma prepares smoked salmon for serving at Longboat Smoker, March 12. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

He originally intended for the shop to be purely a manufacturing facility so he could fulfill orders for the bagel shop. "But it quickly changed into more than that," he said. "It became a walk-in storefront. We now smoke fine cheese and four different combinations of salmon, both hot and cold smoked salmon. We sell fine wine that has been paired with our salmon by a French sommelier. Every day we get new customers walking in, wanting to try our salmon."

He has also used the smoker to prepare all kinds of chocolate and cheese, which are available in his store. And he has smoked many other surprising things including rice, cookies, spices, salt, beer and even ice cream which he said was "delicious and exquisite" and yogurt which had a flavor like marshmallows.

Various servings of smoked salmon at Longboat Smoker / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

"I had one company approach me, wanting to learn how to smoke their product," he said. "I spent a week with it until I came up with the perfect combination of type of wood smoke, time and temperature for the product. I also combined another smoked product with yet again a different variation of wood. This resulted in an exquisite luxuriously delicious flavor of smoked yogurt. The following week, without any payment, I was asked for the recipe so it could be patented. Without payment, I refused to let my formula out. My calls went unanswered, and I have not heard back from them. That was over six months ago."

As well as his shop, his products are also available through Hyundai's online department store.