Cold smoked salmon

Biker:

What recipe did you use and what was your smoking process using the baffle?

Sorry don't have an answer for you just questions.

Paul

quote:

Originally posted by Wrenchead:
[qb] Biker:

What recipe did you use and what was your smoking process using the baffle?

Sorry don't have an answer for you just questions.

Paul [/qb]

Paul,

I used a recipe for Cold-Smoked Salmon that I got from Cookshack Recipes. I used ice on top of the baffle turned 009 on until I had good visible smoke from the vent, waited 1 hr + 15 checked, wanted more smoke so I did it again as the recipe says. Great Stuff.

Another Cookshack Recipe for Cookshack Lox uses rock salt for curing instead of TenderQuick. After smoking it says to place salmon face down in 2 inches of canola oil for 2 hours. What is the reason for this?

Gary

I cover the salmon completely with kosher salt and refrigerate for 4 hours. Then rinse with cold water and air dry in the refrigerator on the seafood rack overnight. smoke for 1 hour using the baffle with ice on top. Then if you cover with veg oil for 2 hours (this rehydrates the salmon) you have some really great salmon! Sprinkle dried or fresh dill before you dry for extra flavor.

Biker and Bronson;

Have hot smoked salmon but so far have not gone the cold route.

Hot smoking seemed to dry out the fish too much for my liking.

Will give this a try with the baffle and the oil.

Thanks for the info.

BTW-Give this link a read for hot smoke info.

http://www.3men.com/threemen1.htm#Prepare%20the%20Fish

Paul

I finished cold smoking some salmon lox a couple of days ago and I was definitely impressed with the cold smoking plate and the ice. I used freshened salmon I had in reefered in hard brine for a year or so an then freshened for about 24 hours before smoking with mesquite chips (which was all the fine wood I had). Two heatings with mesquite and then got some apple for a third. I just sampled it and the mesquite was too strong, but the salt was almost perfect. I temper it in open air in a no frost reefer to dry it out to proper slicing consistency.

I monitored the temperature in the CS somewhat during the smoking and the temperature only got to 80 degrees the last heating, with just one ice load, which I would not have believed, but it was in the forties outside.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the CS cold smoking potential.

Jerry

quote:

Ingredients
8 sides of salmon


Method
Preparation of liquid brine
Pour 1 cup of Morton's TenderQuick into a large non-reactive conainer. Place one fresh, raw egg (in shell) in same container. Add water until the egg floats. This tells you when the water/salt mixture is correct. Remove the egg. Add 1 cup of brown sugar. Mix well. Fully immerse the salmon in brine. Refrigerate for 8 hours.

Remove salmon from brine and pat dry. Lay on plastic tray and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Loading the smoker
Load 2 sides of salmon on each of the 4 top grills. Remove the bottom grill and replace with the Cookshack Cold-Smoke Kit Smoke Barrier. Place a pan of ice on the Smoke Barrier.

Wood
Place 1 cup of wood pellets in the wood box.

Smoking
Set smoker's temperature to 250 degrees (F) for 15 minutes or until smoke emerges from the top vent hole. Turn the smoker off. Hold for one hour, fifteen minutes. Test for smoke flavor. If more smoke flavor is desired, repeat the process

This is the recipe I used in the 009 with the exception I sliced the filets into 3 inch lenghts and used Alder chips. I guess my question is what does the tenderquick do(and how does it do it) and If using the rock salt recipe for lox does the salt dehydrate to the point that the canola oil is necessary?

quote:

Originally posted by Wrenchead:
[qb] Biker and Bronson;

Have hot smoked salmon but so far have not gone the cold route.

Hot smoking seemed to dry out the fish too much for my liking.

Will give this a try with the baffle and the oil.

Thanks for the info.

BTW-Give this link a read for hot smoke info.

http://www.3men.com/threemen1.htm#Prepare%20the%20Fish

Paul [/qb]

Paul

Try the baffle. My salmon was very good even with my limited experience.

On hot smoking salom after bring try reducing your smoke time. My hot smoked is not dry at all.

Great link.

Thanks for the reply
BikerGar

quote:

Originally posted by rendezvousq:
[qb] I finished cold smoking some salmon lox a couple of days ago and I was definitely impressed with the cold smoking plate and the ice. I used freshened salmon I had in reefered in hard brine for a year or so an then freshened for about 24 hours before smoking with mesquite chips (which was all the fine wood I had). Two heatings with mesquite and then got some apple for a third. I just sampled it and the mesquite was too strong, but the salt was almost perfect. I temper it in open air in a no frost reefer to dry it out to proper slicing consistency.

I monitored the temperature in the CS somewhat during the smoking and the temperature only got to 80 degrees the last heating, with just one ice load, which I would not have believed, but it was in the forties outside.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the CS cold smoking potential.

Jerry [/qb]

Jerry

I got some stuff thats been in my reefer for a year but I dont't think hard bring and smoking is going to make it edible again.

What is hard brining and freshening ?

Thanks for the reply
BikerGar

The book I used for all this and what got me into this with an old reefer and sawdust was "Smoking Salmon and Trout" by Jack Whelan. It is still in print for I saw a copy recently in some outdoor store, but I can't remember where.

Basically you submerge the fish in a saturated salt brine, like all the salt that it will disolve and let them cure until you want to do something with them. According to Whelans book Saturated Brine is 4 1/2 cups of salt/ 100 oz of water. Pack fish with 2 1/2 pounds of salt for 10 pounds of fish skin side down and after 24 hours if they don't produce enough liquid cover with saturated brine. This is the way they used to keep fish before refrigeration, but I kept my in a reefer anyway.

He says it is a better way to keep fish than freezing, because you don't have to deal with ice crystals. And the cure gives the fish an unique flavor. He says they will keep up to a year that way. I lost mine in the back of my extra refer so they were there longer. How long I am afraid to guess.

When you are ready to use them freshen them in pure water, which really is dependent upon how you do the freshing. I used a plastic tub and turned on the cold kitchen tap as low as I could get it to continually flow. I let the water enter through a funnel down to the bottom of the tub, which I hoped would aid in mixing the water and it seemed to work. He recommends tasting to less than you think is enough because after they are smoked everything is stronger. That is what I did and the salt was perfect, the mesquite was another issue. However they did turn out much better than I had hoped with the old fish, so you live and learn from your mistakes.

As far as dry, what I did was on the other extreme. Cold smoking you are in that bad area between 40 and 140 degrees so move everthing to the reefer right away. Mine have been open to the air in an no frost reefer for two days I think. I just checked them and I think I will let them go another day before I wrap and freeze.

I did take a couple of filets directly from freshing to the reefer without smoking and they were there 3 days before they seemed dry enough to wrap and freeze. It probably all depends on your taste and your refrigerator.

Hope that helps, if you can get the book you can play with fish until you butcher the cows. If you can't find it I will see if I can track it down. If you are into Walleye they might be good.

Jerry

Hi BikerGar-

I don't think your question about the canola oil was answered?

If you buy commercial sliced lox,it seems to me, it comes with an oily coating. This,IMO, is meant to preserve the product so it remains soft,and retains it's delicate cold-smoked texture.

Bobby

I assume that is the case. I used the recipe calling for tenderquick and it does not use oil. The texture is very good. The rock salt recipe must dehydrate the fish.

What exactly does tederquick do?

quote:

Originally posted by BikerGar:
[qb] Bobby

I assume that is the case. I used the recipe calling for tenderquick and it does not use oil. The texture is very good. The rock salt recipe must dehydrate the fish.

What exactly does tederquick do? [/qb]

Sir,

I believe this is a better way.

I do "warm" smoked salmon frequently and find that a dry brine of salt and b.sugar with whatever spices--I use lots of garlic powder and fresh ground pepper--applied dry and left for 12-24 hrs. I use a 1:6 salt/b.sugar ratio and drip dry for a good pellicle. 6-8 hrs at 138F gets it to 132-4 internal. That is a good temp for me. Vacuum pak and keep 4-5 weeks in a cold fridge or almost forever in a -10 freezer. The best flavor is straight off the grill or after 4-5 days wrapped. This is a good recipe--see salmonuniversity.com for the general basics.

Let me know if you try it this way, please.

LP

Tenderquick is a "curing" agent. In many smoked products, if you're going to be in the "danger zone" of 40 to 140, where cold smoking is, the #1 thing you have to worry about is not killing any bacteria that might develop.

Regardless of the recommended recipe, with or without TQ, keep that Danger zone in mind.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I have visited the links and searched the archives and the learning curve continues. The cold smoked salmon using the smoke baffle, alder chips, and tenderquick method is great and I look forward to trying other cold smoke recipes.

BG

I have cold smoked many times on my 055. I buy the skinless salmon at Sam's Club for $3.29 a pound.First I cover it with maple syrup for 4hr in the refrigerator. Then I cover it with rock salt for 8hrs in the refrigerator. Rinse the salt off for 20minutes. Sprinkle the fish with a very small amount of garlic powder and dill weed.
Then i put baffle in smoker with a 10in round cake pan full of ice. I smoke at 150 with one small piece of apple wood for 15minutes.Turn off smoker and leave fish in for 1hr. Then I cover with canola oil for 2hrs and drain and paper towel off the oil. Most salmon bought in the grocery store has been frozen to kill parasites. The salt also cures the fish. The oil just gives it a moist texture, although I think it would be moist anyway. Usually the salmon comes out very firm like it is lox or still raw. If you smoke it too long or too hot then it comes out crumbly or flaky. I usually give a lot of it away to friends.

CHEF:

Couple of questions:

Do you start timing when smoke is coming out the vent?

Do you preheat and then put in fish?

Guess what I'm looking for is a more detailed startup procedure for the cold smoke.

Thanks for posting your salmon smoking info.

Paul

Paul,

Not to answer for Chef, but in my case the time was only an issue for the degree of smoke flavor I like. I actually smoked the fish twice for about 1+45 using alder. I did not preheat and used 150 degrees until I saw smoke. I checked after one hour and wanted a smokier flavor so I added more wood and dialed in 150 until I saw smoke again. 45 min later it was done to my taste.

The temp above the baffle was never an issue and the one pan of ice I used was maybe 25% melted at the most. The fish was cool to the touch when I took it out.

Hope this helps.

BG

Sure did help.

Just finished my first salmon cold smoke and the salmon turned out great.

Used three slabs of fish about 2.5# each from the local Sams Club.

Coated the sides with a 50/50 mixture of Maple
syrup and Honey. Left this on for 4hrs.

Removed from the syrup mixture and dry brined
for 4hrs in:

1/2 Cup Morton Tender Quick
1/2 Cup Kosher Salt
3 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Mace
1 Teaspoon Allspice
1 Teaspoon Powered Bay Leaf
1 Teaspoon Ground White Pepper
3 Tablespoons Sweet Paprika

Washed of the brine mixture.
Placed fish on raised smoker racks untill dry and no longer sticky tothr touch.

Cold smoked in the 50 using the baffle and a pan of ice.

Used the standard CS procedure 20 minutes on at
150* 1hr off. Went through two cycles of smoke using 4oz of Alder.

Removed and coaterd with canola oil for 2hrs.
Drained.

What a great taste.
Thanks to all for the inspiration and help and to an old forum member Andi, for the somewhat modified recipe.

Paul