Cold Smoking Salmon

I've smoked salmon a number of times using both Jim Minion's Cardogs Award Winning Salmon and Fast Eddy's Smoked Salmon recipes. I've had great results with both:

Fast Eddy's

Jim Minion's

I've only made smoked salmon, not lox or cold smoked. I found this info. under "lox" in the "find" option at the top of this thread:

Lox

This should get you where you want to go.

Sorry. Try this link:

Lox

Just my $.02 Cents, you need to use a cure mix containing sodium nitrate (instacure, prague powder #1, Morton's Curing salt, etc.) when cold smoking Salmon or anything else to prevent botchulism.

Botchulism is an anerobic spore that thrives in a low oxygen environment like our smokers. Hot Smoking temps kill it, but not Cold Smoking at 100 degrees or under. Sodium Nitrate/ Nitrite kills it nicely

quote:

Originally posted by drcue:
Just got the cold smoke baffle for my SM045. I want to make a traditional lox. Any suggestion out there for a brine/cooking method?

drcue - If you truly want to make "traditional lox", you won't need your smoker. Traditional lox is simply cured/brined for a few days. Cold smoking the cured/brined salmon is just an additional step that results in what many call nova lox, or a variety of other names.

For some good detailed instructions for cold smoking, click here.

An acquaintance of mine prepared a very good tutorial on cold smoking salmon, with step by step photos, and posted it as a thread on another food related forum. Click here.

This procedure, derived from Michael Ruhlman's book, Charcuterie, is the same way I do it, and the results are always excellent.

FWIW, I'd ditch the cold smoke baffle and rig a setup similar to the one shown on the thread. For cold smoking, you want the internal around 75F - 80F. Nothing higher. That's nearly impossible to accomplish if the item being smoked is in the smoker.

Good luck.

Superb info dls.

Thanks for all of the advice. I do want to make Nova, so I will try the thread from dls. I also found a great recipe/method on the tv food network website with Alton Brown.