Smoked gravlax

I tried this recipe from Cookshack-mighty fine eatin'.

Cookshack Smoked Lox
Ingredients
2 to 2½ lb. fillet of salmon
1/2 c. maple syrup
5 lbs. rock salt
2 to 3 cups canola oil

Instructions
Wash the fish and pat dry. Lay the fish skin side down in a large pan and rub with the syrup. Allow to dry in refrigerator for 4 hours. Cover the fish with the salt and let sit for 8 hours, refrigerated.

Remove all the salt from the fish and from the pan. Put the fish back in pan and desalinate by running cold water at a slow pace over the fish in the pan for an hour. Pat the fish dry.

Smoking the Fish Put a small piece of apple or cherry wood in the smoker's wood box. Set the smoker to 100F. Place the salmon on the highest rack and latch the door. Leave the smoker on 20 minutes and then turn it off. Leave the fish in the smoker for an hour without opening the door.

Remove the salmon and place face down in about 2 inches of canola oil. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove the fish from the oil and pat dry. Slice it thin on the bias and enjoy some great lox.

Thanks for the advice. I may have to try this next time I make the lox. I may try it with my recipe but use this smoking method. I think 150 was too hot. I'll let you know. This smoking stuff is great!!!

sounds like you ended up cooking your lox, thus ending up with kippered salmon. The CS is not really meant for true cold smoking as the heat element stays on for at least 20 minutes when the unit is turned on to get the wood to smoking. You can try a cold baffle by placing a large tray of ice above the wood box and below the lox. Another thing you could do is try using a piece burning charcoal covered with wood chips in the wood box to generate smoke. Then also use the ice tray above the box. This will generate less heat and provide enough smoke to make Nova lox. You want to keep the temp as low as possible so as not to cook the lox.

Thanks for the advice. I think I found my answers. Topic goes off an a tangent, but gives some good info. Explains the difference between lox (salt cure), gravelax (sugar,salt,dill) and nova(smoke).

I cant figure out how to paste the link. My ipad is not as easy to use as my pc. Oh well. It is a topic within these hallowed walls! Haha. Happy labor day...get smokin'!

The CS works beautifully for cold smoking- if you use the right equipment. You must use the cold baffle and a pan of ice.

I make Nova lox on my AQ and it works perfectly. My only suggestion to you is to not over-smoke which is really easy to do if you don't pull it quickly. It only take 20 min or less ( I choose less) to get a LOT of smoke into that fish.

You need to cold smoke it, not warm/hot smoke it.

Also, go for pellets or chips for more smoke at lower temps. Chunks won't do well at low temps for smoking.