Hi all, today i did my much awaited cold smoked salmon, i am very happy with the result, the salmon tastes just about right to me, some of the thinner pieces were a little salty, but the majority of the fillets turned out very well indeed.
I made a brine of just salt and demerera sugar about 50/50 ratio, i brined the fillets for 16 hours as some were quite thick, i rinsed the fillets then let them dry for 2 hours, the pellicle seemed about right so i set the smoker up.
I wanted to make sure that the fish was trully cold smoked, so i did the cardboard box chamber and alluminium vent pipe set up, just for good measure i placed some ice in the bottom of the bradley cabinet, the vent pipe and collars cost about £10 and were worth every penny, it worked a treat, the temp never went over 68 F ;D
I smoked them for 4 hours with oak.
So i eagerly tested the salmon, and it is really delicious!, maybe needs fine tuning, but as it's my first attempt i am very happy with it ;)
Also because i had quite a bit of fish i decided to hot smoke a few pieces, well i must say i was blown away by how good it was, i've alway loved cold smoked salmon, and wondered why so many people chose to eat it hot smoked, well now i know hehe!, i couldn't get any pics of it, because as usual we all began "giving it a try" lol, anyway as much as i love cold smoked salmon, the hot stuff is now a firm favourite in my house ;)
Here's a few pics of todays events:
Just before going into the BS
(http://www.lil-git.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/7.jpg)
(http://www.lil-git.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/1.jpg)
(http://www.lil-git.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/3.jpg)
(http://www.lil-git.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/5.jpg)
(http://www.lil-git.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/6.jpg)
Bye for now..........LilSmoker(http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Tip-Hat.gif)
That's great news LilSmoker, must admit I am a hot smoked salmon convert since getting my BS. ;D
That's a great set up you have LilSmoker. One suggestion for the future, get yourself some of the non-stick coated jerky racks. I find them a lot easier when smoking as the mesh is smaller and they are"non stick" which is useful when hot smoking. (well at least they are more non-stick then the original racks! :D )
Also with extra racks you can invert them and put them on top of each other potentially increasing the number of racks to eight. Obviously this is only suitable in certain instances but I have used eight racks when cold smoking fillets of pollack.
Congrats LilSmoker. Outstanding job. I'm more of a hot smoked fan myself but still crave cold smoke once in awhile. You did excellent and have set yourself up very nice. Looks like the fillets have a nice firm texture for slicing thin. Makes me hungry just looking at the pics. :P ;D
That looks good LilSmoker! have never had cold smoked salmon (Or any other fish) before. Do you eat it after smoking or do you have to cook it before you eat it? The smoked fish I have eaten has always been hot smoked.
Mark
I think they call that shusi
When you all have hot smoked salmon, do you aim for a certain internal temp, or do you pull it when it is opaque, or...? I would love to try it. I have had cold smoked before, it is not bad once in a while, but I think I would dig the hot smoked variety.
Malc
Thanks for the compliments guys, i've already learned a great deal from all of you, and picked up a lot of tips and info at this great forum, i'm already getting good results with the BS, and now i'm wondering how i ever managed before the BS, hehe! it's a real nice piece of kit for sure.
@ manxman, good idea about the trays, i will definately order some, btw i got my Foodsaver, i got the 475, i'm well pleased with it, i also got some bags and rolls from one of the links you gave me the other day:
http://www.culinaryinnovations.co.uk/osb/showitem.cfm/Category/14/
i only had to wait 2 days for them to arrive, so i will definately be using them again.
@ iceman, i must say although i've always loved cold smoked salmon, after trying it hot smoked on sunday, it will now be a regular thing at my place, it is trully delicious!, next time i do salmon i'm gonna buy extra and do half cold smoked, and the other half hot, mmmmm! now i'm getting hungry ;D
@ MRH yeah you can eat cold smoked salmon just as it is, no cooking because it's been cured etc, i like it with cream cheese and crackers, in a sandwich, or sometimes with scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.
Cold smoked salmon is very popular in the u.k., lots of people look at it as a luxury because it can be expensive over here, but now i have a BS i will be eating even more of it hehe!
Thanks again guys, bye for now...........LilSmoker ;)
LilSmoker in case it got lost in "the white crud" thread, here's my tech for cold smoking salmon. Hope it helps.
Per Kummok the salmon was bleed, gilled, gutted, and iced within 10 mins. of being boated. Once home I filleted, cut into strips and pulled the pins. Being lazy, I don't bother to scale or skin salmon. I use a combination of Spyguys lox and Kummok's dry smoking techniques starting with a dry brine similar to the one Jeb uses, 1 part salt to 2 parts brown sugar with whatever else happens to be near. This time I threw in a little powdered onion, some allspice, a few bay leafs and some salt free Old Bay Seasoning. Ended up with about 3 lbs of dry mix. Coated all the pieces of salmon, layered them in a large plastic storage container, with liberal amounts of dry mix between the layers, and put the whole mess into the refrigerator. As you know, after about 6 hours the mix has pulled fluid from the fish and the container starts to fill with a thick brown "liquor". I don't try to time brining, every 6 hrs or so, I move the strips around in the gunk. For me brining is done when I push my finger into the meat and it pushes back. This batch took 36 hrs. to reach that degree of resilience. Lightly rinse then rack.
Dry in front of a fan, in cool space until a non sticky pellicle forms. 4 hrs for this batch.
I use a remote box to cold smoke at 65-75* with 10 bisquettes and 2 metal pucks(approx. 3.5 hrs). Now here's the neat part, at this point if you pull the fish, you essentially have Spyguy's lox. Normally I plan on doing half the load lox style, and then leave the rest in the oven to finish in a dryer style.
1 hr @ 100*
1 hr @125*
2 hrs @ 140*
½ hr @ 170*
To date I've done about 15 batches using this recipe and have never had "boogers". 8)
Drying
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b241/xlb/salsmk3.jpg)
Non sticky pellicle and ready to smoke
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b241/xlb/salsmk4.jpg)
Smoking
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(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b241/xlb/ling3.jpg)
Finished product, lox on the left
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b241/xlb/salsmk5.jpg)
No offense meant LilSmoker, but your finished product still looks like bait to me. I'm certain that it appeals to Lox eaters, but I'm not one of those (yet!). I'd give it a try if served to me but I prefer my salmon done to look more like TomG's, and even "done-ier" (new word!)
IF I was to give this stuff a try, LS/TG, how do you recommend it be served (besides with a good stout or porter!)? I don't think much of cream cheese, so that's out, but, after trying sushi at a respectable place (Sushi-On-The-Rock, SoCal), I discovered that I actually DO like it, with all the accessories, as long as the fish has been properly treated after being caught.
Quote from: Kummok on October 24, 2006, 04:41:46 PM
No offense meant LilSmoker, but your finished product still looks like bait to me.
Well all I can say is, I've been fishing with Kummok, & if anybody knows bait, it's him. He's a master. ;) ;D ;D ;D
Kirk
Kummok--try very thinly sliced cold smoked on your favourite type of cracker smeared with a little spicy red pepper jelly, along with a few thin pieces of mild onion, or a slice of avocado. Give a couple of grinds of black pepper on top and wash it down with 15 year old Glenfiddich(or a nice IPA). You'll be in heaven, man!! BTW--I never thought I'd see the day--Kummok, liking sushi!! :D
T2
Tom G, what sort of salmon are you smoking? Those are some thick steaks!
I smoke sockey here in BC, get it from the local indigenous guys for $10 a fish. I cold smoke it lox style, the red sockey meat looks great lox style.
Pip, that was a 35lb King I caught last month 12 miles off the Golden Gate. In fact it was the only salmon we've boxed since then. 5 times out and not even a scratched bait for our efforts. >:( FYI, fresh, local King(Chinook) is going for $22/lb at the fishmongers.
Quote@ manxman, good idea about the trays, i will definately order some, btw i got my Foodsaver, i got the 475, i'm well pleased with it, i also got some bags and rolls from one of the links you gave me the other day:
http://www.culinaryinnovations.co.uk/osb/showitem.cfm/Category/14/
i only had to wait 2 days for them to arrive, so i will definately be using them again.
Glad they came up trumps for you LilSmoker, always a bit worrying when you recommend a supplier to someone else in case they stuff up. That happened when I recommended the sausagemaking.org website to a forum member.
I love both hot and cold smoked salmon out of the BS, I was the reverse of kummock when I first arrived on the forum and thought hot smoked salmon was sacriligous compared to the cold smoked variety I was used too! :-[
But that is the point, cold smoking was generally more prevalent on this side of the pond whilst hot smoking was more prevalent on the other side, however I think the barriers are dropping, albeit slowly in some cases! ;D ;)
Hi TomG , your set up looks very neat, and thanks for the guide, i'll print that out and give it a go, i'll be getting some more salmon hopefully on friday. ;)
@ Kummok, haha! yeah i suppose to some it does indeed look like bait, but i think if you liked the sushi, you would like cold smoked salmon, i've just eaten some actually, i got in from work and diner won't be ready for a while, so i opened the fridge and there was a vacuum pack of salmon looking straight at me, that'll do me i thought. So i sliced it nice and thin, i made a sandwich and ate it with some sliced dill pickle, it was so good i was gonna have some more, but the wife told me off coz it would spoil my diner hehe!.
I'm also gonna give your famous hot smoked salmon recipe a go, sounds delicious!
Bye for now guys ;)
Hi guys, last saturday i did some more cold smoked salmon, it was a big improvement on my first attempt, although the first batch was very nice, this was even better! ;)
On sunday i did hot smoked salmon, i studied the recipes of Kummok and TomG, and wow! this stuff tastes good, i served the salmon with new potatoes, and a green salad with balsamic dressing, everybody completely cleared their plate!
I love it so much i had some more yesterday ;D everybody is asking "when are you doing some more?" lol!
Anyway thanks again guys, i can't wait for my next BS session!
Bye for now............LilSmoker ;)
Hi everyone. Great forum! Long time lurker, first time poster. I made Spyguy's lox and it is wonderful! Question- How long will it keep in the refrigerator? Thanks in advance for your reply.
Can not help with the fish questions yet, but welcome to the forum.
For those interested in the cold-smoked salmon, buy are apprehensive about the "rawness" of it - I have one solution. You can make a DELICIOUS pasta dish with cold-smoked salmon. I typically like to cook some penne, and while that's cooking, make the sauce. The sauce is basically:
1-2 pounds penne, cooked "extra-al-dente"
1 medium onion, finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small sprig tarragon
1 bay leaf
1-2 t. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 oz. sambuca (or vodka/white wine/fish stock/water)
1/2-1 C. canned crushed tomatoes (I like mine with very little tomato, sometimes only 2-3 T. tomato)
2-4 C. heavy cream
1 C. frozen baby peas
1-2 T. non-pariel capers, roughly chopped (optional)
1-2 T. pimento, roughly chopped (optional)
1 C.+ Cold Smoked salmon, broken into pieces
2 T. finely chopped fresh tarragon, parsley, chives, or any combination thereof
1-2 T. white truffle oil (optional)
1-2 T. extra virgin olive oil
Saute onions in a little butter over medium heat until translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, tarragon, bay leaf & red pepper flakes, if using. Stir to blend everything well - the mixture will get highly aromatic.
Immediately pour in the Sambuca - STAND BACK and ignite vapors to burn off alcohol in the Sambuca, swirling the pan as the alcohol burns. You will obviously not get a flame if you use water or stock, and rarely will you get fire with wine (the alcohol content is too low).
Once the flames die down, swirl pan and watch carefully - you want to add the tomatoes JUST before the last of the liquid has evaporated. Stir well to combine, and cook most of the water out of the tomatoes.
Add the cream. Stir well to combine, turn flame to low and simmer gently, 30-45 minutes. Adjust to desired consistency with more cream, water, fish stock, half-and-half, milk, etc.
Bring sauce to boil and immediately add extra-al-dente pasta, frozen peas, capers and pimento and stir well to combine. After one or two minutes, check doneness of pasta (it should be perfect at this point), then add the salmon and ALMOST all of the chopped herbs, stirring just to combine.
You want to be careful NOT to break up the salmon into too many little pieces during this step. If you're worried, just sprinkle the salmon over the top of the pasta after it is plated.
Taste and adjust seasoning with salt & pepper, if necessary (keep in mind that the salmon is salty).
Spoon into hot bowls, sprinkle with remaining chopped herbs, aged parmesan shavings and finally drizzle with white truffle oil and/or extra virgin olive oil.
I will not be held responsible for knife wounds sustained defending this pasta dish.
Bigmarty--I wouldn't keep cold smoked salmon more than a week in a good refridgerator. BTW-you can refreeze cold smoked salmon and it will be fine. I wouldn't refreeze it more than once, tho. Glad you're enjoying spyguy's recipe. I tried it a few times--it gives a nice silky texture. I eventually went back to my method of dry curing as it gives me a slightly drier, firmer product which I prefer.
T2
Welcome Bigmarty;
tsquared is on the mark with the cold smoked salmon. If your not going to use it all get it back frozen a.s.a.p. Package it so next time you pull some out you consume the entire package. :)
ThanX for the recipe, ceeu! (That one deserves to be on Olds' recipe site!) Sounds like a great way to break into cold smoked salmon.
I gotta be careful with those kind of suggestions though.....I remember some kind folks from MA breaking me into lobster back in 1970, (They looked like deformed scorpions to this old ranch boy waaaaay back then :o!) They treated me to stuffed lobster first.....WOW! I was hooked....they created a lobster-lovin monster! STILL can't get enough of the great East Coast lobster! Monkfish is a great substitute when ya can't get the real thing, but I'd rather eat Maine Lobster than Alaskan King Crab!
Quote
Also because i had quite a bit of fish i decided to hot smoke a few pieces, well i must say i was blown away by how good it was, i've alway loved cold smoked salmon, and wondered why so many people chose to eat it hot smoked, well now i know hehe!
/Quote
Smoker temperature seems to be right on target. Hot smoking of a salmon is a crime. Adding parfumes to salmon brine is sacrilage (demerara sugar, eh). Secret to great (and I mean GREAT) salmon is to smoke it for proper time - and that would be 5-7 days (120-168 hours) of CONSTANT smoke. Becouse salmon's meat is so delicate, smoke actualy changes it's structure. Brined and smoked properly, salmon will sell for about $70 a kilo.
Quote from: smokeshack on December 15, 2006, 09:57:03 PM
Quote
Also because i had quite a bit of fish i decided to hot smoke a few pieces, well i must say i was blown away by how good it was, i've alway loved cold smoked salmon, and wondered why so many people chose to eat it hot smoked, well now i know hehe!
/Quote
Smoker temperature seems to be right on target. Hot smoking of a salmon is a crime. Adding parfumes to salmon brine is sacrilage (demerara sugar, eh). Secret to great (and I mean GREAT) salmon is to smoke it for proper time - and that would be 5-7 days (120-168 hours) of CONSTANT smoke. Becouse salmon's meat is so delicate, smoke actualy changes it's structure. Brined and smoked properly, salmon will sell for about $70 a kilo.
I understand, and agree with what you're saying, it's not uncommon in scottish smoke houses for salmon to be smoked for two weeks. But that's a whole different enviroment compared to a Bradley?
I imagine smoking for 5-7 days in the Bradley would make the salmon inedible? let alone the cost (http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Eeeeeek.gif)
I used sugar in my brine as i didn't want the taste too salty and i thought the sugar would balance the taste?, but as i'm very much at the experimental stage with cold smoking, i am gratefull for all advice and info.
I'm going to do my next batch with just a dry salt cure, and maybe smoke for longer and see how that goes?
I have to say though, that before i came to this forum, i had never tried hot smoked salmon, to me smoked salmon was cold smoked and that was that hehe!, but now i love both, for hot smoking i use the recipes of Kummok and TomG which are awesome!, but i'm still going in my quest for perfect cold smoked salmon (Bradley style)(http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Tasty.gif)
Regards...........LilSmoker(http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Tip-Hat.gif)
Quote from: ceeuawlsune on December 11, 2006, 06:33:06 PM
For those interested in the cold-smoked salmon, buy are apprehensive about the "rawness" of it - I have one solution. You can make a DELICIOUS pasta dish with cold-smoked salmon.
I will not be held responsible for knife wounds sustained defending this pasta dish.
I made pasta with a vodka cream sauce (with dill and parsley) twice for my family over the holidays, using a generous amount of hot smoked salmon in chunks. It was absolutely delicious and I concur with the need for defense measures. Of course if my wife wasn't eating it I could add hot pepper. Hmm.. sounds like a good way to have more for myself next time..
One of my favorite lunches is a lightly toasted plain bagel with cream cheese, cold or hot-smoked salmon [whatever I have at the time], paper-thin red onion marinated in vinegar of your choice, capers, and lemon juice. Drool. Oh yes, a sprinkling of fresh ground pepper of course, plus a sprinkle of whatever dry hot pepper is around - chipotle, thai bird chile, whatever - "to taste". Mmmmm, just finished lunch and I'm hungry again typing about it..
I have smoked salmon a number of times in a BS using the cardboard box method at temperatures down too -5̊ C with the heater turned off and had considerable and constant success. I have never checked the temperature of the fish and wonder where the idea that it has to reach a temperature of 70 ̊C. I use 4parts salt 1part sugar and dry cure in the frig. for 14 hours. Rince and then dry the fish with a fan and smoke for 4-6 hrs. :D
Quote from: geoffrey on February 11, 2007, 04:57:21 AM
I have smoked salmon a number of times in a BS using the cardboard box method at temperatures down too -5̊ C with the heater turned off and had considerable and constant success. I have never checked the temperature of the fish and wonder where the idea that it has to reach a temperature of 70 ̊C. I use 4parts salt 1part sugar and dry cure in the frig. for 14 hours. Rince and then dry the fish with a fan and smoke for 4-6 hrs. :D
Hi geoffrey and welcome, yeah the cardboard box chamber set up works a treat, most of my cold smoked salmon is done at a temp of 65-69 F, depending on weather/conditions with results which i'm more than happy with.
I think the temp with cold smoking is a grey area, i've seen cold smoking guides that say smoke at a constant 80F, no higher, and no lower?, where as other guides state that anything under 80 F is right?, some even say 90F.
For me, i always make sure i stay under 80F throughout the entire cold smoke, and as long as the brinning/curing has been done properly, i can't see a problem? ;)