The Best Smoked LOX Style Salmon

[Thunder Fish]

  I did this recipe last weekend and the end results were just unreal! ( http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?103-The-Best-Smoked-LOX-Style-Salmon  ) it took a full 24 hours to complete,served with cream cheese,crackers,capers and some thinly sliced red onion W O W !
I can't thank Mitch Unger aka Spyguy enough for sharing this we had a bonus run of Sockeye this year on the west coast and 3 more are in the brine now for another batch for the Bradley tomorrow.
If you can get fresh salmon and enjoy Lox,I would highly recommend this no fail recipe. ::)

[Habanero Smoker]

I have to agree with you 100%. It also works great with farmed raised; which is generally what I can get most of the year.

[Quarlow]

Congrats Thunder. Yeah we had a good run on the socks here this year and I was not able to find a good deal on them. I am still trying, got a couple of options left so hopefully I can find some for about $10 bucks a piece. I am not a big loks fan but I want to try it for sure.

[tsquared]

I tried his recipe once or twice but I still prefer dry cure for lox--it gives a slightly drier product that slices well. Both are great, I think it's just personal preference. Spyguy's is easier than my method--not quite as many steps.
T2

[tsquared]

Got your email, Thunderfish. Here is the recipe I originally put on here a few years ago. I did a batch of sockeye and spring salmon with it(8 racks worth) in August which turned out great. The sockeye I pulled out of the salt after 12 hours, but the spring was in for closer to 20 hours as they were thicker fillets . Keep giving it the mark 1 finger test--push your finger down onto the fillet--if it feels fairly firm and springs back right away--it has been salted enough. If it feels "mushy" or soft at all, it needs more time.


The following recipe is one I have used many times with great success. It comes from an excellent book called "Smoking Salmon and Trout" by Jack Whelan, published by Aerie Press here in British Columbia.(I think Jack is on his second edition which has been updated.) He calls it Scotch smoked salmon, although being a wise man he applies the scotch internally and uses rum as part of the curing process! Dry salt your salmon, injecting brine into very thick pieces.(I make several slices through the skin with a sharp knife and rub the salt in on the thick pieces) Lay the salmon on 1/2 inch of coarse salt, skin side down and sprinkle more on the top of the fillet. Times for dry salting vary according to the fattiness of your salmon and thickness of the fillets.If your fillets are quite thick, score the skin diagonally across the fillet to let the salt in. Put very little salt on the tail of the fillet(I don't even smoke tails anymore, as it is tricky not to oversalt them.)Make sure you drain your fillets during this process.
1.Salt a 1 in. fillet of a fatty fish 12 hours and lean (chum) 7 hours. Fillet should spring back when pressed with your finger if it is done enough.
2. Rinse your fillet off, and dry for 6 hours. I do this by putting it uncovered in my beer fridge.
3. Rub it with vegetable oil and then back in the fridge for 6 hours.
4. Rub off oil with a rum soaked cloth. (Scotch may be applied internally at any time during this process.)
5. Cover the fillet with brown sugar just as you did with the dry salt, then back in the fridge for 6 hours.
6. Wipe off the brown sugar  with a rum soaked cloth and salmon is ready to dry in the Bradley then smoke.
Smoking
1.Dry first for a few hours without smoke until the surface of fillets is dry to touch.Smoke the fish AT NO MORE THAN 85f for between 2-4 hours depending on your smoker, how much smoke taste you like, and whether your smoker is forced air or not. Beware the temp rise and look at the thread that talks about putting the smoke generator in a remote firebox to keep the temp down.
2. Continue to dry fish for several more hours until the fish is firm enough for slicing. (Use the Mark 1 finger to test this)
3. You can give the fish a polish by bringing the temp up to 100 F for 15 minutes. This has the effect of bringing some oil to the surface, giving it an attractive look.
4. Let fish cool, unwrapped in the fridge for several hours.
5. Enjoy!
In his book, Jack has much more detail than I give here. I can attest that I have used this recipe again and again with superb results.You can play around with different spices like fresh dill or juniper berries or different booze. The key is getting the fish to a good firmness for slicing. I know at first glance this recipe seems complicated but most of these steps take 2 minutes and then you stick the salmon back in the fridge and forget about it.  I modified the Bradley by using an old Little Chief smoker as a remote smoke chamber and hooked it up using dryer hose to the Bradley.Cut a hole in the side of the Little Chief and slid the Bradley smoke generator into it. Works great, and the temp in the Bradley is only 5 degrees over the ambient.Some people have successfully used a heavy cardboard box to achieve the same thing.

[mikeradio]

i have made spyguys lox lots and love it, turns out great everytime

[Thunder Fish]

Thank you Tsquared,if I run into some coho this fall I'll try it out,really appreciate your time for writing it out.Was out on the Fraser yesterday in the tidal portion there were schools after schools of sockeye boiling in there,tried to get them on the fly and nada  :'(

[tsquared]

No problem Thunderfish. I have one more fishing trip planned up to Port Renfrew on the first weekend of October for coho. They get some 20 lb plus ones coming  into the San Juan river.Let me know how it goes if you try the recipe.
T2

[Thunder Fish]

20 lb coho's  :o  :o  :o that's like Pitt River Sockeye's that get to 12-15 lb's

[MrBlitz]

Used this recipe for 4 sockeye on the weekend ... was a bit scared doing that many fish at once.  They turned out wonderful ... everybody that has tried the fish loves it.  Now I am glad I did the larger batch.   :D

Thanks for the detailed recipe,
Peter