Cold smoked salmon help

[AndrewF]

Hi,

I've got a question about cold smoked atlantic salmon.  Specifically, my results seem too moist or oily and I'm wondering if this is normal or if something in my procedure was botched.

To prepare it, I did a dry brine of about 1 kg of coarse salt and a cup of brown sugar for 18 hours.  I then rinsed it for about 45 minutes and let it dry for about 14 hours.  Lastly, I smoked it for 8 hours (using maple).  I don't know what the temp in the smoker was but with the cold-smoke attachment and it being about 32 degrees F. I don't think I would have got much over 40 or 50 degrees F.

I did notice I got a good pellicle during the drying and the smoke flavour so far is pretty mild.  Because I've never done a cold-smoked salmon before, I want to ensure I've got it properly prepared and extra oil/moisture has me questioning whether I was successful.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Quarlow]

That is likely farm raised Atlantic salmon. They tend to be oily from the food they feed them. I have never cold smoked anything but cheese so I can't add to the rest, but someone will help you out soon.

[AndrewF]

Thanks for the reply Quarlow.   :)

This being the first time doing this, I'm not exactly sure of how to tell if the curing did it's full job or not.

[Habanero Smoker]

I use farmed raised Atlantic salmon, and never had a problem with cold smoked salmon being oily. Most of the farmed raise in my area comes from Chile, but lately I've been seeing Scottish and Alaskan farmed raised.

The below link is the lox (cold smoked salmon) recipe I use. It is a two step brining process.
Best Smoked Lox

[AndrewF]

hey Habanero Smoker,

Thanks for the reply and the recipe. :)  I'll give this one a try on one of my future attempts.

I finally caved in a bought some smoked atlantic salmon to compare to my batch.  I think I should have cured mine a little bit longer (taken it to a full 24 hours), but I don't think I was too far off.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Habanero Smoker]

Good luck. Many members have tried Spy Guy's lox recipe and have been satisfied.