Cold Smoked Salmon - Does this look right?

[mbgriffi]

Copper River  Salmon is avaliable in Seattle area in May and I bought about 15 lbs at Costco for $6.99 a pound. We grilled and ate several sides. I recently purchased a Bradley Smoker to do cold smoking. I decided to smoke the rest, I followed the recipe at  http://www.salmonuniversity.com/rs_htss01_index.html I put them in the smoker at 10 pm and woke up at 4 am to check on them.

This is what they looked like:



I guess the stuff on top is congealed fat (the Copper River salmon are noted for their rich fatty meat), I dabbed it off as best I could and vacuum packed them. They tast fine, just wondering for comments on how they look, if that is ok? What I could have done diffently, suggestions etc.

Thanks
markg

[Cold Smoke]

Hi Mark, have a peek at the fish topic in the recipe section. It will be the first thread- Bradley smoked Atlantic salmon by Kummok. Near the bottom if his post he mentiones something about "white boogers" and temperature. You didn't mention at what temp you smoked this batch at but there are suggested smoke times and temperatures.

Welcome- tons of information here.

Your salmon looks great.
Cold Smoke

[mbgriffi]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Cold Smoke</i>
<br /> "white boogers" and temperature.
<br />You didn't mention at what temp you smoked this batch at but there are suggested smoke times and temperatures.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Thanks for the link, his notes that if you see these your cooking too hot, but I was trying to only "cold smoke", but as others have noted I had some problems with the temperature getting up into 120 range when I was warming the smoker up. I found that by opening the vent all the way the temperature whould come down to around 100.  I didn't actually uplug the smoker unit and ONLY leave the smoke generator on, but I'll try that next time. So I don't feel like I was cooking too hot, perhaps it was the type of fatty salmon.

thanks
mbg

[Cold Smoke]

Sorry- missed the cold smoke thing. You'd think I would have picked up on that.[:)] Another way of keeping the temp down is use a bowl of ice instead of water for the pucks to fall in or in addition to a pan/bowl of ice on one of the trays with the vent wide open and just the smoke generator plugged in. Some here have tried that and found it quite effective.

Good luck!

Cold Smoke

[trout]

Mark, the salmon looks great.  It just looks more like "hot" smoked salmon because the temp got a bit high.  But then most people love hot smoked salmon anyway.  By the way, use the highest rack position for coolest temp.[;)]

Let your trout go and smoke a salmon instead.

[mbgriffi]

Thanks, its all in my freezer now! How long will it be good for?

thanks
mbg

[crazyhorse]

Cold smoking is best at 80 degrees fahrenheit (or lower). Smoke deposition is maxxed at between 75 and 80. If you are at 100 you are cooking (you will still get a delicious product) and will not get a cold smoked product.

     I am new to the thread, but have been smoking salmon and trout for "nigh" on 30 years.

[Tyeeangler]

I was having similar results until I started drying my fish prior to smoking.  
I used to dry the brined fish for a couple of hours, but one time I didn't have time to deal with it until the next evening so I put the fish in my cool garage.  
After work the next evening, I noticed the fish had a nice "glaze" (pellicle) to it.
The results produced a superior looking product.
Prior to my discovery, I made a mistake that alot of people have made by not paying attention to the need to properly dry the fish in order to produce the pellicle.
I don't really know the science behind it, but I have a hunch that the pellicle helps to keep the juices from bleeding out of the fish.
I have been drying my fish for 24 hours ever since.

[nsxbill]

I tried salmon the first time without waiting for the pellicle.  The second time, I waited, but only dried the fish on the BS racks with a box window fan blowing on them for a couple of hours.  Both were superior in taste, but both hot smoked.  The second attempt better than the first.  Next time I am going to dry for 24hrs and see what kind of results I get.  Thanks, Tyeeangler.  Good suggestion!

Bill

[Ian]

nsxbill: Good evening Bill, just a thought here but I think you might want to reconsider this 24 hour drying time.  Far to long in the danger zone you know that 40 to 140.  For many years I've brined individual pieces of salmon, trout etc. weighing from 10 ounces to 2.5 pounds and generally I've found that you can speed up the pelicle process just by refidgerating. Place the pieces so they aren't  too crowded so as to allow air to move around them, generally overnight will be enough.  The following day I will invert the Bradley racks  and lay them on the table in a cool spot placing the fish on top.  I find it helps to have the fans blowing under the filets as well as over them, two to three hours generally is enough and you'll see a nice sheen and some tiny oil drops on the filets(sweat) they are ready to herb and spice.[8D]

Ian (GO STEELERS!!!)

[nsxbill]

Ian,

Don't know where we will ever get the definitive answer.  I agree that the "outside the refrigerator" could be a problem, but remember that they have been in a salt cure for &gt;24° in the refrigerator.  Don't know if the cure has an impact on being able to dry for 24° on racks outside the refrigerator.  Sure wish Mr. Salmon(Kummock)was not out fishing and able to chime in here!  I think I would feel much more comfortable with them drying in the refrigerator too!

Bill
(Go Raiders!  Get that first draft choice!)

[Chez Bubba]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nsxbill</i>
<br />I think I would feel much more comfortable with them drying in the refrigerator too!

Bill
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Not to put words in his mouth & I will certainly defer to his comments, but Kummok LIVES in a refrigerator. I would guess his problem is how to keep the fish warm enough to keep from freezing.[;)]

It's about that time of year, he should be chiming in soon![8D]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

[tsquared]

Ian has got it right. We've all experienced vegies etc. wilting in the fridge because, yes they are cool,but they are drying out too. In this case drying is what you want to happen and you can rest assured that your fish is in a cool and safe environment while doing so. I have dried my salmon for years in the fridge prior to smoking and brought it out for the last few hours with a fan on it, just as Ian described. If you neglect this step, you get mushy smoked salmon. I am just getting used to my Bradley(I've got 2 butts, a rack of sliced onions for smoked onion soup and a rack of jalepenos smoking as I'm writing this)for hot smoking stuff and over the next few days hope to test the temp for cold smoking with just the puck burner on. If that doesn't keep the temp below 90 F, I'll have to build a seperate smoke box to house the generator and go from there. I'm sure having fun so far.
Tom

[Ian]

Goodmorning nsxbill,
First of all let me say for those that didn't know, this is a process used for hot smoking salmon. Anyhow bill, when I do mine, I use uniform peices, weight wise whether it be 10oz,12oz, or 1lb. My length of brinding time depends solely on the individual weight of these peices. Generally I will brine for ex., a 10-12oz fresh peice of salmon for 2-21/2 hrs in a 80% salinity as measured by a salinometer (For those who don't have one, a fresh egg or a fresh pealed potatoe will float nicely at that degree). Regarding the curing I do not advocate in any way that I would consider this having even a partial curing effect, it is solely to firm up the meats and to impart flavour and moisture in the finished product.

[:)]P.S.,[8D] Bill are you worried about those 49rs and the Dolphines stealing that first pick from you?

Ian
<b>( GO STEELERS!!!!!!!)  </b>

[mbgriffi]

So, after all this back and forth. (Which I appreciate) Can someone recap the reccomend cold smoke method/recipe for Salmon in the Bradley?

Thanks
mbg