[thirdeye]

Originally Posted by midwestsmokeboy

One thing I would mention is the last half hour turn up the temp to at least 150 degrees to kill any remaining bacteria. You can set your oven at 150 and finish for a half hour.

That's interesting, does the 30 minutes do any actually cooking to the surface of the fish?

Often food safety experts will recommend fish which has been commercially frozen when making lox. The quick freezing and well below zero temperatures will kill any baddies associated with uncooked fish you may worry about. That said, I prefer using extremely fresh fish which has not been frozen, and have not had any problems. Sushi grades of fish don't have the benefit of curing salts or exposure to smoke, however they are kept really cold, instead of the 50° to 80° temps inside a cold smoker.