Cold Smoking Fish

According to Ruhlman, pg. 96-97.

a. Cure the salmon
b. Remove rinse under cool water and pat dry
c. Place on rack over a tray and refrigerate uncovered for 4-24 hours.
d. Cold smoke at 54 degrees (I know, that's definitely COLD smoking) for about 6 hours or to taste. Here's the real stuff: Remember the temperature of the smoker and salmon should never go about 90 degrees.

So, after you cure it, put your cooker on the shady side of the house over night and let it cook, put the salmon in it before dawn and use the can 'o sawdust and soldering iron smoke generator!!

Or you might be able to use an old beat up cooler (probably 120 quart size or so and put a bag of ice in there with the smudge pot. I'm just thinking on the fly and YMMV. But, I did see somewhere that some folks do cold smoke in old coolers using external smoke generators like a Smoke Pistol or Bradley. You could cut a hole in the side of the cooler and use dryer duct to move the smoke from the smudge pot into the smoke chamber. A 2" hole in the top would take care of exhaust and use a coffee can lid or something as a damper. Some baker racks with legs would get the fish up off the bottom.

Good luck.

Basic dry cure is:
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. "pink salt" or mortons or prague powder #1 (this is pretty optional if you're using the salmon fairly quickly
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground bay leaf
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground mace

So your 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup sugar is right on for a very basic cure.

I've done smoked mullet using a brine with Old Bay. But that would probably overpower the salmon.

Morton's info:

Page 29 of their Home Meat Curing Guide:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 gallon cold water
1-3/4 cups Tender Quick or Sugar Cure
Prepare 1 gallon of brine per 5# of salmon
Completely submerge the fish and refrigerate for 16 hours.
Rinse and drive the salmon.

They use "hot" smoking where the goal is to slowly get the fish up to 160 internal and held there for 30 minutes. So, with my electric smoker I'd go 150 for a while and then up to 180 or so until completely cooked.

This is just additional information. I know you want to dry cure and cold smoke.

If you buy salmon at the store, make sure its not farm raised. Its much better if its wild caught. I smoked my first salmon that was wild caught on my old weber and it turned out great. I tried to repeat it using a farmed raised salmon and I got mush.

Here's some info on making cold smokers from existing cookers or coolers. It's from the Smoke Pistol folks but it'll give you an idea of what can be done:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111296&highlight=cold+smoke

or
http://www.smokepistol.com/customertucker.html
http://www.smokepistol.com/customerbarber.html

pomah25 said:

Thanks Chad! So you think 6 hours should be plenty? Yeah, will have to wait till the temps drop off i guess... low temps down here are still above 85.

Saw dust, never thought about using that, i wonder if i can maybe get that at some hardware store around here...

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Odds are there is a cabinet maker around you. Woodshops always have beaucoup sawdust AND they use hardwoods!! Start asking around, I'll be someone knows someone who has a shop!

I've cold smoked salmon. There are no hard rules on anything. We use a 3:1 ratio of sugar to salt and dry cure overnight in the fridge. We tend to find that works well for us. Next day, we rinse, pat dry and let set for a few hours. You can cold smoke in most anything. I use my cheap offset. Build a small fire with some fruitwood (I like cherry). You can smoke as long as you like. I did just 3 hours last time.

Like you say, you can eat salmon raw. Smoked salmon is easy and the preparations will vary widely. Try it a few times and see what works for you. Ours is very simple, but we like it. Yes, we smoked for only 3 hours, but it certainly could've taken more smoke (again depends on how much smoke you're making and how much you want). Incidentally, after the cure, we will often coat with either maple syrup or sesame oil.

Alright, I've got a question. I don't intend AT ALL to hijcak this thread, and I think my question directly pertains to the topic. If not, please forgive me, but....


Is there a great difference between cold smoked and just "smoked" salmon? I mean I get that there's a difference in technique. The latter is what's commonly referred to as "HOT smoked" and I understand that the meat is actually fully cooked when hot smoked.

I've done hot smoked salmon, but never any cold smoking.

I'm guessing that with cold smoking you are only introducing the smoke into the flesh without cooking it at all, correct? I also know that the dry cure will extract much of the moisture (the real point behind curing).



I guess I'm just asking what's the big difference......in the final product, not the process? Does the cold smoked fish still have the raw texture?



Thanks, and this is NOT intended to be a hijacking.:becky:

^^^ exactly! There are three ways to cook salmon. Cold smoke, in which you don't use any heat, produces something very similar to Nova salmon (less salty) or lox (more salty). Warm smoked salmon, in which you do use LOW heat, about 175*-190* (preferably lower), and bring the IT of the salmon up to about 140-150* produces a cooked salmon. These types of salmon are good cold the next day (or for a few days after). Any hotter than 200* and you are cooking the salmon -- it's a completely different product and the result the next day will be like leftover cooked salmon. In the latter case, I prefer to cook the salmon hot, over 400*, for about 1-2 minutes per side. Either type of smoked salmon is easy to make, and is MUCH cheaper and better tasting than the salmon you pay a small fortune for. We've brought smoked salmon to pot lucks and it disappears fast.

When we add sesame oil, we also coat with sesame seeds.

Actually, I just burn a chunk of cherry with a bit of lump or by itself. You can throw a bucket of ice in there too to keep it cool or put the salmon on ice, but I haven't had to do that, but I've made it in cooler weather. If you think about it, an offset is very similar to a cold smoker in design. You could add another baffle to insulate the heat source a bit better, but with a small fire, I don't find it necessary (and I'm lazy).

Was just in the TD Congrats thread and this pic flew by. Here's one example with some details. In this one my wife rubbed with EVOO and coated with ground pepper. The linky is underneath.





http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1642301