Cure & cold smoke fish, need some advice.

I have cold smoked cured salmon here in NJ. I use an Amaze-N pellet smoker maze.

I can't cold smoke until the outside temp is around 40 degrees. The AMNPS works well with your choice of wood flavor.

As for cure, I cure it to gravlax:

Ingredients
• 1 (8-pound) boned salmon, cut into 2 fillets, skin on
• 1/4 cup whole anise seeds, toasted
• 1/4 cup whole caraway seeds, toasted
• 1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup salt
• 5 large bunches of fresh dill, coriander, or chervil
• 1/4 cup vodka, aquavit, or gin
Directions
1.Place salmon fillets on a parchment-lined work surface. Remove any remaining bones from fillets. In a medium bowl, mix together anise seeds, caraway seeds, pepper, sugar, and salt.
2.Place one fillet in a large glass or enamel pan. Cover with spice mixture. Spread dill on top of spices, then pour vodka or other liquor on top of dill. Place second fillet on top of the first, in the opposite direction (head to tail).
3.Cover entire pan tightly with plastic wrap. Place a heavy object, such as a book or brick, into a smaller pan. Lay pan on top of fish to weigh it down, and place both pans in refrigerator.
4.After 12 hours, remove fish from the pan, turn it over, and rewrap tightly with new plastic wrap. Replace weighted pan on top of fish. Continue to refrigerate for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 more days, turning fish over every 12 hours.
5.After 4 days, remove fish from refrigerator, unwrap, and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Remove top fillet, and scrape dill and spices from the surface of both fillets.
6. Cold smoke with the AMNPS for 2 to 4 hours with your wood of choice. Let it rest about 20 minutes and put it back in the fridge to cool off again for about a half hour.
7. Cut it into thin slices and serve.

It rocks! :-D

My only cold smoking is with trout, steelhead and salmon and I use a dual cure, dry and wet along with an overnight equalization period. I modeled the method and final product after Nova lox. You are correct about having cool outdoor temps, and being mindful of the food safety times as the fish warms slightly... but you can always smoke for 1.5 hours and return the fish to the fridge for an hour to chill it back down, then return to the smoker. I do this with cheese and butter too.

You need to be very careful with pellet smoke generators when using them in a small volume cooker, they produce a lot of smoke and heat to some degree. So experimentation is a must. I won't use my tube generator in my Eggs but will use it in my drum smoker. You could even rig up a cold smoker in a big cardboard box, just so you have a lot of volume. I would suggest trying sawdust, and A-Maze-N makes a tray that will burn either. I use their sawdust generators for cheese and butter and the gentle smoke is perfect in my eye.

Here is a peek at my Nova lox (cold smoked), and my cured and hot smoked salmon.