Salmon for science!


 
J

Jonas-Switzerland

TVWBB Fan
I got myself a batch of fresh salmon. I could hot or cold smoke it, I could dry brine or wet brine it.

What did my prime enabler, my wife say? Why not all four?

Thats the plan

Dry brine recipe:
* 50% salt, 25% white sugar, 25% brown sugar (did not have much brown sugar left, so I stretched it with white)
* brine for 24-48h
* afterwards 30 mins rest in clear water
* 4 hours uncovered in the fridge (probably gonna be 8 hours so I can put it in with the other)

Wet brine recipe:
* 1l water
* 200grams salt
* 100grams sugar
* 1 hour per cm fish thickness, at the thickest part.
* 30min rest in clear water
* 24h uncovered in the fridge (gonna be more like 8 for me)

Yesterday was the dry brine prep.

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Today will be the wet brine prep and overnighight fridge rest. Then they'll be cut up, half will be cold smoked in the WSM, and the other half will be hot smoked in the kettle.
 
I am very interested in the results of your tests.

I just love salmon.
It’s even one of the reasons that I live where I do.
My favorite ways to eat salmon are lox, salmon candy or a fresh pan seared fish.

I have fooled people with wet brine and a dash of liquid smoke.
Makes decent tasting lox.

I will be serving something probably very similar to Brett’s lox for Christmas Eve
 
PhilipHedrick said:
Do you have a preference for cold vs. hot smoked salmon or is this all about discovering something new?
Click to expand...
Yes and yes!

So far my favourite BBQ salmon was hot smoking it glassy at ~225. I love a cold non-smoked, brined version, which I call "graved salmon". Not sure if you'd call it lox.

Now gonna try some cold smoking techniques. But first some wet brine:

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And some creative protection against our predators.
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The difference between wet and dry brine is night and day. Its not as obvious through the camera. Dry brine is darker, and firmed up a lot. Dry brine is at the back

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Good night, see you sunday morning.
 
Had a challenging night. We decided to cold smoke the whole dry brined salmon. Fewer leftovers to deal with.

This is after four hours or so of cold smoking.

IMG_20241201_111546.jpg

Top two pieces are dry brined, bottom left is wet brined. It changed color, and is now similar to the dry brined pieces in color. The texture is a bit different as of now.

Filled up the tube with a fresh batch of alder pellets. Moved the wsm out of the sun.

We had a small, fresh piece for lunch from the kettle. IMG_20241201_120836.jpg
 
The cold smoked pieces are off the WSM now, and resting for tomorrow. The color is pretty similar between both brines, but interestingly the skin-side of the dry brine was a lot stiffer. You could feel the difference.

Now, the last piece, a wet-brined one was hot smoked for our dinner. I could not get the kettle below 300f, I had too much charcoal in the basket. It turned out decent regardless:
IMG_20241201_173315.jpg

It had a mild "bark" on it. The salt content was decent, and flavorful. The only thing I really acriticize is the "doneness" (I never cooked salmon with an insta-read. I had to judge the doneness from experience). So the 140f was overcooked for my preferrence.

As you see here, when I cut it with a spatula, it resulted in a jagged edge. Which is over my liking, when I do not consider food safety:
IMG_20241201_173345.jpg

With food safety, its pretty darn good (my kid could safely eat it as well). It was not overly salty or sweet. The wet brine did do a solid taste through the salmon. IMO I am missing a good rub to push it into the "amazing" category.

I will definitely cook it again this way. Probably for fish which has been frozen+thawed, where I won't eat it raw.
 
I haven't eaten a bunch of smoked salmon, certainly not enough to tell the difference between wet & dry brining and hot & cold smoking. All I know is that what you've got going there looks really, really, good ! ! !
 
That looks really good! I have not made up any smoked salmon in an age! Feeling a bit inspired by seeing this, we shall see if the inspiration takes root!
 
Now the cold smoked salmon top is dry brined, bottom is the wet brined piece:
IMG_20241202_171459.jpg

Now we are talking. For an experiment, it was pretty good overall. (Left wet brine, right is dry brine)
IMG_20241202_173327.jpg

Its lox, and it is awesome.
Interesting tidbits: The pieces saw exactly the same amount of smoke. But the dry-brined piece took more smoke flavor with it. With 12h of alder pellet smoke, I was already more smoky than store bought, and at the upper limit of what I like. Funny thing was I cooked a piece of the dry brined salmon for our kid. It was overly salty cooked, but neutral to almost under salted when uncooked.

And the winner is:

Wet brine.

It has the silky texture I'd expect from lox. Now I am convinced store-bought also has wet brining in the process somewhere. Its the texture I prefer on cold smoked salmon, and the texture I got.

Dry brining does have its place. But I have a recipe for "graved salmon", which is very silar to the dry brine recipe, added with some more spices like juniper berries. This leads to an awesome tasting lox, with a similar texture but a lot less hassle.

But next time I am thinking about a rub. It was good, but it was not the best lox I ever had. It could take some more flavors. But thats for a different day. First, I have a bunch of leftover lox I need to eat this week. Woe is me :D
 
Good looking work Jonas
I like the juniper berry idea.

My lox journey started with gravel and I’m ok with that I just think cold smoke makes it better.
I’ve only done wet brine and I’m happy with my results.
We really only have fruit trees here for smoke hardwood.
There is a bunch of wild Alderwood here too that I might give a try to.
My First Nation and Native Americans friends use the heck out of it because it grows in rows almost like a weed here.

Are you calling it done after the smoke or do you seal it up for a couple days?

For cutting I am too afraid to use my meat slicer but I might give it a go in the future.
I’ve never put an edge on its blade.
It doesn’t seem like that would be a difficult task, toss in a partially frozen fish and ya never know.
I currently use a very sharp knife and act like filleting or deboning a smallish trout.
 
I led the salmon rest for 24h and then sliced some. Its going in the freezer for the moment. I am still afraid of keeping cold-smoked produce in the fridge for too long.

I will look at some more recipes, and tinker with my cold smoke generator. So far its... I have troubles with the smoke flavor. Last time I used wiskey chips, and they left a brimstone air in the smoker and on the cheese. This time I don't think it was overly smoky, just that the smoke taste was not deliciously smoky.
 
Quick update on theis cook. I froze up the leftovers. This weekend we took out one slab, and let it de-frost in the fridge. And I must say:

Much tastier smoke flavor! After the first 24h rest in the fridge, it had a strong smoke flavor with some off-tastes in there. Like it would bite your tongue. Now after thr freeze+defrost session the bite has mellowed out a lot. Overall a much morr balanced taste and more joyful experience.

It always seems to work with cold smoked produce. If you think its too much just let it rest in the fridge.
 
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