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Salmon for science!


 

Jonas-Switzerland

TVWBB Super 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.

IMG_20241129_203026.jpg

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
 
Do you have a preference for cold vs. hot smoked salmon or is this all about discovering something new?
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:

IMG-20241130-WA0000.jpg
And some creative protection against our predators.
IMG-20241130-WA0001.jpg

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

IMG_20241130_201754.jpg

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.
 
Hello. Questions for those who are using smoke tubes for cold smoking.
I'd like to do a smoke a salmon fillet with this technique. Any recommendations? What pellets are you using for best results? I have a 22" kettle and Spirit grills, which would be preferred for this kind of cold smoking?

I am also looking forward to smoke pork tenderloins and loins in the future. My family loves just cured (lox?) salmon and pork tenderloins and I am doing it for years now, but with those cheap smoke tubes I think we can add some good smoky flavor for this delicious treats.
 
Hi there, all good questions. Sadly I don't have good answers.

My cook there tried to go as cold as possible. So it was below 20C all the time, which meant smoking in freezing temperatures, using the biggest volume cooker with the smallest fire possible.

In general all cookers CAN do it. Its easier to have a higher volume cooker so you can keep temps low. And the produce above the fire for better smoke penetration. I would try the spirit grill first, and see if you can raise the salmon by putting grates on some tomato cans. I also found some contraptions that put the tube below the kettle, below the ash catcher on the little utility rack and wrap its legs for better air funneling. Never tried it. Its all about getting the volume.

As for pellets, all I got here was the weber Alder pellets. My last warm (80C) smoked salmon was on oak and beech. Something which isn't too heavy. Funnily enough, the best smoke came from the warm smoke. The alder pellets were OK, but IMO wasn't the best smoke flavor. Not sure if it was the actual pellets or the cook.

The thing that keeps me from cold smoking is the weather. I read somewhere that you can cold smoke hotter than 20C, because you cured your produce and it won't spoil. But I know too little about food safety to know for sure, and currently won't try it.
 
Hello. Questions for those who are using smoke tubes for cold smoking.
I'd like to do a smoke a salmon fillet with this technique. Any recommendations? What pellets are you using for best results? I have a 22" kettle and Spirit grills, which would be preferred for this kind of cold smoking?

I am also looking forward to smoke pork tenderloins and loins in the future. My family loves just cured (lox?) salmon and pork tenderloins and I am doing it for years now, but with those cheap smoke tubes I think we can add some good smoky flavor for this delicious treats.
here's your free lesson: https://tvwbb.com/threads/cold-smoked-salmon-to-become-lox-part-deux.93345/

all your questions are answered in this thread. lmk if you have additional questions.

key data point, you need airflow when cold smoking. otherwise the heat from the pellets will get trapped in your grill/chamber and heat the salmon, thus creating hot smoked salmon.

cold smoking is 65-85F. once internal air temps rise above 85F you are in a low temp hot smoke. if you hot smoke, you'll need to take your protein to around 145F to be food safe (out of the danger zone - bacteria growth zone).
 
I do cure pretty often mackerel (wet brine) and pork tenderloins (dry brine). Both are 3 days in brine, and both requires hanging after brine for drying and getting better taste results. For pork it's usually longer. For mackerel it's at least 3 days, for pork it can be week or even more. I also do chicken breasts sometimes with similar technique, just brining is just a 1 day instead of 3. Best results are in cold weather because it dries slower and meat is dried more equal on both inside and outside, but even summer time is fine, just shouldn't be on direct sun light. Didn't waste a food any single time.

For salmon I would like to about the same what this guy do here on YT VIDEO.

For the kettle, I do have SNS attachment that I can use to make a barrier between the smoke tube and fish. Also I can use top and bottom vents to reduce oxygen to slower the burning process and reduce temps (i guess so?). So I am more on the kettle side for this kind of smoking but all answers are appreciated.

Since I don't own a pellet grill, what pellets would you recommend for tube smoking for fish and pork, and possibly chicken? I am somewhere between apple, cherry and hickory, but feel more like apple would be a best choice for now to start with? Any brands recommendations, or those all are about the same for the quality and burning longevity?

I guess I just got to try it and share my experience here with you =)
 
I do cure pretty often mackerel (wet brine) and pork tenderloins (dry brine). Both are 3 days in brine, and both requires hanging after brine for drying and getting better taste results. For pork it's usually longer. For mackerel it's at least 3 days, for pork it can be week or even more. I also do chicken breasts sometimes with similar technique, just brining is just a 1 day instead of 3. Best results are in cold weather because it dries slower and meat is dried more equal on both inside and outside, but even summer time is fine, just shouldn't be on direct sun light. Didn't waste a food any single time.

For salmon I would like to about the same what this guy do here on YT VIDEO.

For the kettle, I do have SNS attachment that I can use to make a barrier between the smoke tube and fish. Also I can use top and bottom vents to reduce oxygen to slower the burning process and reduce temps (i guess so?). So I am more on the kettle side for this kind of smoking but all answers are appreciated.

Since I don't own a pellet grill, what pellets would you recommend for tube smoking for fish and pork, and possibly chicken? I am somewhere between apple, cherry and hickory, but feel more like apple would be a best choice for now to start with? Any brands recommendations, or those all are about the same for the quality and burning longevity?

I guess I just got to try it and share my experience here with you =)
i watched that video plus many more to dial in my technique over time.

mind you, my specific goal was to recreate traditional cold smoked lox as you'd find in a Jewish deli or European towns of years ago. i am 100% with my recipe, method and times at this stage. IIRC, I spent over 4+ years experimenting and refining to achieve my desired results.

on the cold smoking; your challenge is to keep the air temps low. what i learned is that once you have the pellicle on the fish, the smoke will stick to it. so having cool air enter your smoking chamber will still achieve the smoked flavor result(s).

if you let the internal air temp rise, you WILL cook the salmon. i did that once and learned my lesson on airflow(s).

here's what i found on amazon for maple pellets: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L3LR91K?tag=tvwb-20

i love sweet woods on salmon. i think they offer the best flavor compliment. but that's my flavor profile. the only other sweet woods i'd consider are apple and or cherry. do score the maple if you can find/buy them. to me, maple is the correct nose for lox/cold smoked salmon.

as for pork, i also prefer sweet woods. chicken can go may different ways.

use this as a guide: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8191nYsDkUL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

to me, a quality pellet is a quality pellet. i don't think you can really go wrong. remember you're enhancing your protein's flavor, not announcing it. you're going to have to find the flavors and nose you like and prefer. anything else would be any of us here trying to find a life partner for you. it'll be tough without know what YOU want and like.
 
Have you tried alder pellets?
Negative. I’ve used alder wood for beef smoking. Nothing impressive to me. I prefer oak with red meat. And sweet woods on fowl and fish.

Occasionally I’ll add some mesquite to burgers or briskets, but in small amounts as mesquite can be overpowering.
 

 

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