cold smoking salmon

This is a basic recipe for cold smoked salmon or Lox. It is a great recipe to use a base to work on your own secret recipe to make the fish taste perfect for your preference. Please feel free to swap out the cure ingredients with your own herbs and spices.

Cold Smoked Salmon Recipe

salmon fillet (fresh and from the head end if possible)

water

black pepper

brown sugar

salt

garlic

fennel seeds

capers (Drained)

brioche toast points

dill (Chopped)

lemon (Sliced)

red onion (Thinly sliced)

Do you want to learn how to make cold smoked salmon? This is one of those cold smoked salmon recipes that is easy to follow and the result is beautiful cold smoked salmon fillet.

Preheat

Place the salmon fillet on a flat surface flesh side up. If the salmon is not at room temperature, let sit for an hour or so for it to come to room temperature. Run your fingers overtop of the skin side of the salmon fillet and feel for the ends of any pin bones. Pull out any pin bones with a pair of tweezers by pulling the ends of the pin bones. Once all the pin bones have been removed, run your fingers over one more time to double check all pin bones have been removed. Clean the salmon fillet and make sure there is no muck on them

Mix cure

In a mixing bowl mix together the Kosher salt (or sea salt), black pepper, brown sugar crushed fennel seeds and garlic.

Cure

Place the salmon in a glass baking dish flesh side up. Ensure you place the salmon inside the dish so it has plenty of room and no filets are touching. Spread out 1/3 of the cure. Place the salmon fillets on top of the cure making sure that the cure extends around u00bd inch from each side of the salmon. Spread the remaining cure on the top side of the salmon, coating each salmon fillet completely with no gaps or holes.

Cure in refrigerator

Cover the dish completely with plastic wrap and place the salmon in the coolest part of your refrigerator for 24 u2013 48 hours to cure. For best results place a weight on top of your salmon while in the cure. I recommend something like a pie dish or a baking tray with a couple of cans of food. You are looking for around 1 - 1.5 pounds of weight to help draw out moisture.u00a0The key with the cure is the longer, the better.

Rinse cure off salmon

Place the salmon In a large bowl filled with 3 inches of cold water soak the fillets for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes drain well with lots of fresh cold water to remove any salt and muck.

Air dry

Pat the salmon dry on both sides with paper towels then place the salmon skin side down, uncovered on a wire rack on top of a sheet pan to air dry. Place in the refrigerator and let air dry for around 4 hours. The fillets should feel a little sticky at this point. This is when the pellicle forms. Don't worry the salmon fillets will not stick to the wire rack.

Pre heat smoker

Prepare your smoker for cold smoking as per your manufacturer's instructions. For this recipe I use a Masterbuilt gas grill. Remember cold smoking temperatures are important so ensure your temperatures never exceed 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

Smoke

Place the salmon in your smoker flesh side up. Let the salmon go through the smoking process until it feels leathery, firm and has a nice bronze color. This should take a minimum of 12 hours right up to 20 hours.

Chill

Before serving wrap the salmon in butcher/ baking paper and rest in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours. Ideally leave overnight.

Enjoy

Diagonally cut thin (or thick depending on your preference) slices with a very sharp knife and garnish with lots of fresh dill, lemon slices, black pepper, capers, red onion, crusty bread and a squeeze of lemon juice. If you are feeling fancy a garnish of teaspoon of lemon zest will also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuB_axsXnAs

cold smoked, salted, cured or pickled so I thought we'd try curing some sashimi grade salmon ourselves and cold smoking it.  I wanted to see if we could get an outcome that was better than the store bought stuff.  And as usual, when you spend the time to prep for your cook and buy high quality ingredients, it really paid off.  This cold smoked salmon is going to become one of our go to recipes when we need a hostess or host gift. Turned out really delicate with a bright smoking and salty taste! Enjoy.

How to Cold Smoke Salmon

Recipe for salting and cold smoking salmonCold-smoked salmon is great for a good starter, as a luxurious main course or as part of a tapas or brunch table. It is a bit of a project to cold smoke your own salmon because it takes some time, but it is worth all the work when you bite into the beautiful fish.

Cold smoked salmon

salmon

cane sugar

Start by trimming the salmon side, cut loose skin away and make sure to check if there is any bones.

Mix salt and sugar in a bowl.

Place the salmon with the skin side down in a dish.

Now sprinkle salt and sugar over the salmon so that it lies in an even layer. Also add some of the mixture under the salmon.

Then vacuum pack the salmon and put it in the fridge for approx. 10 hours. - Alternatively, this can be done in a dish. The mixture of salt and sugar is distributed over the salmon, and a little on the skin side. Place the salmon in the fridge and let it sit for approx. 10 hours. The time can either be extended or shortened .. I think it fits well with 10 hours, then I hit a salt balance that is the way I want it.

After 10 hours, take the salmon out of the fridge and rinse thoroughly under the cold tap to remove excess salt.

Now wipe the salmon thoroughly with a paper towel.

Put it in another dish preferably on a rack so that air can some under the fish.

Now the salmon has to dry for 24 hours in the fridge, you can also hang it outside if the temperature is low enough. If you now want a salmon that is a little more firm in the meat, it must dry for a longer time.

During the drying process, a thin dry film forms on the salmon consisting of proteins that have been liquid during brining, it is called Pellicle in English. This helps the salmon to absorb the smoke much better when you get there.

Now it&#39;s smoking time! Place the salmon on a rack or tie it up by the tail. Prepare the smoke oven for cold smoke. - Cold smoking is in the range of 15-25 degrees celcius in the smoke chamber. I usually keep the temperature at the low end.

Now the salmon must be smoked for the first time. Prepare the smoke oven with a mixture of beech and redwood. Smoke the salmon over cold smoke for 12 hours. - You can choose to hang the salmon in the tail, or place it on a rack with the skin side down.

Now put the salmon in the fridge and sit for 12 hours before smoking again.

After 12 hours in the fridge where the smoke has spread in the salmon, it must now be smoked for the second and last time. Smoke the salmon with cold smoke again with a mixture of beech and redwood.

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Top 2 cold smoking salmon recipes from across the web

The most viewed cold smoking salmon recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Cold Smoked Salmon Recipe

Cold smoked salmon

The most viewed cold smoking salmon recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine