Cold Smoked Salmon
It is easier to cut thin slices (like you buy in the shop) from cold-smoked salmon.
Hot Smoked Salmon
By the hot smoked salmon technique the fish is more or less cooked in the smoker and preserved by the smoke.
Cold Smoked Salmon Recipe
To smoke cold salmon is not as difficult as it seems. You can do this very well at home, it just takes some patience.
Ingredients for two sides of salmon about 2 ½ lb.
10 oz coarse sea salt
10 oz. salt
1 lb brown sugar
add some juniper berries, cloves, crushed peppercorns if you like.
– Mix ingredients in a bowl and rub it on to the sides of your salmon
– Put your salmon in a large bag or sealed container preferably a little bit under pressure. You can do this by placing a thick cutting board or something heavy on top of it. Please note that a lot of moisture will come out of your fish when using this way of brining.
– Leave it for 12 hours, preferably in a cool and dark place.
– Rinse the salmon under cold water. Pat your fish dry with cloth or paper towel.
After this you have to dry your salmon in a cool ventilated area on a rack or something. In the cold months, this could be in your smoker or in a barn. In the warmer months, I put it in the fridge. The sides will feel dry and a little sticky after 24 hours. The skin side will be a bit like leather.
Your salmon is now ready to smoke
Cold smoking your salmon
It is preferable to lie your salmon down to smoke. If all else fails , you can hang them too. Make sure you hang them firmly, because the sides are rather heavy. It’s quite a waste of all of your work if they fall. Multiple mounting points provide a solution. With roast rope you can try to make a knot around the tail .
This way of smoking gives the most flavor to your fish, so make sure that your smoking wood is absolutely clean. For salmon I prefer a mixture of beech and oak.
Make sure that at all times your smoker does not exceed 25 degrees. It will benefit the results if you keep your temperature even lower. I smoke preferably at temperatures around ten degrees, but in the summer this can be harder to do . Do your smoking later in the evening and make sure that your smoker is not in a particularly warm place .
I always smoke approx 4-5 hours at a stretch and the taste and quality is superb.
Tip: Try a egg flat for your smoking. Fill up the holes with wood dust and light the edges of the flat. This should smoke for about an hour.