Smoke cold salmon - that's how it works
Foodies swear by carefully smoked salmon. If you want to try to smoke cold salmon yourself, you need a little time in addition to the right equipment. It takes up to a week before you can enjoy the finished smoked salmon.
Smoking cold salmon - the right equipment
Salmon is a noble food. To make it last longer, it can be treated with salt and smoke. With the treatment over cold smoke, the salmon also gets a pleasant smoky aroma. The fish fillet remains fresh and fishy-aromatic. You need the following basic equipment for cold smoking:
- If you have a common smoker, then you are already well equipped for the cold smoking of food.
- However, you can also smoke in a good grill that is shielded from the wind. This can be a charcoal grill or a gas grill. Kettle barbecues are very suitable for this.
- In addition, you should consider purchasing a cold smoke generator or a cold smoke bowl that is suitable for your grill. These are available in both square and round versions.
- You also need smoked flour. Beech wood chips with a grain size of approximately 0.5 to 1.0 millimeters are recommended.
- Red cedar flour is also advertised as an option for smoking. Its spicy resinous, slightly sweet aroma should go well with salmon. Sometimes it is not easy to get such cedar shavings.
- With the smoked flour, fill your cold smoke bowl very tightly and press the chips firmly into place again. This later results in a better energy saving, which works well at low temperatures.
- To check the temperature in your smoking device, a suitable thermometer should be available or already installed in the cover. Because constant and precise temperature control is also very important for cold smoking.
How to prepare the salmon
First decide whether you want to smoke whole fish or just fillet. It is best to get it fresh from the fishmonger. Plan enough time to refine the salmon. The process takes up to an entire week. You start with the curing, which is followed by the actual smoking.
- Clean the fillets or fish halves from bones and dab them again briefly with kitchen paper.
- Rub the salmon well on each side with a salt-sugar mixture. To do this, use around 100 grams of coarse-grain salt and brown sugar per kilogram of fish. Simply apply more in the slightly thicker areas.
- You can refine the curing salt with pepper or spices such as dill, coriander, bay leaves and juniper berries. You can also use zest from an untreated orange or lemon peel.
- Put the fish pieces in a bowl, cover them and put them in the fridge for a day or two.
- After the rest period, the salmon lost a lot of fluid. You pour this off. The fish meat is noticeably firmer, but still glassy. Clean the fillets under running water and then pat everything dry with kitchen paper.
- You can now either let the fish air dry directly for a day or you can do a preparatory, germicidal alcohol treatment of the fish. Take gin, for example, and brush the surface of the salmon fillets.
- Let it soak in the fridge again for a day - or just air dry it - then you can start smoking. The surface of the fish now shows a slightly shiny patina.
Now it's time to smoke
With cold smoking, you work at a temperature of around 15-25 degrees Celsius. Therefore, midsummer is not necessarily the best time for cold smoking. Because if your grill or smoker is in the sun, it will heat up to undesirably high temperatures. So also look for a suitable place for your project.
- Ignite the smoking chips in your smoke generator with a candle, a flame beer device or other fire sources. When the chips glow well and produce the first smoke stably, put the smoking bowl in your smoking device or grill.
- Now place the solid salmon fish pieces on the top rack of your smoking device or grill. Close the equipment. Pay attention to the temperature.
- There should be enough airflow to keep the smoldering and smoke from continuing. A charge of chips in a smoke generator normally lasts for about 8 to 10 hours.
- After the first smoking, there is a short drying time. Take the pieces of fish and leave them in the open air at normal temperature for one to several hours, but well protected from vermin.
- Then carry out the cold smoking process again. This means that the total exposure to smoke lasts at least 20 hours. Your salmon will then be a little firmer in consistency, but still have the typical raw salmon color.
- After smoking is over, you can wrap your specialty in foil or let it rest in the fridge for one night in the fridge.
- Now the fish is ready. You can cut and enjoy the refined salmon diagonally and across the grain with a sharp knife. You will definitely notice a difference in taste to the finished goods you have bought.
You can read how to smoke a trout in the next practical tip.