First Time Cold Smoked Salmon

[BBQ Canuck]

Hi All,

A few weeks back a I bought an a-maze-n pallet smoker and wanted to make some Nova Lox. For my first go I used a 4 lbs Atlantic Salmon fillet, dry bribed it in a 50/50 sugar to kosher salt mix for 24 hrs, rinsed it there after pat dried, followed by letting it rest for 3 hours to form a pecille.

All good so far, texture is nice, colour is good and taste is fine.

I then smoked the filet for 12 hours on my WSM using the maze and orange wood pellets. I had the bottom vents full closed and the top opened half way, had a really nice deep smoke throughout the cold smoke.

Once finished I tried the salmon and it has a deep smokey flavour which is really acrid, almost stale tasting which also leaves a really strong after taste of smoke.

Any help on what I did wrong?

Appreciate any feedback

 

[motocrash]

By having your bottom vents closed,you had no airflow.No airflow makes for smoldering pellets and stale acrid smoke.

 

[73saint]

Agree the airflow could be the cause but I bet if you let it rest in the fridge for a few days it’ll mellow out some.

 

[tallbm]

Hi All,

A few weeks back a I bought an a-maze-n pallet smoker and wanted to make some Nova Lox. For my first go I used a 4 lbs Atlantic Salmon fillet, dry bribed it in a 50/50 sugar to kosher salt mix for 24 hrs, rinsed it there after pat dried, followed by letting it rest for 3 hours to form a pecille.

All good so far, texture is nice, colour is good and taste is fine.

I then smoked the filet for 12 hours on my WSM using the maze and orange wood pellets. I had the bottom vents full closed and the top opened half way, had a really nice deep smoke throughout the cold smoke.

Once finished I tried the salmon and it has a deep smokey flavour which is really acrid, almost stale tasting which also leaves a really strong after taste of smoke.

Any help on what I did wrong?

Appreciate any feedback

Hi there and welcome!

I agree with the other guys assessment.
Stale smoke when cold smoking is a real thing to deal with. I built a little contraption with a computer fan that causes draft from my top vent to pull smoke up and through my smoker so that it never lingers and becomes stale.

I'm no fish cold smoking expert but generally if you are going to cold smoke any meat it needs to be cured using instacure/prague powder #1 along with the salt and sugar. The instacure/cure in the correct amount keeps the bacteria from making things nasty and getting you sick when meat is smoked/cooked at temps above refrigerated levels. I assume you cold smoked this at temps 40F or higher so the best safety practice is to cure the meat.

I too do salmon lox and it is awesome but I measure and use the proper amount of cure.
Here is what it looks like when done :)

DSC_8894[1].JPG

• tallbm
• Feb 25, 2017

DSC_8895[1].JPG

• tallbm
• Feb 25, 2017

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• tallbm
• Feb 25, 2017

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• tallbm
• Mar 3, 2017

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• tallbm
• Mar 3, 2017

 

[SonnyE]

Yep, all vents wide open. Let the smoke flow like smoke does.
I use my Mailbox Mod all the time, and use dust in my AMNPS.
Makes a huge difference over pellets alone.
I smoked for decades with my wood inside the smoker. But now, I'm enjoying a much better smoke flavor with anything I smoke. The gunk and Creosote condenses out in the "Mailbox" and the dryer vent hose, and leaves just the nice smokey flavor to touch the meat. I think of it as filtered.
You want very faint smoke wafting through, referred to as Thin Blue Smoke. Because it appears to be a blueish tinge as it drifts out the top vent.
You'll figure it out. Just keep working with your equipment. And it doesn't require a load of meat in it to play with the smoke.
Always eat your mistakes. That way nobody can find them.

An example of TBS...
See how faint it can be?

 

[bregent]

I think everyone's got you covered already. I'll just add that I only smoke lox for 4 hours - using ANMPS in a mailbox mod 8 feet from the smoker, with good airflow - and I get more than enough smoke. Lox doesn't need much. Smoking for 12 hours with the ANMPS in the smoker and having poor ventilation is not going to be good. The salmon might mellow given enough time, but I wouldn't count on it becoming good enough to eat. Try it again with the suggestions given to you and I'm sure it will be great next time.

 

[gmc2003]

Hi, when I use my WSM for cold smoking I remove the charcoal ring, and keep all the vents wide open. You want that airflow going thru the smoker unobstructed. Four hours would be the maximum time I would smoke salmon, and that would be using dust - not pellets. If it's still really strong after a few days of airing out, maybe try freezing some and making dips and salads out of it throughout the year. Trying to mask the harsh flavor with other flavors.

Chris

 

[tallbm]

Like the other guys, I too only smoke my Salmon Lox for 4 hours and I use Alder. It gets pleeeeeeeeenty of smoke flavor with that weaker wood and only 4 hours. I haven't had to do any mellowing of my salmon lox since I slapped together and implemented my cold smoking assist contraption to ensure fresh flowing smoke all the time during the cold smoke :)

Here is the contraption. Basically a cardboard tube with a computer blower fan blowing up the tube. I place the tube over my vent and viola, draft going upwards sucks smoke up and through the smoke constantly so no stale or bad flavors that can more easily happen with cold smoking :)

 

[BBQ Canuck]

Thanks for all the great feedback, so much to learn! After a few days the acrid taste faded but never really went away. SonnyE took your advice and ate my mistakes so no trace of my newbeeism ;). I’ll have to give this another go once the weather cooperates, with a few adjustments:

1. All vents wide open (mailbox mod to follow perhaps???)
2. Smoke for only 4 hours

A few further questions:

1. What’s the best wood for cold smoked salmon? Alder seems to be a popular choice
2. What is the general consensus on using kosher salt v. cure? All the recipes suggest kosher salt but my instinct suggests cure is better for peice of mind.

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for all the great feedback, so much to learn! After a few days the acrid taste faded but never really went away. SonnyE took your advice and ate my mistakes so no trace of my newbeeism ;). I’ll have to give this another go once the weather cooperates, with a few adjustments:

1. All vents wide open (mailbox mod to follow perhaps???)
2. Smoke for only 4 hours

A few further questions:

1. What’s the best wood for cold smoked salmon? Alder seems to be a popular choice
2. What is the general consensus on using kosher salt v. cure? All the recipes suggest kosher salt but my instinct suggests cure is better for peice of mind.

I've only ever used alder as it is like the mildest wood and it gives plenty of smoke to the salmon lox. I also smoke for 4 hours and no way I'm going for more than that even with the Alder.

As for kosher salt vs cure, it is generally not an "either/or" situation.

Cure #1 is used to keep meat safe when smoking at low temperatures. Bacteria wants to grow and do bad things at temps like 40-140F degrees. Cure #1 is the magic weapon to guard against that by keeping the bacteria from doing it's thing. This is why bacon and sausage and salmon lox, etc. etc. can be cold smoked safely at temps that never exceed 170-180F degrees.

About Curing:
Now when learning about curing a piece of meat there are some formulas/calculators that will make figuring it all out simple but I'll sum some of it simply here.
When using cure #1 it is 1 level/scant teaspoon for every 5 pounds of meat. It is 1/4 teaspoon per pound of meat if you aren't doing 5 pound increments.

You do 2-3% salt and this is where Kosher salt comes in (I like about 2.2% so it isn't too salty).
You do 1% of a sugar.

You mix all of that up and you get a dry cure mix that is pretty rock solid.
So for example let's say you have 5 pounds of salmon. Lets convert this to grams for waaaaay simpler math, 5lbs = 2268g.

So the curing mix for 5lbs/2268g of Salmon would be,

• Cure # 1 -> 1 scant teaspoon
• 2.2% Kosher Salt -> 49.9g
• 1% Sugar -> 22.68g (I suggest white sugar for salmon, but most other meats brown sugar)

With that mix you can add any other dry seasonings you want along with the meat in a bag and then just get the meat well coated, squeeze out the air and boom you cure that meat for however long it takes for the cure#1 to fully penetrate the meat. I believe cure #1 travels a 1/4inch into the meat a day.

Once the curing period is complete you pull the meat out of the bag, rinse, and smoke!

This will keep you safe, keep the salt levels from being too strong, and allow you to achieve some success :)

I used the guidelines above and followed the approach of this Salmon Lox recipe to make mine:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/making-lox-a-picture-guide.87043/

Mine comes out AWESOME! I really like the hint of super fresh flavor the orange and lemon zest adds to the salmon and the fact that the white pepper and white sugar don't affect the color or look of the salmon where black pepper and brown sugar would.

I hop this really helps you out, keeps you safe, and gives you a good approach for success! :)

 

[cmayna]

I do a dry brine for 8 hours, then a wet brine for another 8 hours. Refresh for 30 minutes. Then fridge dry for 5+ hours then room dry for 3 hours. Finally a cold smoke with Alder for 3 hours.