First I would like to thank Pokey for some help and the inspiration from his post on making lox by first salting then brining the salmon http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/106689/1st-lox-smoke-w-modified-amns. Through PM's we also shared some ideas on the process and smoking the fish. Second after further searching the web I found a good detailed recipe I liked that basically followed "Pokey's" method: http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2006/08/thirdeyes-nova-lox.html.
I last made lox 35 years ago and that was by using liquid smoke and leaving it in a slushy brine continuously for 5 days and flipping daily.
My idea evolved from reading about smoked salt and considering the possibility of making smoked Lox without the fish needing to be placed on the grill and being cold smoked.
First I made the smoked salt using apple and oak chunks. I don't like salt sitting on any metal so I used Saran Wrap on top of aluminum foil. I wish I had some nylon screening but did not. I smoked it for 6 hours on a very cold and windy evening so it actually ended up cold smoked. I read a hot smoke would have made the salt smokier quicker. I soon found I had not made enough. I needed about 2/1/2 cups and only had about 1 cup:
After realizing I would not have enough smoked salt for BOTH the salting and brine, I decided to use plain Sea Salt with the brown sugar for the salting. I had dried the brown sugar on the grill and it had readily absorbed the smoke flavor. I went outside the recipe (found on the link above) and added cracked black pepper (salted for 12 hours):
This morning the salmon had produced a good thick brine which I washed off real good and discarded:
Made the Brine and continued to deviate a bit from the recipe by adding more cracked pepper corns, a few pieces of Dill and raw sugar vice table sugar. This is where I used the smoked salt:
After 10 hours of soaking in the brine, time for a running water bath and a taste test. I like lox a bit salty and after a 6 minute wash it was great. The texture was spot on BUT could only pick up a slight bit of smoke and a little bit of the dill which, for the dill this was ok. Overall tase was the cat's meow! My wife who does not care for lox much tasted it and said it tasted like the real deal:
It is now drying in the fridge on my little homemade dry rack and letting the salt equalize:
I have a cold smoking project set up for early morning and MAY smoke the fish for no more than 3/4 hour. IF I had had enough smoked salt for the initial salting I am fairly sure I would have had enough smoke flavor to be able to skip the cold smoke. It did come out very good and I'm quite happy with the project. Got to go get some bagels (no hard rolls to be had here) and cream cheese early morning for a lox and cream cheese breakfast.
-Gil-
I last made lox 35 years ago and that was by using liquid smoke and leaving it in a slushy brine continuously for 5 days and flipping daily.
My idea evolved from reading about smoked salt and considering the possibility of making smoked Lox without the fish needing to be placed on the grill and being cold smoked.
First I made the smoked salt using apple and oak chunks. I don't like salt sitting on any metal so I used Saran Wrap on top of aluminum foil. I wish I had some nylon screening but did not. I smoked it for 6 hours on a very cold and windy evening so it actually ended up cold smoked. I read a hot smoke would have made the salt smokier quicker. I soon found I had not made enough. I needed about 2/1/2 cups and only had about 1 cup:
After realizing I would not have enough smoked salt for BOTH the salting and brine, I decided to use plain Sea Salt with the brown sugar for the salting. I had dried the brown sugar on the grill and it had readily absorbed the smoke flavor. I went outside the recipe (found on the link above) and added cracked black pepper (salted for 12 hours):
This morning the salmon had produced a good thick brine which I washed off real good and discarded:
Made the Brine and continued to deviate a bit from the recipe by adding more cracked pepper corns, a few pieces of Dill and raw sugar vice table sugar. This is where I used the smoked salt:
After 10 hours of soaking in the brine, time for a running water bath and a taste test. I like lox a bit salty and after a 6 minute wash it was great. The texture was spot on BUT could only pick up a slight bit of smoke and a little bit of the dill which, for the dill this was ok. Overall tase was the cat's meow! My wife who does not care for lox much tasted it and said it tasted like the real deal:
It is now drying in the fridge on my little homemade dry rack and letting the salt equalize:
I have a cold smoking project set up for early morning and MAY smoke the fish for no more than 3/4 hour. IF I had had enough smoked salt for the initial salting I am fairly sure I would have had enough smoke flavor to be able to skip the cold smoke. It did come out very good and I'm quite happy with the project. Got to go get some bagels (no hard rolls to be had here) and cream cheese early morning for a lox and cream cheese breakfast.
-Gil-
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