Making Lox a picture guide.

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>Then they lay the piece together and shrink wrap very tightly. I have a feeling this process effects the way

>the slices meld together and makes it like peeling an onion as you're saying. 

Yeah, I agree that's probably what's happening. I slice mine thin - then vacuum seal and freeze. I'm not careful about getting all of the pieces lined up so they get all smooshed together in a random arrangement. After opening it looks like one solid piece of fish, and you need to hunt around a bit to find the edges to peel away. But it won't peel apart in layers unless it's been sliced.

BTW, since my post back in March I made a few more batches. On those, I did remove the skin and got better results.  I was also very careful to trim away all of the grey flesh as I don't like the strong flavor it has. Alas, I only have about 1lb left in the freezer :(  
 
Bumping this excellent recipe. I've got two fillets drying in the fridge at the moment. Smoking Wednesday morning with a bunch of ice under the fish. Hopefully it'll be nice and cold enough to keep the temp below 90
 

Two hours smoking so far, I don't think I'll make it to the 4 hour mark with the amount of ice I've been using to keep it cool. The traeger runs a bit too hot. I'm shooting for three hours of smoke and will pull it. Turned out that today was colder than tomorrow's forecast. The salmon felt tacky to the touch when I checked it. Fingers crossed!
 
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I am new to this exciting world of cured meats. I have followed Bbally's lox recipe exactly so far, except I only used 1 filet instead of 2. I am concerned that 1 tsp of cure #1 will be too much (the salt and sugar mix at 1/2 cup I'm sure is fine) for just 1 filet of salmon. Does anyone have any insight on this? Do I need to throw out and start over with 1/2 tsp of cure #1? Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I am new to this exciting world of cured meats. I have followed Bbally's lox recipe exactly so far, except I only used 1 filet instead of 2. I am concerned that 1 tsp of cure #1 will be too much (the salt and sugar mix at 1/2 cup I'm sure is fine) for just 1 filet of salmon. Does anyone have any insight on this? Do I need to throw out and start over with 1/2 tsp of cure #1? Thanks in advance for your help.
The first time I used this recipe I only used on filet that was about 2.5 lbs and it came out great!  I have another filet (this time 3.5 lbs) that will be going on the smoker early morning today.
 
Starting this today, have had the salmon in my chest freezer for a week on low to kill all the nasty critters.
 
Cold smoked lox = yum!   Per some of the previous replies, I do not remove the skin.  Instead, I slit it in different places to help allow the brine to enter into the meat.

Apple is a wonderful wood to use when cold smoking Lox.
 
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That is what I have been looking for. Thank you so much! Yes, the desalination step is not in any of my many recipes.

I use a  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]A-MAZE-N-TUBE-SMOKER for cold smoking and adding smoke in other cooking. Give it a look.

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Springs already? They probably aren't going to run here until June, and I cant fish for them until July 1st at the earliest. Jealous.

We have a limited hatchery retention only fishery for spring run and can start as early as February. We have separate summer and fall fish runs. Springers live in the river until fall spawning without feeding so they have an incredible fat content and loads of oil. Commercially,the fish go for 20 to 25 a pound. I am smart,first try at a recipe with a 100 dollar slab of fish I spent 100s or 1000s to obtain. Why not?

This was on the Columbia near the downriver end of caterpillar island. On the hook sardine wrapped mag lip 5 in double trouble. Hooked 5 landed this one in two days of fishing.
 
I am following this recipe, but I decided to leave skin on and pin bones in until the end. Right now, I have the fillet normalized for porosity, dry rubbed and brining under a weighted tub.  Should be ready for cold smoke tomorrow night.  Should be cool and raining, so I should be able to load the smoker up with ice and get my cold smoke on.

It's my first crack at this, hope I don't trash a bunch of super-prime fish.

Does anyone know the actual purpose of the weight?  
 
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To press the moisture from the fish.... Intensifies the flavor... a little goes a long ways...


When loading ice, be sure it is in the form of "ice in a bottle" so you aren't adding humidity.... only cold air....
 
To the music? of LMFAO's "Shots"...LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX LOX...EVERYBODY!


It really exceeded my expectations. Silky smooth, just the right amount of smoking flavor, and the citrus from the zest comes through and gives you a clean pallet, with just enough smokey flavor and aroma lingering on your tongue and fingers.

Interestingly, I expected alot of oil to be coming out and there is NONE. Not sure I understand why, but I like it. I sliced up enough for everyone for breakfast, and saw not a drip of oil.

I think the color is not ideal, but when you start with a nook, it's not going to look like a red. 

Of course the fish are biting now, and I am triple booked.  Ugh.
 
For a chinook, it looks pretty darn good to me.... Some of the "cheaters" add beet juice for color... just to get a higher price....
 
Doing this again.  Spring Chinook, this time doing the dry cure in a vacuum bag with a weight on it.  Is there any need for air while I brine?  I have a chamber packer, so I do alot of brining in vacuum bags.  So far no issue, but this is only my second attempt at lox.


Key ingredient, one nice little fishy.


Hot smoked the bones and collar while I dry brine the lox.


These yielded about 2 pounds of hot smoked salmon meat.  I put some seasoning salt and brown sugar on them and slapped them on the weber with indirect heat and an AMNPS for an hour.  Picked with a fork and whipped into some cream cheese and spread on crackers, it disappears pretty fast.
 
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