Cold smoked Coho Salmon (whole)

[ahakohda]

In Florida, you gotta monitor weather to catch a perfect day for cold smoking the salmon. Today we’ve got 52F brisk morning. Smoking time.

Fish.
Wild caught pacific coho salmon. Kept in freezer over a month.

Brine.
For 1kg of fish you need 1.2L of water.
For each (1kg fish + 1.2L water) we need 45g of salt and 25g of sugar.
Spices really is what you like - up to you. In my case it was Allspice, bay leaf, coriander seeds.
Boil 10min and let it cool.
After cooling I added cure#1 according to cure calculator.

Curing.
I used vacuum bag. Easier for me to tuck fish all around to make sure it is fully submerged.
Cured for 48hours

Drying.
Dried overnight over sink with gentle breeze from fan. Toothpicks inserted to open the belly.

Smoking.
Smoked 6 hours inside Masterbuilt with master built cold smoking attachment. Alder chips.

Aging
After aerating it goes to curing chamber until next saturday.

Before

After

 

[JLeonard]

Man that looks good.

Jim

 

[tbern]

beautiful!!

 

[gmc2003]

Nice looking fish

Point for sure
Chris

 

[pushok2018]

Looks awesome! Nice color on fish... What temp was while you were smoking it?

 

[TNJAKE]

Looks delicious bud. Nice work as usual

 

[ahakohda]

Looks awesome! Nice color on fish... What temp was while you were smoking it?

Outside was around 60f at the end of hour six. Fish wasn't even warm to touch.

 

[SmokinAl]

WOW!!
Al

 

[indaswamp]

Nice!

What are the temp. and RH% in your chamber for drying the fish? curious as I have not dryed fish yet.

 

[ahakohda]

I keep my chamber at 50F and 80%rh

I am not drying it completely. Just waiting for a week to get it a bit firm.

 

[nicefly]

Good looking Salmon. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I love all salmon, but my wife is not much of a salmon fan unless it's cooked very well done. She does love cold smoked salmon, though, as do I...

 

[KBFlyer]

Interesting
Never seen anyone use cure #1 for curing fish before. Also never heard of anyone aging smoked salmon in a curing chamber before.
Me I just let them sit in the fridge over night and vac seal in the morning.
Did this fish yesterday. Its in the freezer now all vac sealed for later use.

 

[ahakohda]

Different ways in different parts of the world
Here is another way to enjoy salmon.
Link

Coho is somewhat lean kind of salmon. Fat Atlantic salmon is the best for the curing chamber. All that fat is getting sealed inside the fish and is fantastic when done.

Sometime nice half of simple farmed raised Atlantic salmon is my guilty pleasure.

 

[Cody_Mack]

Looks awesome; wish I had your skills. I'd say you have to really stick to the "rules" when doing something like this, right? This Newbie is just curious, and cautious.

Again, Top Notch!

 

[Cody_Mack]

Interesting
Never seen anyone use cure #1 for curing fish before. Also never heard of anyone aging smoked salmon in a curing chamber before.
Me I just let them sit in the fridge over night and vac seal in the morning.
Did this fish yesterday. Its in the freezer now all vac sealed for later use.

Yummy! Is there a glaze, or is that the way it comes off?

 

[ahakohda]

Looks awesome; wish I had your skills. I'd say you have to really stick to the "rules" when doing something like this, right? This Newbie is just curious, and cautious.

Again, Top Notch!

To be honest this is probably one of the easiest recipes of cold smoked salmon.
Its harder to nail exact bouquet of spices to satisfy your taste buds.
Safety rules are pretty clear and easy to follow.


Start simple
Find a good quality atlantic salmon.
10% weight Salt
5% weight Sugar
Salt has to be coarse. Fine salt will result in over salted fish.

Say you got 400gr salmon.
You need 40g salt and 20gr sugar
Mix together. Place some mixture to the bottom of the dish. Place fish skin down and cover all over with remaining mixture.
Cover and move to refrigerator. Depending on thickness of your salmon, Lightly salted fish will be ready in 12 hours. If your fish is thick give it 24-36 hours.

That is all. After you nailed your level of saltiness start adding spices and herbs. Like dill or crashed juniper berries, or even shreded beats. As well as cognac or vodka.

 

[bauchjw]

Wow?! Beautiful work!

 

[Cody_Mack]

To be honest this is probably one of the easiest recipes of cold smoked salmon.
Its harder to nail exact bouquet of spices to satisfy your taste buds.
Safety rules are pretty clear and easy to follow.

Well don't post it on "that other" Forum...LOL

 

[ahakohda]

You can always pm me if you got Qs