cold smoked salmon/trout cure amount

[slavikborisov]

I'm looking to dry bring a few pieces of trout or salmon. I've a few forum poster method of achieving good results and they're all a little different.
Aalt sugar cure then cold smoke and hang in the fridge to dry a little bit.
For cure #1 is the standard 2.5g/kg of meat weight good or does is change for fish.?
Out of curiosity does any one have experience with changes in flavor of cold smoked salmon with or without cure?

 

[thirdeye]

I think salmon / trout / steelhead is one of my favorite foods to smoke. I use a dry cure, which does change into a syrup after a few hours... but I prefer dry curing over brine curing.
I usually do not use Cure #1 because I hot smoke my fish within a 4-hour time period to a final temp of 145°-150°, and the exterior surface is >140° within an hour. When doing a cool / hot smoke (that exceeds the 4-hour smoke time), I will use Cure #1 at the 2.5g/kg amount. I find the cured fish to be a little firmer.

When cold smoking salmon or steelhead, I incorporate both a wet and dry cure, and when I elect to use Cure #1, I add it to the dry cure at the same rate as above. If used in the wet cure you must base the amount of Cure #1 on the weight of the fish + the weight of the water.

 

[SmokinEdge]

thirdeye knows his fish. He gives good advice and I have nothing to add. His methods are solid and proven.

 

[slavikborisov]

View attachment 680080
I think salmon / trout / steelhead is one of my favorite foods to smoke. I use a dry cure, which does change into a syrup after a few hours... but I prefer dry curing over brine curing.
I usually do not use Cure #1 because I hot smoke my fish within a 4-hour time period to a final temp of 145°-150°, and the exterior surface is >140° within an hour. When doing a cool / hot smoke (that exceeds the 4-hour smoke time), I will use Cure #1 at the 2.5g/kg amount. I find the cured fish to be a little firmer.

View attachment 680081
When cold smoking salmon or steelhead, I incorporate both a wet and dry cure, and when I elect to use Cure #1, I add it to the dry cure at the same rate as above. If used in the wet cure you must base the amount of Cure #1 on the weight of the fish + the weight of the water.

Okay great thank you!! My brother lives in Washington and send down some steelhead/trout from a local guy in his area and the fish are just gutted opened up smoked and they are definitely dry… I love this type of fish even if I have to pick around the bones … I also enjoy the cold smoke lox in the small golden packages at the grocery store …. In relation to drying I’ve ready 18% weight loss but I’ll have to expirenment as I don’t have a chamber and I would have to use the fridge … but you answered my question daveomak had a recipe he posted that ensures equilibrium so I’m going to shoot for that and add the cure and smoke for 4-12hours still not certain on that one… then hang in fridge for a few days till it firms up….

Can you clue me in on your wet and dry brine steps or a link to ? Appreciate the help!

 

[thirdeye]

Can you clue me in on your wet and dry brine steps or a link to ? Appreciate the help!

Absolutely! This LINK is to a 2020 forum posting for my dry cure method, and there are some questions and answers. BTW, I smoke a lot of steelhead and get them from Sam's Club. They are a great product.

These next links are my 'dry cure' and 'Nova lox articles' on my cookin' site. I've had some issues with Photobucket linking in the last month or so... and I hope all of the photos show up. Feel free to ask more questions.

SEAFOOD - Dry Cure for Salmon, Trout or Steelhead

Revised 1-13-2022 Cured fish has been prepared for centuries as a means of food preservation. Because of refrigeration and our knowledge ...

playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com

~thirdeye's~ Nova Lox

If you are a regular reader you know I really field test any recipe, or technique before publishing it here. My technique for Nova Lox was...

playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com

 

[slavikborisov]

Absolutely! This LINK is to a 2020 forum posting for my dry cure method, and there are some questions and answers. BTW, I smoke a lot of steelhead and get them from Sam's Club. They are a great product.

These next links are my 'dry cure' and 'Nova lox articles' on my cookin' site. I've had some issues with Photobucket linking in the last month or so... and I hope all of the photos show up. Feel free to ask more questions.

SEAFOOD - Dry Cure for Salmon, Trout or Steelhead

Revised 1-13-2022 Cured fish has been prepared for centuries as a means of food preservation. Because of refrigeration and our knowledge ...

playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com

~thirdeye's~ Nova Lox

If you are a regular reader you know I really field test any recipe, or technique before publishing it here. My technique for Nova Lox was...

playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com

Great read thank you!! I will be using your double brine method for lox and I will do it with cure. Out of curiosity is there a reason you chose two do a double brine on the lox vs a single dry or wet brine ?

 

[thirdeye]

Great read thank you!! I will be using your double brine method for lox and I will do it with cure. Out of curiosity is there a reason you chose two do a double brine on the lox vs a single dry or wet brine ?

In one word... texture. Here is some cold smoked Nova lox and my dry cured and hot smoked salmon. The Nova has sort of a 'candied' look and mouthfeel.

Every time I tried lox which was cured with salt only (in a dry cure or a brine cure) and for me, the texture was too soft. I find Gravlox (which has a sugar/salt cure, along with some aromatics), as having a tighter texture than lox, but I wanted to go even further and the double cure worked for that.

 

[DEERMAKER]

View attachment 680080
I think salmon / trout / steelhead is one of my favorite foods to smoke. I use a dry cure, which does change into a syrup after a few hours... but I prefer dry curing over brine curing.
I usually do not use Cure #1 because I hot smoke my fish within a 4-hour time period to a final temp of 145°-150°, and the exterior surface is >140° within an hour. When doing a cool / hot smoke (that exceeds the 4-hour smoke time), I will use Cure #1 at the 2.5g/kg amount. I find the cured fish to be a little firmer.

View attachment 680081
When cold smoking salmon or steelhead, I incorporate both a wet and dry cure, and when I elect to use Cure #1, I add it to the dry cure at the same rate as above. If used in the wet cure you must base the amount of Cure #1 on the weight of the fish + the weight of the water.

 

[DEERMAKER]

Can you elaborate on the idea of wet and dry cure
I'm extremely interested You're end product looks phenomenal

When cold smoking salmon or steelhead, I incorporate both a wet and dry cure, and when I elect to use Cure #1, I add it to the dry cure at the same rate as above. If used in the wet cure you must base the amount of Cure #1 on the weight of the fish + the weight of the water.

 

[thirdeye]

Can you elaborate on the idea of wet and dry cure
I'm extremely interested You're end product looks phenomenal

When cold smoking salmon or steelhead, I incorporate both a wet and dry cure, and when I elect to use Cure #1, I add it to the dry cure at the same rate as above. If used in the wet cure you must base the amount of Cure #1 on the weight of the fish + the weight of the water.

Sure. Nova lox has a different texture than non-smoked lox like Gravlox. And from my research it was quite salty in it's early forms because of lack of refrigeration. So when I was trying to reverse engineer a recipe I had to go off of description more than a recipe. Anyway, that led me to using a double cure (dry and wet). Here is a link my my cookin' site. I hope the photos load as Photobucket sometimes has some issues, and my website is quite old. I can always get a pdf of the recipe into your hands.

~thirdeye's~ Nova Lox

If you are a regular reader you know I really field test any recipe, or technique before publishing it here. My technique for Nova Lox was...

playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com

 

[DEERMAKER]

Wow! Thank you kindly
So you do either or a mix of wet and dry?

 

[DEERMAKER]

Wow! Thank you kindly
So you do either or a mix of wet and dry?

sorry i missed the direction line