Lox this weekend

[Smokin' Penguin]

With Houston expecting a good cold snap - I'm going to get some salmon prepped to smoke this weekend or Monday since I've been told Monday will be a "work from home day" due to potential inclement weather.

A couple questions:

Question 1:
Best salmon to use? I'll hit the market tonight, but I think the selection may be limited. I would prefer wild caught king salmon, but when I looked last week that was not available. Second best choice? Checking website, I believe my choices may be: previously frozen wild caught Atlantic, fresh farm raised Atlantic, fresh farm raised Steelhead, fresh wild caught sockeye. (Interestingly - the website does list fresh wild caught King salmon - at $36 a pound, but I think that's a bit steep )

Question 2:
Has anyone ever tried adding juniper berries to the dry cure mix? I picked some up the other day and think it might add an interesting flavor.

Question 3:
My first batch of "sorta cold" smoked salmon was done with apple pellets. Wondering if it's worth buying (yet another) bag of pellets and trying Alder. Thoughts?

I'll update the thread with the process once I get started.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

OK once we get about freezing here in north Tx. I think I want to try this also but probably getting mine from Sam's.

 

[olaf]

Question 3:
My first batch of "sorta cold" smoked salmon was done with apple pellets. Wondering if it's worth buying (yet another) bag of pellets and trying Alder. Thoughts?

I'll update the thread with the process once I get started.

I've only smoked salmon twice; once hickory (way to strong) then alder which was great. Definitely worth trying IMO I was able to get a small 5lb bag

 

[Brohemoth714]

I'm in CA, so I may not count as far as weather is concerned, but I personally use CookinPellets mix. Tastes phenomenal! If you can find atlantic or steel head for a decent price is go for it. Juniper berries sound amazing! I've used rosemary, but that's what makes me the boring Californian haha. Good luck with your smoke!

 

[forktender]

C'mon man, your in CA don't buy that bath tub brewed Atlantic garbage you are surrounded with fresh or wild caught Coho from Alaska all the way down the Norcal coast and everywhere in between.

Friends don't let friends buy bath tub brewed Salmon when wild caught fish is all around them.
Atlantic Salmon is pen raised toxic dyed junk...you would be much better off buying flash frozen Coho or Sockeye Salmon from Sam's or Costco if you can't find it fresh. Heck flash frozen might be the best option unless you catch and process it yourself. So called fresh caught Salmon can be up to 10 days old before it hits your market and that is here in CA. While flash frozen is normally caught and processed with in hours the same or next day at the latest so it is normally better than "fresh fish that you buy at the market" unless you can buy it off the boat in the summer during the run/season.

 

[cmayna]

forktender, The OP is located in TX, not CA. Choices of fish may be severely different.

Smokin'Penguin,
I hope others who buy farm raised fish can help you decide which is best. I'm spoiled with a freezer full of King which the wife and I catch. As far as pellets, I use Amazen pellets or dust on all my smokes. Dust helps a lot when cold smoking. For Salmon I start with Alder and finish with Apple.

Great time to do lox or cold smoked fish. Next couple days, I'll be smoking more of our catch from this past year. Need to clear the freezers to make room.

Share some pics when you have some finished product.

 

[Smokin' Penguin]

I ended up with fresh caught “ocean farmed” Atlantic salmon.

also a small piece of wild caught previously frozen sockeye just to try it.
I’ll post some pics when I get started.

 

[cmayna]

What kind of brine are you going to use? Dry only? Dry, then wet?

Is this going to be a cold smoke?

 

[Smokin' Penguin]

Dry brine, cold smoke

 

[Brohemoth714]

C'mon man, your in CA don't buy that bath tub brewed Atlantic garbage you are surrounded with fresh or wild caught Coho from Alaska all the way down the Norcal coast and everywhere in between.

Friends don't let friends buy bath tub brewed Salmon when wild caught fish is all around them.
Atlantic Salmon is pen raised toxic dyed junk...you would be much better off buying flash frozen Coho or Sockeye Salmon from Sam's or Costco if you can't find it fresh. Heck flash frozen might be the best option unless you catch and process it yourself. So called fresh caught Salmon can be up to 10 days old before it hits your market and that is here in CA. While flash frozen is normally caught and processed with in hours the same or next day at the latest so it is normally better than "fresh fish that you buy at the market" unless you can buy it off the boat in the summer during the run/season.

All I was trying to say, is use what's available to you. I'd rather have fresh caught coho, steelhead or king any day. As a matter of fact I just bought king today at Costco. She turned out real good.

 

[tallbm]

With Houston expecting a good cold snap - I'm going to get some salmon prepped to smoke this weekend or Monday since I've been told Monday will be a "work from home day" due to potential inclement weather.

A couple questions:

Question 1:
Best salmon to use? I'll hit the market tonight, but I think the selection may be limited. I would prefer wild caught king salmon, but when I looked last week that was not available. Second best choice? Checking website, I believe my choices may be: previously frozen wild caught Atlantic, fresh farm raised Atlantic, fresh farm raised Steelhead, fresh wild caught sockeye. (Interestingly - the website does list fresh wild caught King salmon - at $36 a pound, but I think that's a bit steep )

Question 2:
Has anyone ever tried adding juniper berries to the dry cure mix? I picked some up the other day and think it might add an interesting flavor.

Question 3:
My first batch of "sorta cold" smoked salmon was done with apple pellets. Wondering if it's worth buying (yet another) bag of pellets and trying Alder. Thoughts?

I'll update the thread with the process once I get started.

Hi there and welcome!

Hahaha I ran out an did the same thing with the TX weather.

I've done it numerous times with Costco fresh farm raised Atlantic salmon. You wont have any issues there.
I'm skeptical of any frozen salmon u may get as almost all I ever get is 10x more fishy then any fresh salmon I buy which is often fresh farm raised Atlantic. Even the wild caught expensive good brand stuff has been fishy this way for me.

Answer 1: Costco usually has $8.99/lb fresh farmed Atlantic where u can often find 4 pounders AND its already skinned.

Answer 2: Never tried Juniper berry with salmon but I use it in my pastrami seasoning mix. I personally wouldnt do it but if you do just know that a tiny tiny amount goes a LOOOOOONG way.

Answer 3: I use Alder and my smoked lox comes out great. If I was in your shoes I would just stick with appel unless u think u will be doing more alder smokes then go for a bag but I rarely go through my alder unless I'm doing salmon and I do fish so little so I have alder for life it seems haha

I hope this info helps :)

 

[forktender]

All I was trying to say, is use what's available to you. I'd rather have fresh caught coho, steelhead or king any day. As a matter of fact I just bought king today at Costco. She turned out real good.

I misunderstood sorry.

 

[forktender]

forktender, The OP is located in TX, not CA. Choices of fish may be severely different.

Smokin'Penguin,
I hope others who buy farm raised fish can help you decide which is best. I'm spoiled with a freezer full of King which the wife and I catch. As far as pellets, I use Amazen pellets or dust on all my smokes. Dust helps a lot when cold smoking. For Salmon I start with Alder and finish with Apple.

Great time to do lox or cold smoked fish. Next couple days, I'll be smoking more of our catch from this past year. Need to clear the freezers to make room.

Share some pics when you have some finished product.

Which is why I mentioned flash frozen Coho or Sockeye.
" you would be much better off buying flash frozen Coho or Sockeye Salmon from Sam's or Costco if you can't find it fresh. Heck flash frozen might be the best option unless you catch and process it yourself. So called fresh caught Salmon can be up to 10 days old before it hits your market and that is here in CA. While flash frozen is normally caught and processed with in hours the same or next day at the latest so it is normally better than "fresh fish that you buy at the market" unless you can buy it off the boat in the summer during the run/season "

Thank you.
Dan

 

[Smokin' Penguin]

For brine I used pink salt at 1.134gm/#, 2% salt, 1% brown sugar. To this I added 2T white pepper, 1T dried dill, zest of one lemon, one orange and 1/2 grapefruit.

I portioned out (by weight) some of the above dry brine and added juniper berries one at a time to a blender and bribed the be filet with that. I ended up using 6 berries for the filet.

Remain filets were brined using cure without juniper. About 50 hours cure time, flipping about every 8 hours. Removed, rinsed and then peppered or dilled fillets and put on fridge for pellicle for about 24 hours.

currently smoking over a mix of apple/hickory pellets about 95/5 mix for about 5 hours.

fillets are just about ready to come out of smoke and back into the fridge. Outdoor temps today have been around 30, and temp at the grate inside smoker was never more than 91 when I checked.

 

[tallbm]

For brine I used pink salt at 1.134gm/#, 2% salt, 1% brown sugar. To this I added 2T white pepper, 1T dried dill, zest of one lemon, one orange and 1/2 grapefruit.

I portioned out (by weight) some of the above dry brine and added juniper berries one at a time to a blender and bribed the be filet with that. I ended up using 6 berries for the filet.

Remain filets were brined using cure without juniper. About 50 hours cure time, flipping about every 8 hours. Removed, rinsed and then peppered or dilled fillets and put on fridge for pellicle for about 24 hours.

currently smoking over a mix of apple/hickory pellets about 95/5 mix for about 5 hours.

fillets are just about ready to come out of smoke and back into the fridge. Outdoor temps today have been around 30, and temp at the grate inside smoker was never more than 91 when I checked.

Lookin good!
Generally u dont want to go over 70F for Lox but you will be fine.
If something gets a little "cooked" at 90F it will be more like like salmon jerky pieces but I dont think it will all turn out like that, maybe just some ends if at all.

 

[Smokin' Penguin]

Results:

it’s really good, but could be a little saltier. The small piece of sockeye is definitely saltier than the Atlantic salmon.

the piece with juniper does have a little better/more flavor, so next time I would go ahead and use juniper in the entire batch, and add a few more berries to bring in more of that flavor.

and now, the money shot:

 

[cmayna]

Very interesting end product. Have you used this recipe before? I would be very concerned with the amount of pepper remaining, potentially covering up the taste of the meat, which being fish can be very delicate. Then again the wife say's I'm a whimp sometimes when it comes to some recipes.

As long as the original poster is happy with fish.........

 

[Smokin' Penguin]

a lot of the pepper gets knocked off while slicing and packaging. It's "butcher grind" - so it's very course.

 

[tallbm]

Glad to see it came out so well!
Looks like you are an iteration or 2 away from nailing it for your taste buds. It's nice to have success hahaha.
Once I get real internet back after the horrible TX weather I'll post about my salmon lox I did while snowed in without power. No bad weather was gonna keep me down :)

 

[Brian11B]

Lox has always peaked my interest. I go up to Maine every summer and eat more than I should. I love it! Thanks for sharing.