Making Lox a picture guide.
- Thread starter bbally
- Start date
-
Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
jerseyhunter
Smoking Fanatic
threemuch
Fire Starter
- Mar 10, 2015
- 36
- 18
Finishing up the 4 day process to make nova lox. It's cool enough to cold smoke now, and I have been patiently waiting. I nearly blew the whole batch. I woke up and fired up the smoke generator and put it in the smoker. Cool, crisp, no chance of having any temp problems. Nice breeze too, that should help. I was going to split the batch but conditions are good for cold smoking, I can do it all in one. It's my third try, I'm an expert now!
Firing up the smoker!
I load the fish. It's beautiful. Two days dry brine, 2 hour desal, 36 hours air dry. Only four hours of cold smoke to go.
The smoker is running fine, everything is great. I check it every 15 min or so. An hour goes by. Hey, does that temp display say 90? Who changed that to Farenheit? And how did it get so hot? Whoa. That's not F. it's C!
The breeze has created a bit of venturi on some of my air outlets, and there was WAY too much airflow. Not a big deal, until the pellets in the smoke generator burst into flames. I felt like the Martian (which is a great book by the way, can't wait to see the movie!)
I had no idea how long this had been going on. I grab the grill grate and yank it out, getting some nice 2nd degree burns on my fingers in the process. Nice. Blisters make good souveniers.
The fish looks OK, but is sweating a bit. Thin edges look cooked. Dangit!
I pulled the smallest, thinnest piece off and attempted to cut it. It crumbled. It tasted OK, but nobody wants to do a 4 day cooking process and get something that just tastes OK. It wasn't what I wanted. I went off to be by myself for a while.
Dear god...no...
Eventually, I set the smoker back up, sealed the vents better and finished the cold smoke.
In the end, the thicker pieces are ok. The thinner coho was a bit crumbly, but only on the edges and still had good texture and flavor.
Near miss.
There's the finished product ready for gifting.
Firing up the smoker!
I load the fish. It's beautiful. Two days dry brine, 2 hour desal, 36 hours air dry. Only four hours of cold smoke to go.
The smoker is running fine, everything is great. I check it every 15 min or so. An hour goes by. Hey, does that temp display say 90? Who changed that to Farenheit? And how did it get so hot? Whoa. That's not F. it's C!
The breeze has created a bit of venturi on some of my air outlets, and there was WAY too much airflow. Not a big deal, until the pellets in the smoke generator burst into flames. I felt like the Martian (which is a great book by the way, can't wait to see the movie!)
I had no idea how long this had been going on. I grab the grill grate and yank it out, getting some nice 2nd degree burns on my fingers in the process. Nice. Blisters make good souveniers.
The fish looks OK, but is sweating a bit. Thin edges look cooked. Dangit!
I pulled the smallest, thinnest piece off and attempted to cut it. It crumbled. It tasted OK, but nobody wants to do a 4 day cooking process and get something that just tastes OK. It wasn't what I wanted. I went off to be by myself for a while.
Dear god...no...
Eventually, I set the smoker back up, sealed the vents better and finished the cold smoke.
In the end, the thicker pieces are ok. The thinner coho was a bit crumbly, but only on the edges and still had good texture and flavor.
Near miss.
There's the finished product ready for gifting.
Last edited:
- Mar 1, 2014
- 1,939
- 1,040
Ouch. Had a similar thing happen recently with bacon. I was cold smoking in my GOSM with mailbox mod. As there's not much draft with a cold smoke, I hung a little muffin fan outside the mailbox to keep airflow going. Seem to work well. An hour later I looked out the window and saw huge amounts of smoke. Ran out and found flames shooting outside the mailbox, and the muffin fan blades were starting to melt! Luckily with bacon, higher temps are not that critical.
The crumbly pieces of salmon may not be lox, but probably still tasted great. Hope your fingers heal up quickly.
The crumbly pieces of salmon may not be lox, but probably still tasted great. Hope your fingers heal up quickly.
jay1340
Smoke Blower
I ended up with what looks and feels like Salmon Jerky?
WTH????
Haven't even thought of smoking it yet.
Wild caught Coho.
WTH????
Haven't even thought of smoking it yet.
Wild caught Coho.
I'm going to take a guess.... You put too much weight on the fish.... I did the same thing first batch... Very hard fish... Other that that, I followed the recipe EXACTLY....
I wrap the fish is saran, freeze solid, then vac pack.... Be sure to cut open the vac-bag before you thaw the fish, or the fish will be crushed...
jay1340
Smoke Blower
lil tom
Newbie
- Aug 4, 2015
- 27
- 13
It looks like this thread has been around for a long time. Which is great because, to me, it seems like a great method that works and its longevity is a testament to its success. I am trying it this week and cant wait until its done on Sunday. I am sure you have heard it before but thanks for posting this. Its going into my smoker recipe box.
This is a great post I followed it pretty close, I left the skin on and did not use Orange. I used Dill on the fillet when I cured them and added some while they smoked.Just pulled out of the smoker.
Richie
Richie
dstar26t
Fire Starter
I prepped some wild caught Sockeye last night. 3 fillets weighing 1460 g total after skinning. I followed the 1 tsp cure #1 to 5 lbs of meat recommendation (156 ppm) which was 3.64 g of cure #1. I also scaled the salt and sugar back 36% since the fillets bbally used are guessed to be 2.5 lbs each or 5 lbs (2268 g) total. What I noticed was that after dredging the 3 fillets through the dry cure (both sides of the fillets), there was really no cure left so I applied the zest and the weight and they are sitting cold now. Should I add more salt & sugar or reduce the desalinating time? Maybe I'm an aggressive dredger or the surface area to weight ratio being higher matters...I have 3 fillets that weigh less than the OP's 2.
Thanks,
Nate
Thanks,
Nate
Last edited:
I think you are fine.... Bob's recipe calls for keeping the meat cold so the porosity of the meat is consistent from batch to batch.... I would think, doing that the salt adsorption will be regulated by the cold temp of the meat... Desalination using ice cold water will regulate the salt removal also... During the ice water desalination, he recommends tasting the water to get a feel for how much is removed.... Since Bob is a professional cook and in his catering business he probably does lox at least once a month, he can probably tell pretty close what's been removed.....
I have made lox probably30-40 times using a different recipe... In my experience, the 50-50 salt/sugar will very much help with the saltiness... Follow Bob's steps, made really accurate notes for the next batch... This batch should be close to perfect but you will still be able to adjust...
I have made lox probably30-40 times using a different recipe... In my experience, the 50-50 salt/sugar will very much help with the saltiness... Follow Bob's steps, made really accurate notes for the next batch... This batch should be close to perfect but you will still be able to adjust...
I have had the same problem using Bob's recipe. I just increased the salt & sugar keeping it 50-50. Then I had plenty of cure for the dredge.
I prepped some wild caught Sockeye last night. 3 fillets weighing 1460 g total after skinning. I followed the 1 tsp cure #1 to 5 lbs of meat recommendation (156 ppm) which was 3.64 g of cure #1. I also scaled the salt and sugar back 36% since the fillets bbally used are guessed to be 2.5 lbs each or 5 lbs (2268 g) total. What I noticed was that after dredging the 3 fillets through the dry cure (both sides of the fillets), there was really no cure left so I applied the zest and the weight and they are sitting cold now. Should I add more salt & sugar or reduce the desalinating time? Maybe I'm an aggressive dredger or the surface area to weight ratio being higher matters...I have 3 fillets that weigh less than the OP's 2.
Thanks,
Nate
Al
dstar26t
Fire Starter
Thanks Dave & Al.
Bob mentions, "In my younger days of curing I would collect the water sample every 15 minutes and use a specific gravity bulb to measure the amount of salt removed from the product."
I have the tools to do this. I assume the residual salt level in the fish is a personal preference thing but maybe there's a % w/w rough guideline? I know how much salt I put in and I can measure how much is in the volume of water I use to desalinate as the process progresses.
Last edited:
That's way over my head, but I can say that I have used this recipe many times and have never had lox that was too salty. Some times I have overdone the smoke part. The fish takes on smoke real fast so that's the part I would be careful with.
Al
Al
- Mar 1, 2014
- 1,939
- 1,040
Determining the salt level in the fish by tasting the water probably takes a lot of experience to master. And testing with a hydrometer is probably difficult as well. Remember you'll have both salt and sugar in the solution and they migrate in and out of meat at different rates. Just taste some of the salmon before you smoke. If too salty, then desalinate and keep tasting every 30 minutes or so. Last time I made this, I rinsed and tasted after curing and salt level was perfect so I did not desalinate at all.
dstar26t
Fire Starter
Oh, I forgot about the sugar that will be in solution. There's no way I could estimate how much salt is in the fish with a hydrometer then. Thanks for the reminder. I guess after doing the recipe many times the same way, Bob figured out a target hydrometer reading that equates to a finished flavor profile. Then did it by taste memory eventually.
I'll taste the salmon before desalinating tonight, thanks for the guidance. I'll err on the side of less salt since it's easy to add later.
Last edited:
dstar26t
Fire Starter
I rinsed the salmon last night and tasted it. A little too salty. It tasted good after a 30 minute ice water soak so I removed them and they're set up drying. The side the skin was on is a little tough compared to the rest but it tasted really great, excited to get some smoke on them. Cut up one filet and it's pickling using DaveOmak's recipe.
Last edited:
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.
Similar threads
Hot Threads
-
Spammer PMs, Anybody Else?
- Started by chilerelleno
- Replies: 65
- Blowing Smoke Around the Smoker.
-
Lost my dad yesterday
- Started by normanaj
- Replies: 40
- Blowing Smoke Around the Smoker.
-
On the Edge of Trying Sausage Making
- Started by BrianGSDTexoma
- Replies: 35
- Sausage
-
Took a stroll this afternoon
- Started by Buckeyedude
- Replies: 33
- Field and Stream
