More Precise Salmon Lox Ratios, Input Please

[tallbm]

I just bought about 12.5 pounds of skinless salmon fillets and I am going to make Salmon Lox out of it.
I am wanting to make a more precise dry cure recipe than what I have used in the past. I have made salmon lox before with great success but I had to ice bath soak/desalinate the salmon to remove some salt and I am wanting to eliminate the soaking step. I would like anyone's input on what they think of the following approach against their experience dry curing fish.

I will be using cure #1 for the weight of the meat so I will be good there.

I am thinking I will go with 2% salt (2% weight of the fish).

When I dry cure bacon I go about 2.25% salt and it comes out perfect.
I know fish is a more delicate and absorbs the dry cure more easily so I am thinking 2% will work but may still be too strong.
Maybe go 1.75%?
Thoughts?

I will also be doing 1% sugar and for flavor I'll be adding white pepper, true orange, and true lemon in place of orange and lemon zest.

My cure time will be 48 hours then I will rinse the meat and then let dry in the fridge for 36 hours before cold smoking with Alder for 4 hours.

I'm also open to smoking with some different woods that are know to be excellent on Salmon. So far I have liked alder but wonder if Maple, Cherry, or Apple would make for some interesting flavor.

I'm all ears and looking forward to your experiences and input :)

 

[SmokinAl]

I'm wondering why you don't want to do the desalinization step?
Al

 

[tallbm]

I'm wondering why you don't want to do the desalinization step?
Al

Just trying to reduce steps and attempt to get more precise and efficient with it.

I am in a never ending cycle of super busyness and am trying to streamline the 5 day process of salmon lox prep to become more consistent and get it in the smoker for cold smoking.
Also living in TX I have to time my cold smokes to be ready or happen when cold enough weather comes in so I can actually cold smoke lol.

I believe I have my bacon dry curing down to where I don't have to desalinate anymore. Bacon is a little easier for me since I hot smoke it so I don't have to align with mother nature... other than dodging rain

I hope this all makes some sense lol.

 

[tallbm]

Well my hunch seems to have paid off so far!!!!
I just got done washing off the salmon and initial taste tests in the thin parts are not overly salty at all. Thicker parts are not either and if anything could use a touch more salt but hey I'm not complaining. Once the smoke flavor is on these bad boys it will all come together nicely!!!!

I did my salt at 1.85% rather than 2 %.
My sugar at 1%
My cure is the 1.14gm or a hair more per pound.

I had 3 fillets at 4.26, 4.28, and 4.35 pounds each.

Another experiment I tried was that I used True Orange and True Lime rather than buying and zesting fresh orange and limes. I put 1 packet of each orange and lime in with each fillet (.8gm per packet).

Another thing I tried based on my bacon experience is that I put the fillets in 2 gallon ziplog bags with the curing ingredients (including the true oragne and lime packets) and I massaged the seasoning all over the fillets like I do with bacon. The salmon is a bit more delicate than bacon but as I managed not to mangle the salmon fillets too much. I arranged the salmon folded over in each bag as best I could after massaging in the mixture, then squeezed out the air and sealed them.
I did this with all 3 fillets each in their own 2 gallon bags and then I took them sealed up as they were and put them all in a single 2 gallon bag, sealed it up and let cure in the garage fridge for 48 hours, flipping once after 24. The weight/pressure of the over 12 pounds of salmon was working for me helping drive the curing ingredients in.

Now I'm on to drying the fillets on my crisper racks in the garage fridge for 36 hours (probably 48) and will cold smoke them for 4 hours on saturday morning then back in the fridge for another 24'ish hours then on to slicing and vac sealing.

Provided everything continues to go well I think the one adjust I know I will make right now is to add more true orange and true lemon next time. I thinking 1.5 packets of each (3 total) will get the hint of citrus I am used too from the zest. Who knows maybe after smoking the slight citrus flavor will become more pronounced!

Once I complete this smoke I will likely do a whole write up on it rather than use this thread. I just wanted to report back for anyone watching so they can enjoy the journey to this point :D

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like a solid plan to me. Since I'm in Fl. I have the same temp problems as you. I have 2 fillets in the cure now & was supposed to smoke them tomorrow morning, but it seems that I will have to wait an extra day for a cold front to move through. So I'll just let them sit in the cure a little longer & dry in the fridge a little longer. I have to adjust the times almost every time I do lox, but it always comes out good. I have gone with as little as 12 hours of drying time to as long as 48 hours. I really think the shorter drying time makes for a more tender finished product. I usually shoot for about 18 hours drying time now.
Al

 

[tallbm]

Sounds like a solid plan to me. Since I'm in Fl. I have the same temp problems as you. I have 2 fillets in the cure now & was supposed to smoke them tomorrow morning, but it seems that I will have to wait an extra day for a cold front to move through. So I'll just let them sit in the cure a little longer & dry in the fridge a little longer. I have to adjust the times almost every time I do lox, but it always comes out good. I have gone with as little as 12 hours of drying time to as long as 48 hours. I really think the shorter drying time makes for a more tender finished product. I usually shoot for about 18 hours drying time now.
Al

Yeah I feel the pain on having to wait on mother nature to cooperate hahaha.

I might get into the longer drying period this time around simply because of being busy.
My nephew is the starting left guard for his highschool football team and they have a playoff game Friday evening so I have to push my smoke to Saturday morning. I would rather just do it at 9am on Sat rather than 1am and stay up until 5-6am messing with it hahahah.

I'm hoping the True Orange and True Lemon start to come through a little bit more. Having those hints of citrus flavor makes for an amazing yet subtle fresh flavor profile :)

 

[SmokinAl]

Be interesting to see how it works for you. I have a lemon & orange tree in my backyard, so getting them is really easy. Honestly I could just eat the salmon right from the grocery store if there weren't health implications!
Al

 

[tallbm]

Well I've gone and completed my Salmon Lox with quite a bit of improvement on the process of things and posted about it here ... for anyone following this thread lol

Salmon Lox While Trying Some New Things

With the cold front that came through I got a jump on it and prepped a little over 12.5 pounds of Salmon for Lox!!!! I live in Texas so I have to JUMP and move as quickly and efficiently as possible to take advantage of temps that get low enough for long enough allowing me a window to cold smoke...

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