What are your ratios: salt:fish weight and time.

[mattree]

I'm a bit hit and miss with my dry cure salmon process (I cold smoke). Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's oversalted as hell.

As a newbie, I see all over the internet, lots of different quantities of salt : fish lbs and curing time. Some recipes pack on the cure and leave it for 2 hrs, or 4, or 6. Some sprinkle and leave for 48 hrs. Seems like a lot of variance.

I know the sugar:salt ratio is a bit of personal taste so I'll leave that aside. I'm interested to know if anyone has a rule of thumb for lbs salmon : salt ratios, and how long you need to leave it to cure?

If there's a "right amount" of salt to add based on the fish weight that means I can't overcure another poor fillet, I'd love to hear it!

ps. I've just discovered SmokinAl 's lox recipe and can't wait to try it. 5lbs fish : 1.5 cups kosher salt : 1.5 cups sugar. It cures for 48 hrs, but maybe you could do less?

 

[fivetricks]

Go ahead and leave it for the 48 hours. Don't confuse brining and curing when it comes to time.

If I am brining fish I go with a dry brine and simply leave it overnight and hot smoke until an internal temperature of 140. Note there is no cure in this.

If you are wanting to make lox, then you have the addition of cure. The 48 hours gives the cure time to penetrate fully through the muscle meat. This is imperative as you will not be cooking the meat at any point that you give at the time that it requires for the cure to penetrate. It will not come out salty when you are done. If you note Al's recipe you will notice that there is a 60 to 90 minute water soak after rinsing the brine and cure mixture off of the fish. This will remove much if not all of the surface saltiness.

The summary to my post is please do not confuse brines and cures. You can adjust brine times to your own liking but do not adjust recipes that have cure added or try and shorten the curing time. Not giving me the proper curing time can lead to some nasty sickness.

 

[forktender]

4 to 1 is what I've always used, so 4 cups brown sugar to 1 cup kosher salt. Dry brine for at least 8 hours.
I normally brine it overnight so it's more like 12 to 14 hours most of the time. Rinse well and fan dry for 3-6 hours before smoking. There is no way that I'd leave in the brine for 48 hrs it would turn out like a salt lick, 24 hrs at the most and that's even pushing it for my likes.

 

[daveomak]

Weigh out 50:50 kosher salt and sugar... For every 18 grams of salt & sugar you have mixed, add 1.4 grams of cure#1.... Mix thoroughly.....
To your fish, add 19 grams of the above mix, ( PER POUND OF FISH ) uniformly over the fish filet.... maybe a little more over the thicker places... Place in the refer, in a glass dish or zip bag etc... for 12-48 hours... Add any spices or herbs to the fish filet that suits your tastes.... The fish will exude liquid... Spoon the liquid over the fish at the 12 hour mark or turn the bag.... When ready to smoke/cook, rinse the fish thoroughly.... form a pellicle before adding smoke... Smoke at 150F "ish" and hold at 130 internal temp for an hour+ or so to pasteurize the fish....
Those numbers return 2% salt and 2% sugar and ~190 Ppm nitrite...
Anywho, seems more often botulism has been reported in salmon etc.... I won't do fish without cure#1..

 

[mattree]

daveomak Good news is from reading this forum I've taken your advice and got myself some #1 -- always include it. For that 19g of mix, is that generally for one side of salmon, or 3lbs or some other weight?

Let's say I have 3lb of fish, I'm trying to figure how much salt I need in grams.


If I'm going for 2%, could I just say 3lb fish * 2% = 27.2g salt. So use 27g salt : 27g sugar (or my preference) and 4.2g #1?

 

[pushok2018]

Looks like your answer was answered. I switched to smokinAl recipe and love it. 1:1 sugar and salt ration, some cure1 (see recipe for details). Curing time is 48 hours - not less, otherwise your fish will be understated. Personally, I don't soak fish in the water after curing - it has just right amount of sateiness for me without soaking it.... You should try it and find the right timing for yourself ...

 

[daveomak]

daveomak Good news is from reading this forum I've taken your advice and got myself some #1 -- always include it. For that 19g of mix, is that generally for one side of salmon, or 3lbs or some other weight?

Let's say I have 3lb of fish, I'm trying to figure how much salt I need in grams.


If I'm going for 2%, could I just say 3lb fish * 2% = 27.2g salt. So use 27g salt : 27g sugar (or my preference) and 4.2g #1?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!! Well, no wonder you can't figure out how much per pound.....
I forgot that part... Anywho, I fixed it....
~19 grams of the mix per pound... do not soak the fish... rinse to get the salt off... Pellicle will not form with salt on the outside of the meat... cold water rinse for 5-10 seconds works.....

Sorry about sleeping at the keyboard....

Dave

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