Cold smoked salmon question

Smokin' not stirred

Hi everybody. For those who have cold smoked cured salmon (lox), how long can you store it refrigerated and vacuum sealed? Also, are you adding pink salt to your cure mix to extend the spoilage date? Thanks in advance.

JCO

We're still eating some from last year. It's fine. It's been vacuum sealed and frozen. And yes, I do add pink salt to the curing mixture.

stike

the whole idea of curing is to extend it, whether your recipe has nitrite or not. some recipes have nitrite, some don't. it will change the texture a bit (which is ione of the reasons it's often used in bacon, for example).

as long as it has salt, you can go forever (a slight exaggeration) as long as it doesn't dry, heck, that's the idea: to allow much longer storage

'gravlax' is from the concept of 'grave', where the fish was buried in the sand until they came back to get it.... a looong time.

"thou shalt not be afraid of thine meat!" i'm gonna make that my christmas wish for the citizens of the US :laugh:

thirdeye

I think preservation was the main reason for curing in days past when refrigeration was not that common. When our ancestors cracked open a barrel full of fish packed in salt, I don't think they had it with beer and crackers. Heheee.

The philosophy of modern curing is different and is two-part. First, to produce something that we have grown to like (smoked fish, bacon, ham, etc.), but without the harshness of old time curing methods, whether the harshness comes from salt or chemicals, or amount of smoke applied. (think country ham verses city ham) Therefore, many of our modern cures and brines produce a product that is dependent on refrigeration. We also have the option to make something like jerky that is not dried until it resembles shoe leather.

And second, to give us a variety of different flavors (think maple smoked bacon, or apple smoked turkey), a color change, and a texture change.

Of course just about any curing method will increase the shelf life which is a good thing. and a vacuum sealer is a real bonus for home packaging.

stike

zackly. i tried to say this the other day, but you were better at it.

we cure these days because we like to, not because we have to. :laugh:

we still get the benefits (longer shelf life), but that's not necessarily why we do it.

but we should not overlook it. if i bought some pancetta from the deli, it would have a "use by" date of early next week some time. i'm sure people would look at it strange if it was in their fridge for a month before being used. but having had my own pancetta hanging in the open air for a few weeks now kinda makes you realize there is a little more flexibility to the whole "is it still good?" thing.

:laugh: