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cold smoked salmon in the egg..?

allitnils
allitnils Posts: 109
edited July 2012 in EggHead Forum
So on my searches I came across this:

Unfortunately the described method shows steps of cooking hot smoked salmon.
I'm more interested in making what in the US is apparently known as lox.
Does anyone have any experience or known methods of doing this?
Is it possible?

Comments

  • Sundown
    Sundown Posts: 2,980
    stike has been doing all things cured of late. Sooner or later he's bound to see this and respond. He's got some of the best information you'll find.
  • Yep- just search here or google cold smoking on the bge. You can do it with a paint can and a metal dryer hose (sounds janky but it works)


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I think I'm going to try making a cabinet with wire shelves, and use the egg as the smoke source.  Set the DigiQ to 150.  Hook up 10 feet of dryer hose to the top, put a fan on it if if the effluent is much hotter than ambient.  Maybe I could rig up a heat exchanger with an old radiator....
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited July 2012
    i think you can ditch the digi-Q. 

    i run a 300 fire in the smoke box (a SMALL BGE), and by the time the smoke hits the smoke chamber (unlit LARGE BGE), it's at ambient temp (outside air temp).

    the digi-Q could maybe be set to run at 300 on the firebox, but don't try to dial in 150 there. no need to, but  i suppose you could if you wanted.

    whole idea behind the foil hose is to allow you to generate good amounts of smoke in the hot firebox (300), and allow it to cool quickly before it hits the food. it also allows you to open the firebox, stoke the coals, add wood chunks or chips, etc. all without having to pull racks and food from the smoke box.

    @C-T... it's more like EITHER a small can of lump, OR the hose. no need for both

    depends if you want to do it in one egg (in which case you'd use a small fire), or if you are doing an offset kind of rig.

    image

    image

    cured uncooked ham
    image

    same, following about 12-18 ours cold smoking.  still uncooked.  but cured and smoked
    image


    there are other ways to do it.  soldering iron (make sure you never used lead-based solder) in a tin can of lump.  make sure the can is unlined, too.

    or just a small fire contained in some bricks (no, special 'fire' brick is not req'd) and the egg dialed down as low as you can hold it. egginator came up with this.  four bricks
    image

    the issue with building a small fire is that the fire is still in the egg, and it can get hotter than you want.  some do an end run around that by including a tray of ice to drag ambient temps down.  or by doing the cold smoking in the fall/winter (or spring, i guess) when it is literally cold out.

    i simply find the purchase of the three-inch diameter foil hose to be the simplest way of going from 300 to ambient temps with minimum effort/fuss over 18 hours.  cold smoking is subtle.  anything under a few hours will hardly do anything.  in my opinion anyway.  when i am after smoke flavor, i don't skimp.

    the flavors are subtler (much of the bitter stuff will precipitate out on the walls of the foil and collect in water in the house. a plus in my book).  and it of course has the benefit of not changing the texture of the meat.

    anything cold smoked for any length of time ought to be cured if possible. 



    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Good advice, stike.  I was mostly worried about heat carryover, but it sounds like the duct does a good job cooling down the effluent gas from the fire source.

    Yeah, I would cure anything I cold smoked.  I'm interested in doing fish, beef jerkey, and ham.   Thanks again.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • i think you can ditch the digi-Q. 

    i run a 300 fire in the smoke box (a SMALL BGE), and by the time the smoke hits the smoke chamber (unlit LARGE BGE), it's at ambient temp (outside air temp).

    the digi-Q could maybe be set to run at 300 on the firebox, but don't try to dial in 150 there. no need to, but  i suppose you could if you wanted.

    whole idea behind the foil hose is to allow you to generate good amounts of smoke in the hot firebox (300), and allow it to cool quickly before it hits the food. it also allows you to open the firebox, stoke the coals, add wood chunks or chips, etc. all without having to pull racks and food from the smoke box.

    @C-T... it's more like EITHER a small can of lump, OR the hose. no need for both

    depends if you want to do it in one egg (in which case you'd use a small fire), or if you are doing an offset kind of rig.

    image

    image

    cured uncooked ham
    image

    same, following about 12-18 ours cold smoking.  still uncooked.  but cured and smoked
    image


    there are other ways to do it.  soldering iron (make sure you never used lead-based solder) in a tin can of lump.  make sure the can is unlined, too.

    or just a small fire contained in some bricks (no, special 'fire' brick is not req'd) and the egg dialed down as low as you can hold it. egginator came up with this.  four bricks
    image

    the issue with building a small fire is that the fire is still in the egg, and it can get hotter than you want.  some do an end run around that by including a tray of ice to drag ambient temps down.  or by doing the cold smoking in the fall/winter (or spring, i guess) when it is literally cold out.

    i simply find the purchase of the three-inch diameter foil hose to be the simplest way of going from 300 to ambient temps with minimum effort/fuss over 18 hours.  cold smoking is subtle.  anything under a few hours will hardly do anything.  in my opinion anyway.  when i am after smoke flavor, i don't skimp.

    the flavors are subtler (much of the bitter stuff will precipitate out on the walls of the foil and collect in water in the house. a plus in my book).  and it of course has the benefit of not changing the texture of the meat.

    anything cold smoked for any length of time ought to be cured if possible. 



    I was just going by the rig I saw on NW years ago. he uses the can and the hose. I've seen the 2 egg setup as well..........might be time to add a small.


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • AleBrewer
    AleBrewer Posts: 555
    edited July 2012
    I've never used one, so I don't know how well they work....but there is a product out called the A-MAZE-N Smoker. It's basically a cold smoking device that burns a maze of sawdust inside your smoker. I was thinking of trying one a few years ago...but never got around to ordering one.
  • Yeah, pro bbq had one as well. Heard nothing but good things about them. Seem to remember six hours of smoke
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yep.  i forgot that one. it looks like a good option too.  might be easiest of all

    but i already have the egg and the hose. :))

    @C~T:  use a cardboard box or foam cooler for the smoke chamber if you want. skewers punched thru can hold a rack, with the food to be smoked on that
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Do not tell me you installed it on a dryer after the ham cook!
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    other way around
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    um. no.

    it's maybe five bucks at a frikkin Homely Despot.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Jambon fumé avec chiffon non pelucheux
  • allitnils
    allitnils Posts: 109
    @stike

    Your procedures look incredible, thanks for the photos and documentation.
    not sure how I'll do this yet, but I imagine I can use my large bge with some wood chunks as the fire box, and connect a pipe from it to a smoking box where the salmon will be in.....
    Perhaps a test first to see what the temperature will be.. In any case, great suggestions, thanks!
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i'm just relating what i was taught.  but thanks.

    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Brownie
    Brownie Posts: 1,023
    More great info bookmarked. Thanks for the ideas guys! .......I better get with it, as I am saving for future endeavors, my bookmarked pages are collecting dust.