cold smoked salmon

mrw123

I buy whole filets at Costco. They are usually around 3 pounds.  This time they were all around 4 1/2 pounds!

After curing, rinsing and drying I was ready to smoke them, but they wouldn't fit on 3 racks.

So, I had to MacGyver a 4th rack in. It worked!

After 6 hours of smoking (apple wood), the salmon turned out great again. I can't recommend this enough. It is a HUGE hit every time.

I use the recipe from Charcuterie (ruhlman) and I use the 'cold smoke III.

Sundown

Does look good!

Auburn4Life

Looking good!

pgprescott

I like where this is going. I just love these posts that are out of the normal pocket type cooks. I'll be waiting. 

Sammi

Nicely done @mrw123. Can I assume your 'curing ' was in salt and possible brown sugar?

stemc33

@mrw123, how are you cold smoking these? Piping in smoke from another source???

JohnInCarolina

What temp do you smoke these at?

pgprescott

Yeah, how do you like the "cold smoke III"? I think that's a smoke pistol of some sort, right? How mch was it and how do you like it?  We are carrying the amazin smoker products, but when researching the cold smoke stuff I think I ran across the pistol you are using. Any pics of the gun in use?

JohnInCarolina

Ok - so I had missed that you were using a separate cold smoker.  Interesting.   How does this work - you attach it to the Egg somehow?

stemc33

@mrw123, never mind, didn't the cold Smoker III listed in OP. Just looked the thing up

mrw123

This is the recipe. I don't include the mace. I use Appleton estate rum.

The 'cold smoker' is great. I imagine a handy person could build something similar-you just need to keep the heat away from the food and have a way to get the smoke to the egg. I've been very happy with my purchase though.

Nsdexter

I use a soldering iron and a used can( beans if tomatoes) fill it with wood and put it under the fire grate works well I find. The only issue I have is that rhulmans recipe uses way too much salt 

mrw123

The process of curing the salmon is easy. I mix the cure, pour enough in the bottom of the pan to cover that side of the fish, put the fish in, drizzle with rum, cover the top of the fish with the rest of the cure, cover with cling wrap, put another pan on top of the fish and add weight (to help squeeze out moisture), put it in the fridge for two days. After two days I completely rinse the filets and put them back in the fridge on racks to dry (24 hours usually). Then they go in the smoker.

The cold smoker works great, but it isn't ideal. If I don't make sure I start with enough charcoal I end up checking it every hour or 2 to make sure the wood is still putting off smoke.

My friends and family love it when I cook (for mothers day we'll have turkey pastrami at my family's celebration and brisket at my wife's), but it's this smoked salmon that EVERYONE goes crazy for.  I'm bringing it to both

mrw123

Nsdexter said:

I use a soldering iron and a used can( beans if tomatoes) fill it with wood and put it under the fire grate works well I find. The only issue I have is that rhulmans recipe uses way too much salt 

I've never had a problem with it being too salty. I think the combination of using kosher salt and rinsing thoroughly works. Or maybe around here we like it salty? Do you use kosher salt and do you rinse the cure off completely?

Nsdexter

Yep followed the recipe the first 10 or so times I did it and it was always just a little too salty for my likes I've cut it down by 1/3 and find it much more pleasant

blukat

Looks good, will have to give this a try.

Canugghead

Nsdexter said:

I use a soldering iron and a used can( beans if tomatoes) fill it with wood and put it under the fire grate works well I find. The only issue I have is that rhulmans recipe uses way too much salt 

+1 on soldering iron and too much salt.  I cut down on salt and soak after rinsing. I also put a tray of ice cubes between the can and the fish/cheese/butter.