Hot Vs. Cold Smoked Salmon Test

HoustonEgger

Last month (been meaning to write this up), I decided to test out the Amazen Cold smoker setup and decided I was going to test it out on some smoked Salmon. I’ve always done a “hot” smoked salmon in the past – coming from the Pacific Northwest where it’s much more prevalent.

Anyhow – I bought 2 large salmon fillets from Sams Club on Wednesday, dry brined them for 24 hours, allowed them to dry for 36 hours and then smoked on Saturday.

Prior to brining:

Covered with the dry brine:

Air drying in the fridge on cookie racks. Finally found a use for those things!

Two eggs makes for easy smoke method testing!

I also used alder chip for the hot smoked version and alder pellets for the cold smoked version – just to be fair on the flavor profile.

Both smoked for almost 5+ hours – the cold smoke version was actually pulled first.

Verdict:

I still prefer the texture of the hot smoked salmon. It flakes while the cold smoked is much softer – almost creamy like. The cold smoked did have more smoke flavor and I probably could have pulled it sooner. The next time I cold smoke salmon, I’m not going to use the same brine/drying method, the pellicle was too heavy on this to allow for nice slicing.

Final thought: Hot smoke wins for me. But need to work on my cold smoking recipe/method.

1st picture is a look at the finished cold smoked salmon:

Here's the hot smoked salmon for comparison.

Dry Brine for Smoked Salmon Recipe (this recipe is doubled since I did 2 fillets)

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 2 cups (packed) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 4 crumbled dried bay leaves

Mix and coat salmon. Refrigerate for 24 hours, rinse and then allow salmon to air dry for another 24 hours in the fridge.

And finally - a nice summer al fresco dinner setup with fresh tomatoes, smoked garlic, mozzarella & fresh sliced bread:

theyolksonyou

Cool write up. Thanks for sharing. 

nolaegghead

Looks good!

What temperature was the cold smoked salmon at by the end of the 5 hour smoke?  Reason I ask is even 90F can have a big impact on texture.  Colder the better.  I do my cold smoking around 60F.

HoustonEgger

nolaegghead said:

Looks good!

What temperature was the cold smoked salmon at by the end of the 5 hour smoke?  Reason I ask is even 90F can have a big impact on texture.  Colder the better.  I do my cold smoking around 60F.

It as right around 70F if i recall correctly. Next cold smoking is going to happen the next time it's sub 50F (which is rare here in Houston)

Darby_Crenshaw

yeah, that's too hot for something like nova lox i think.  still looks firmer than it should (if that's what you were going for)

nolaegghead

my rig.  It's changed some this is old.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1145832/cold-smoked-salmon-pic-heavy#latest

Smoker317

Thank you for the test, I just watched an old Alton Brown episode where he sort of cold smoked a salmon at around 140 degrees.  What was the temp of your cold smoke, probably less than a hundred if just using pellets?   Still debating if I even want to try a cold smoke on salmon.  We do like flaky salmon, cod, etc...

HoustonEgger

Smoker317 said:

Thank you for the test, I just watched an old Alton Brown episode where he sort of cold smoked a salmon at around 140 degrees.  What was the temp of your cold smoke, probably less than a hundred if just using pellets?   Still debating if I even want to try a cold smoke on salmon.  We do like flaky salmon, cod, etc...

Dome temp never even moved the needle - salmon temp was 70 degrees, so it was far less then 140 for sure

NDG

@HoustonEgger great post!  Love the fact you kept the flavor (alder wood) consistant between both samples . . . well done.  Also thanks for your dry brine recipe.  

I have cured salmon and prepared Hot Smoke / Cold Smoke as well, but I messed up my AMS cold smoked (had issues withs AMS going out, etc.) so results off.  Gotta try cold smoked again this fall, because I KNOW cold smoked has potential to be my fav . . just gotta figure it out.  

Keep posting if you try again!