Nice Day to Cold Smoke 10lbs of Salmon!

HendersonTRKing

Time to replenish my dwindling supply of Mailbox Lox!  My outdoor kitchen/patio/Covid-19 project is almost done and we may get a tight finish at The Masters — can’t ask for much more on this April SundayFunday. Thx for looking and have a great day all!

 

JohnInCarolina

I love the repurposed mailbox for this.  It makes a lot of sense to me.

How long do you smoke them for, typically?  

Wooderson

Watching this thread for future reference

HendersonTRKing

JohnInCarolina said:

I love the repurposed mailbox for this.  It makes a lot of sense to me.

How long do you smoke them for, typically?  

Thx, JIC — lots of trial and error to land on this Rube Goldberg solution. 

3-ish hours in the cold apple wood smoke seems to be the sweetspot. When the fillets come out of the mailbox, I wrap them in butcher paper and let them mellow in the fridge for at least a week before slicing and vacuum sealing. Depending on the quality of the wood and the weather and the time and the barometric pressure (maybe), and my impatience/forgetfulness (definitely), it needs a rest before getting turned it into this (which was this morning’s end of the last batch):

GIG_Smoker

Interesting way to cold smoke.  May be trying this in the future. 

HendersonTRKing

GIG_Smoker said:

Interesting way to cold smoke.  May be trying this in the future. 

Why use something simple and convenient when you can over-engineer a home-brewed solution to a problem that may or not exist outside your own imagination?

lousubcap

That is a cook of beauty with great results, at least the last time.  Always enjoyable when you roll this process out.  Congrats.  

StillH2OEgger

That is awesome!

RyanStl

My question is when you reinstall the mailbox does your mail smell like fish afterwards?

HendersonTRKing

lousubcap said:

That is a cook of beauty with great results, at least the last time.  Always enjoyable when you roll this process out.  Congrats.  

I’m kind of a one trick pony these days, as I’ve temporarily cut out the good stuff as “study” for a medical test in a few weeks. No red meat, no chx, no pork, limited salt.  That means lots of seafood on the menu here in The 302. And veggies. And beans. So. Many. Beans. 

After the cold smoking, I cranked up the fire to plank some sides of Alaskan-sourced line caught that I had marinated in TJ’s (vegan) pesto. Unfortunately, the fillets were pretty thin and I ended up hammering them til they were way over cooked, but it should work just fine for salmon salad. I think. 

dbCooper

@HendersonTRKing

Always enjoy your "Mailbox" posts, that setup is just plain cool and looks to deliver good food.  Thanks for sharing.

caliking

So much awesome! 

I've made lox a couple of times, and we love it. Yet to try smoking it. 

Could you share your cure/process ?

loco_engr

so wide is that bad boy mailbox?
very interesting smoke!

HendersonTRKing

caliking said:

So much awesome! 

I've made lox a couple of times, and we love it. Yet to try smoking it. 

Could you share your cure/process ?

Here's a link to how I built the thing from easily-findable parts at my local hardware store:

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1199408/homemade-bge-cold-smoker-unit-in-the-style-of-macgyver#latest

The cure comes straight from Ruhlman's book, scaled up for the weight of the salmon.  Over time and on occasion, I've mixed in a few things -- some dill or some TJ's everything bagel seasoning.  Curing is 18-24 hours, fridge sit to form a pellicle is another 12-24 hours and smoking is 3-4 hours, depending.  Then a week in butcher paper to "gas off."  Not difficult, but lots of steps.  Well worth it if you like lox!

Yno

I hate to be a Debbie downer, but has anyone ever read Meathead Goldwyn's article on cold smoking on AmazingRibs.com? Pretty much turned me off to cold smoking salmon and sausage. I will still do cheese, but that is about it.

fiber_induced_deuce

Yno said:

I hate to be a Debbie downer, but has anyone ever read Meathead Goldwyn's article on cold smoking on AmazingRibs.com? Pretty much turned me off to cold smoking salmon and sausage. I will still do cheese, but that is about it.

Meathead is a Debbie Downer.

caliking

HendersonTRKing said:

Gracias! 

Ruhlman has a heavy hand with the salt, sometimes. Have you had to adjust it? 

TheToast

Amazing. Was trying to work out what the smoker was before realising it’s a Mail box

HendersonTRKing

caliking said:

HendersonTRKing said:

Gracias! 

Ruhlman has a heavy hand with the salt, sometimes. Have you had to adjust it? 

Agree about Ruhlman and salt — for this recipe, I rinse and soak the cured fillets much longer than he suggests. Lox can be pretty salty at baseline and I’ve found the extra time rinsing and soaking helps. Pat dry and expect some extra time in the fridge to form the pellicle. 

Botch

I hope you smoked with "post" oak.

I'll see myself out.  

HendersonTRKing

Yno said:

I hate to be a Debbie downer, but has anyone ever read Meathead Goldwyn's article on cold smoking on AmazingRibs.com? Pretty much turned me off to cold smoking salmon and sausage. I will still do cheese, but that is about it.

Read it multiple times before embarking on the project (and bacon, which I also cold smoke in the mailbox). No question — he says a home smoker shouldn’t even attempt it. And, because he’s so clear, one ever will collect damages from him as a consequence of screwing up his recipe and getting people sick (or worse). I’m very careful, but I’d be lying if I said reading his take on it didn’t give me pause. So far so good tho!

nolaegghead

eff meathead's paranoid take on it.  People have been cold smoking fish for millennia.  Drying meat by putting it on tree branches. 

I read that a long time ago.  I concur that you need to be well informed and probably eat some of whatever you do and wait a few days before you share it if you're worried.