Salmon smoking question?

AZRP

I'm going to smoke some salmon tomorrow and the last time I did it I followed a recipe that said to take it to an internal temp of 160. That made it tough and dry so I thought about cold smoking it but according to the Morton Salt curing manual it says to take it to 160 and hold it at this temp for 30 minutes. This fish was salt cured for 48 hours, doesn't the salt curing kill any parasites that may be in the fish? -RP

Boilermaker Ben

http://university.uog.edu/cals/people/Pubs/Food/Smkgfish.pdf

A quote from the article above:
Another common problem is parasites. Many fish
contain tapeworms and nematodes that can
survive some low salt brining and temperature
smoking methods and can cause serious health
problems. These parasites can be destroyed by
freezing the raw product at a temperature of 0°F
for two weeks or longer, before salting and
smoking. When freezing the product in a home
freezer, it may take several days to reach 0°F
throughout the entire fish

fishlessman

like was mentioned, if it was flash frozen its safe. im thinking the 160 is for texture for a cured smoked fish, when i cook salmon i just cook it til it starts to flake, ive never taken a temp and havent been concerned about worms

AZRP

That's what I was thinking, when I bring salmon home from the store I have no idea if it had been frozen and I grill it until it flakes, about 130 internal. -RP

fishlessman

my bet is that a pacific salmon sold in arizona was previously frozen. truthfully i wouldnt worry much about getting worms from a cold water salmon

AZRP

Thanks for the article Ben, but I can't imagine how dried out it would be if I held it at 180 internal for 30 minutes. -RP

Boilermaker Ben

Yeah, sounds like CYA to me, if the temp to kill parasites is 150F. But for cold smoking, they recommend freezing. I don't see why, even for hot smoking, you couldn't freeze first, so you wouldn't have to go as high as 180 (or 160).

Grandpas Grub

 
I think taking salmon to 160° would give the results you described. I don't like salmon all that much but cooking it to 140° or just till it flakes well with a fork is much better.

Now cold smoked salmon is really good. I have never tried it in the egg but in a vertical smoker. As I recall the cook temperature was 130° but the smoke time was a lot longer than 30 minutes.

GG

Unknown

I buy fresh salmon (flown in daily) from Dallas, TX and never have a problem with worms and all... And I never cook it beyond the moment where it just flakes apart (probably 130-140F).

AZRP

30 minutes is not the smoke time, its the time you hold it at 160 after it reaches it. -RP

fishlessman

im not certian, but isnt salmon fishing a seasonal thing on the west coast, i do know most is either frozen at sea or flash frozen at the proscessor. it may look fresh but may use other words to describe it like wild alaskan salmon etc

Grandpas Grub

After reading again, I see. I was thinking more about the brine time and remembering the smoke time took quite a while. It has been a long time... I also cold smoked some rainbow trout at that time and that too was really good.

 

Frank from Houma

Randy - here is what I did

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=811229&catid=1

I didn't measure the temp of the salmon - probably should have.

I read the same about parasites, etc. on the web and I figured it must have been frozen before hitting Sam's in Corpus.

Came out fine. Maria and I had about half of it and brought the rest to work - didn't hurt anybody - yet

thirdeye

Hey Randy,

What were you really looking for as far as flavor, texture and amount of preservation? We are all guilty of getting cured and smoked salmon mixed up with soft cured and flavor smoked salmon. I use the Morton's book often for reference, but it is a little old fashioned in many areas....

You will find so many recipes out there (including ones that were on the video you mailed me years ago) that the choices are unlimited. I'm worried about the method you followed, and the 48 hour cure time. This would signal a hard cure, and the finished product will be something like salmon jerky.

These fillets were cured for 8 hours and smoked for 5 or 6 hours around 100° - 130°.