Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Cold smoke Salmon?

Options
tolip
tolip Posts: 12
in Seafood
Is it worth the risk?

Botulism, salmonella, tapeworm?  I love LOCKS, but I am not sure I trust all the variables?

opinions?
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • HellrodKC
    HellrodKC Posts: 174
    Options
    Lox.

    But yea, I haven't cold smoked any before, but have cured a few filets of salmon and eaten them "raw". A quick google will find plenty of recipes and techniques to try.

    Make sure you are buying high quality fish from a good fish monger (or a grocery store you trust, whatever). Make sure to let them know your plans and they should be able to steer you in the right direction.

    If done properly, the risks are pretty low, I believe. It's a fun thing to do, only takes a couple days. 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Options
    Aside from the risk, one of the few short comings of an Egg is cold smoking. Very hard to do. Some years ago, there were some folks doing cold smoking by hooking up a mini to a large via a drier duct, and pumping in smoke that way. Or having just a chimney worth of lump going, and maybe a pan w. ice above it. And doing it in the dead of northern winter.

    From what I've read, commercial smokers can have multiple cycles of drying to for a pellicle, and smoking, and repeating several times. Nothing i can manage.

    Myself, the closest I've got was making gravlax, which is a cured salmon. Then rubbing it w a bit of hickory smoke powder, and cooking for 10 minutes. The results didn't urge me to try again.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • tolip
    tolip Posts: 12
    Options
    I was building a small side smoker....cans and ducts, then venting it into the XL-egg.  I do not see why that would not work, for the cold smoke part.  Just don't want to find out that the person I "TRUST" selling me the fish was not trustworthy....because then I would be puking or worse!!  But, I think I will start with a nice "hot" smoke Salmon, do my bucket list, and make sure this is the last one on it! LOL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • tolip
    tolip Posts: 12
    Options
    Maybe, I will start with cheese!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Teefus
    Teefus Posts: 1,208
    Options
    How cold is cold? This smoked for six hours on the egg with lump and big chunks of apple and pecan. Temp was between 180 and 200. 



    Michiana, South of the border.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Options
    Teefus said:
    How cold is cold?

    That looks like something I'd like to bite right now.

    Technically, that's a hot smoke. Cold smoking is pretty much like hanging the meat over a smoking pit on a sunny day. Or maybe in a shed on a hot summer day with some smouldering hay fire.

    Cold smoking happens under the temperature where the pathogens die. So the the meat must be dried, or cured w. salt and sugar and spices/herbs, and/or given enough smoke that the formaldehyde from the smoke wipes the bacteria and spores.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
    edited June 2017
    Options
    Before you start cold smoking, you should educate yourself on the risks.  Learn what it takes to lower the risks to an acceptable level.  This is one area where you should learn from a trusted source.  I don't consider anonymous internet sources as good trusted sources for this subject.  For most of the cooking we discuss around here, if you mess it up a bit the meal might not taste good.  Messing up a cold smoke could mess up your health in a serious way.  This is not an area for experimentation - learn well before attempting.
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.
     
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Brisket_Fanatic
    Brisket_Fanatic Posts: 2,884
    Options

    http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2006/08/thirdeyes-nova-lox.html

    http://http//playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1995/02/seafood-dry-cure-for-salmon-trout-or.html

    NW IA

    2 LBGE, 1 SBGE, 22.5 WSM, 1 Smokey Joe

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • SmokingPiney
    SmokingPiney Posts: 2,282
    Options
    I like to cure Gravlox in the cooler weather, and I like it cold smoked.

    I use an Amaze-N pellet smoker maze in the Egg. It works well.

    I will only do this with cured salmon and only in cool to cold weather. With the AMNPS, the BGE's temp never gets more than 5 degrees or so above ambient, so I'm not tickling the dragon. 
    South Jersey Pine Barrens. XL BGE , Assassin 24, Weber Kettle, CharBroil gasser, AMNPS 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • HeavyG
    HeavyG Posts: 10,348
    Options
    A good page to read if considering cold smoking fish or sausage - http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/cold_smoking.html
    “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” ― Philip K. Diçk




    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    Options
    Since this place helps everybody spend $$$ here ya go. I don't cold smoke enough to justify it. Maybe you do or will. 
    https://youtu.be/YIX1REYCcOc
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • GrillSgt
    GrillSgt Posts: 2,507
    Options
    It won't kill you. Probably. 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • mrw123
    mrw123 Posts: 202
    Options

    I use the recipe in this book. Of all the food I share, the cold smoked salmon is the one EVERYONE loves.  Many have told me they don't like salmon, but they love my smoked salmon. I only do it when the weather is cold. I trust the cure, but only so far.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • SmokingPiney
    SmokingPiney Posts: 2,282
    Options
    Hot, humid day, even relatively warm.............no such thing as cold smoked salmon. 

    You need COOL to COLD.
    South Jersey Pine Barrens. XL BGE , Assassin 24, Weber Kettle, CharBroil gasser, AMNPS 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • tolip
    tolip Posts: 12
    Options
    Maybe I will just pump smoke into my fridge!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • The_Stache
    The_Stache Posts: 1,153
    Options
    gdenby said:
    Aside from the risk, one of the few short comings of an Egg is cold smoking. Very hard to do. Some years ago, there were some folks doing cold smoking by hooking up a mini to a large via a drier duct, and pumping in smoke that way. Or having just a chimney worth of lump going, and maybe a pan w. ice above it. And doing it in the dead of northern winter.

    From what I've read, commercial smokers can have multiple cycles of drying to for a pellicle, and smoking, and repeating several times. Nothing i can manage.

    Myself, the closest I've got was making gravlax, which is a cured salmon. Then rubbing it w a bit of hickory smoke powder, and cooking for 10 minutes. The results didn't urge me to try again.


    The process is not something that you grab some fish and  cold smoke it (this you probable already know) and does involve about a week of the curing process before the smoke starts. 

    The results I had were good and it was a definite learning process.  I'll probably do this again next Jan/Feb and with a larger qty of salmon.
    Kirkland, TN
    2 LBGE, 1 MM


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories