Ted’s Cold Smoked Salmon
Nova Lox
Nova Lox is Cold
Smoked Salmon.
Lox is Salmon that has been cured but not smoked.
The key to quality
Nova Lox is Tender Loving Care throughout the entire process. Pay
attention to the details and you’ll have smoked salmon to die for!
Before
you Start – Caring for your Catch
Immediately after
catching the fish, bleed it by knifing it in the gill area, hitting the
heart. After 10 minutes of bleeding, clean the fish being sure to remove
gill plates and thoroughly clean the kidney (the thick blood line inside
the body cavity along the spine). Thoroughly ice the fish, including
placing ice inside of the body cavity. Its critical that the fish not ever
get warm! Do not ever throw fish around as they do bruise. Keep blood away
from meet.
Once back at the
dock, thoroughly scale the fish by using a high pressure water hose. This
makes for a mess on the dock but not at home! Remember to clean up the doc
when you’re done!
Fileting
Filet larger salmon
into to 2 “splitters”. If the fish is stiff with rigor mortis, do NOT
filet it – you will damage the meat which will make for bad smoked
salmon! Instead put it back on ice for a few hours or even over night.
Only filet salmon that is flexible like it was when you caught it. I
like to filet using the quick, forceful slice down the side method. Its
important that you don’t have lots of small cut/hack marks in the filets
so the less knife cuts the better. Cut
each side of salmon into 5” wide filets. Eat the tail sections as fresh
fish – they don’t smoke well.
I also recommend
scraping the carcass with a spoon – you’ll recover enough salmon
chunks to make many, many salmon patties.
Rinse the fish in
cold water and place each filet into ziplock bags or directly into a large
plastic bin or trash can that will fit on a spare refrigerator shelf.
Freezing
for Safety
This step is optional
but recommended. Its also a great way to avoid having to immediately start
the smoking process.
Freeze the filets for
several days in order to kill any bacteria in the fish and to dry the fish
out slightly to improve the texture of the finished product.
in the coldest freezer you can find. A slow freezing process will
turn the salmon into tasting like wet cardboard.
Thaw the fish by
leaving out on a counter, returning it to a refrigerator until you’re
ready to start the curing process.
Fish that was frozen
before smoking can also be safely frozen after smoking without any
apparent change to texture.
Making
Lox
Step
1: Dry Salt
Ingredients required:
-
1 box Kosher Salt used
for Pickling/Canning – ideally pure salt without any other additives
whatsoever. You can also use Safeway’s Table Salt for pickling and
canning.
-
1 bag Dark Brown Sugar
-
1 gallon size Zip Lock bag
-
1 or 2 large plastic bins (Rubbermaid storage bins or small trash
cans work great) Must be sturdy and must fit inside your refrigerator on a
spare shelf.
You must make a
mixture of equal parts of salt and sugar. Use a measuring cup and make
ample amounts of this mixture – whatever you don’t use can be saved
for next time in a ziplock bag.
Place on layer salmon
filets, skin side down, in a
plastic container that will fit in your refrigerator. Rubbermaid buckets,
trash baskets, etc. all work. Just make sure they’re big enough to hold
all your fish and easy enough to put in and out of your refrigerator.
Liberally sprinkle
the sugar/salt mixture on the top and sides of the filets.
If necessary, place a
second layer of salmon on top of the first, sprinkling again with the
sugar/salt mixture.
Place
container(s) in refrigerator for between 24 and 36 hours. 24 hours if the
fish is particularly thin, 36 hours for normal 20+ pound salmons.
Step
2: Finishing Brine
Ingredients
required:
-
1 box Kosher Salt used
for Pickling/Canning – ideally pure salt without any other additives
whatsoever. You can also use Safeway’s Table Salt for pickling and
canning.
-
Optional: white pepper, bay leaves
The purpose of
the finishing brine is to distribute the dry salt mixture in step 1
thoroughly throughout the fish.
Mix a 90 degree
salt brine:
Small Batch
Double Batch
2 1/2 cups of Kosher
Salt
5 cups of Kosher Salt
64 fl. Oz of water
128 fl. Oz of water
mix salt thoroughly
into the water and add optional seasonings.
make additional
portions of the above as necessary to cover fish.
Remove fish from
container with sugar/salt mix. Thoroughly rinse it in a sink and return to
the container. Bottom layer of filets should have the skin side down, Top
layer of filets should have the skin side UP as they will float in the
brine.
Since the meat has
shrunk and is leathery at this point, now is a good time to pick out the
bones. A pair of needle nose pliers is best. Try not to damage the meat
any more than you have to while pulling out the bones.
Pour the brine
into the container with the filets sufficient to allow the fillets to
float/swim in the brine. Place another container or top on top of the top
layer of filets to push them back down under the water as they will tend
to float in the salt water.
Place this in the
refrigerator for at least as long as the dry salting time.
24 hours if the fish is particularly thin, 36 hours for normal 20+
pound salmons. The exact time
you leave it in the finishing brine is not that important. Look at your
schedule for the next day and decide – the next step will require a good
8 hours of attention.
Step
3: Freshening
The fish is now
cured. In order to eat it, it must be “freshened”. Freshening involves
running the fish under water for several hours. While brisk running water
is ideal, I’ve found that placing the filets into a deep sink or laundry
room utility sink and draining/refilling it with water about every 20
minutes works just fine.
I usually freshen for
at least 2 hours, typically 3 hours. Add additional freshening time if
you’ve let the fish sit in the finishing brine for longer than you
wanted to.
Most commercial
smokers will tend to not freshen, if at all, resulting in a very salty
product. Freshen to taste. The only way to tell what you like is to cut
off a sliver and see, or do it by experience. 3 hours of freshening will
start to approach a point of very little salt taste.
Adjust your freshening time to the thickness of the filets and how
much overtime you gave it in either the dry salt or finishing steps.
While you’re
refilling the sink, now is a good time to pick out the bones. A pair of
needle nose pliers is best. Try not to damage the meat any more than you
have to while pulling out the bones.
You now have Lox.
If you want Nova Lox (smoked salmon), proceed to the next step. You
can wait to proceed by placing the fish back into the refrigerator –
leaving it there will dry it out and firm up the fish a bit more. Remember
that this is raw fish and needs to be cared for accordingly. After
freshening, it will spoil almost as fast as fresh fish.
Step
4: Smoking Lox to get Nova Lox
Materials
required:
2
smoking units:
1 unit to smoke the wood chips
1 unit to serve as a racking system to hold your fish
Dryer
pipe (flexible aluminum) to go between them.
Thermometer
Wood
chips ( 2/3 Alder, 1/3 Apple) – Luhr-Jensen bags. Available at
Caruso’s. About ½ bag of Alder per batch of fish.
The two units should
be separated by several feet. With the flexible dryer pipe you can move
the unit smoking the wood chips closer or farther away to get the
temperature just where you want it. I splurged and just bought 2 Luhr-Jensen
smokers from Caruso’s – a Big Chief for my racking system, and a
Little Chief for the smoker unit. The
Big Chief racking system will hold about 40 pounds of fish, or 3 large
fish. I used a jig saw to cut a round hole into the Little Chief – top
back of unit. I shove the dryer hose into the fuel opening of the Big
Chief so I didn’t have to cut/modify it at all.
I recommend seasoning your units by running at least 1 batch of
fuel through them to start. Other contraptions can be set up but be sure
that whatever you use for smoking/racking doesn’t have any chance of
emitting odor onto your fish. Stay away from plastic dryer pipes. I also
worry about old refrigerators for the same reason.
I place the Big Chief
on my gas BBQ grill so that its higher than the Little Chief, just to help
move the smoke from smoker unit to racking system.
This is perhaps the
easiest part of the process. Smoking times vary according to taste. I like
a solid smoke taste so I smoke for about 6 hours. Another way to measure
your time in the smoker is by how many refills of wood chips you use.
The most important
rule for Cold Smoking is Never get the fish above 70 degrees.
Smoking fish at
significantly less than 70 degrees works fine - you will just have less color development. Don’t worry about
this as the fish will have lots of color when its finished anyway.
This can be a
challenge on a warm day. I recommend smoking either in the morning or
after sundown to avoid the risk of having your smoker start to barbeque
the fish.
Place the fish in the
racking system/smoker skin side down (for cleanliness).
Refill the fuel in
the smoker unit about every hour. Avoid leaving the fuel cooking away once
spent as you’re trying to get a smoke flavor, not a charcoal flavor.
Be careful with the
spent fuel – it is still burning and is a fire hazard.
Do not smoke in your garage – it will smoke up your whole house.
Be careful to unplug the smoker unit when finished or you’ll burn out
the heating element.
Every batch or so,
remove the racks from the Big Chief and place them inside your gas BBQ
grill to sterilize them next time you nuke your BBQ grill to clean it.
Step
5: Trimming and Vacuum Packing your fish
Materials Required:
Stiff
knife, sharpened
Vacu-Seal
vacuum packer machine
Needle
Nose Pliers
Roll
of Vac-U-Seal material.
Don’t use the
bags – make your own from the Large roll of material (Also available
at Caruso’s)
Remove the fish from
the smoker. If its warm at all, place it in the refrigerator for ½ hour
just to be sure. You will spoil fish if you vacuum pack it when its warm.
Usually mine is cool
and remains cool during the trimming stage because I smoke when the
outside temperature is well below 70 degrees.
Trim each filet by
first cutting off the skin. Pay attention to detail here as the skin side
is what I like to show people thru the clear side of the vacuum pack.
Remove all traces of gray flesh. I usually cut the fish along the bone
line after removing the skin, making 2 pieces of fish. This also makes it
easy to cut out the remaining gray flesh right along the bone line without
wasting a lot of meat. I keep a scraps bowl handy and a trash bag for the
skin and gray flesh. Any meat that I inadvertently trim that’s not gray,
I place in the scraps bowl. Trim the dried out ends of the filets off as
well as place them in the scrap bowl. These scraps are great for cooking
any recipe that calls for smoked salmon – such as smoked salmon pasta
with Alfredo sauce.
Be careful not to
bend the filets during this part of the process and you can still injure
the meat. Remove any remaining bones using needle nose pliers.
Make individual bags
by cutting the roll of large vacuum pack material into about 10 inch bags
and then cutting them again lengthwise. I’ve found that the smaller the
portions in each bag the better. If properly sliced, a 6 oz. Portion will
make a nice appetizer for 4.
If the filets are
still larger than the bags, you may need to cut them yet again.
Use the Vac-U-Seal
machine by sealing each bag and pressing the vacuum override once 3 out of
the 4 lights are lit. Letting the bag seal all the way to 4 lights will
cause it to start sucking moisture out of the fish, making for an
unappealing presentation. Kids
love to help with this part of the process.
Label each with
your own personal laser printed labels. I use Avery ML-1000 which are 2”
by 4” labels.
I usually hold
out a piece or two for immediate consumption!
Storing
your Nova Lox:
Remember that
you’re still dealing with basically raw fish. Vacuum packaging it will
let you keep it unopened in a refrigerator for about 5 times longer than
if you just had it in a ziplock bag.
You can also freeze the vacuum packaged fish for quite a long time
without risk of freezer burn since there is no air in contact with the
fish.
If in doubt about the
quality of fish, throw it away. You can always catch more.
I always like to
confirm that anyone I’m giving away my pride and joy actually likes
smoked salmon. I’m continually surprised at the percentage, albeit
small, of people who don’t care for it.
I place a 2nd
label on my packages which has storing and slicing instructions.
Remember: Sportsfish,
even after being smoked, can never be sold.
References:
Smoking Salmon
& Trout by Jack Whelan, Aerie Publishing. Available at Caruso’s and online,
this is the bible and contains many more tips and valuable details.
John at Caruso’s
Deli, Harbor Way, Sausalito. John has all the materials you need to
accomplish the above except for the Kosher Salt and Dark Brown Sugar.