Smoking Fish

[wade]

Careful you don't get caught loitering too long

She lives in Wyatts Green. Is that anywhere near you?

[essexsmoker]

Careful you don't get caught loitering too long

She lives in Wyatts Green. Is that anywhere near you?

Lol.

Have to admit I had no idea where it was! On looking at a map , it is quite near. I'm in Chelmsford.

[Midlandsman]

...I have not heard about removing the circles of skin. I will have to try that

There's a couple of videos that may be of interest:
https://youtu.be/oCvf86ecQ5w
https://youtu.be/DsWkYdm3BUk

I can't find the one where I originally saw the 'coins' of skin being removed, but it can be seen quite clearly when he turns the finished product at round the 6 minute mark in the second video.

I've put the first video there as it shows a most unusual way (to me anyway) of filleting.

...The temperatures mentioned in the document are much higher though than I like to smoke at. What temperatures do you use.

Temps of around 25°C seem to be recommended for cold smoking salmon. IIRC Erlandson's book advises a temp around this figure.

I don't have temp control when cold smoking so have to go with whatever the outside temp is at the time. The increase in temp at the end to form a glaze is a new one on me.

MM

[wade]

Temps of around 25°C seem to be recommended for cold smoking salmon. IIRC Erlandson's book advises a temp around this figure.

I don't have temp control when cold smoking so have to go with whatever the outside temp is at the time. The increase in temp at the end to form a glaze is a new one on me.

The original methodology that I followed and adapted called for 12-15 C and so I have kept with that. Different methods will vary and the salt and sugar content, as well as the loss of free water, which I guess would make it just as safe to do at the higher temperatures.

The videos are very informative too Thanks

[wade]

There's a couple of videos that may be of interest:
https://youtu.be/oCvf86ecQ5w
https://youtu.be/DsWkYdm3BUk

I can't find the one where I originally saw the 'coins' of skin being removed, but it can be seen quite clearly when he turns the finished product at round the 6 minute mark in the second video.
I've put the first video there as it shows a most unusual way (to me anyway) of filleting.

I Owe you one MM. After seeing the video I am now booked on their next tour

[essexsmoker]

What's the best brand of salt to use? I have maldon sea salt but that's expensive, are there any cheap flaked salts ?

[essexsmoker]

I've read 21C is ideal, so this seems to be a good compromise of the two.

[Midlandsman]

...After seeing the video I am now booked on their next tour

I look forward to reading about your visit.

MM

[Midlandsman]

What's the best brand of salt to use? I have maldon sea salt but that's expensive, are there any cheap flaked salts ?

I buy sea salt in large bags from my local wholefoods shop. The bag I'm using at present is French. It offers a good compromise between quality and price.They do a coarse or fine grain size - the fine grain is still quite a large grain though so I buy this one.

I've just checked and they've stopped doing the really large bags, but for anyone local to Leicester, they have Trapani sea salt at £1.50/kg which seems very reasonable.

Perhaps there's a similar shop near you.

MM

[wade]

I now only use coarse Dead Sea Salt when I cure and I buy it in 25 Kilo sacks from here. It works out at 73p/Kg
https://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/natural-sea-salt-coarse-25kg-bulk.html
To begin with I was buying "Kosher Dead Sea Salt" from a different supplier at almost twice the price but to my surprise, when I tried a bag from here it came from exactly the same producer in exactly the same bags with exactly the same label.
They do sell them in smaller bags - 10Kg (82.1p/Kg) down to 1Kg (£1.52)

This grain size is also perfect for smoking for use as a condiment