Smoked salmon can be eaten cooked or raw.
The process of curing and smoking salmon is used to preserve food. Though the need to preserve fish with smoke or salt was diminished with the technological advances in home refrigeration, the flavor of smoked salmon is still considered a delicacy today. Smoked salmon techniques are divided into two main objectives: to cook the fish or flavor the fish.
Smoked Salmon Techniques
Balik salmon is a gourmet technique of smoking salmon tenderloin fillets. This technique is the favorite of most connoisseurs, but the specific technique used is a well-guarded secret. Alaskan smoked salmon is often made using the hot smoking method on Alaskan-caught fish. Nova Lox smoked salmon is given a light cure and a light amount of cold smoking. Gravlax, another smoked salmon, is cured and seasoned, cold smoked and then served raw.
Wet Cured Nova Lox
Nova lox is lightly cured cold smoked salmon which is uncooked. For lox smoking, you can never allow the internal temperature of your smoker to rise above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Particularly good salmon for the Nova lox technique is chinook and coho. Chinook, or king salmon, is particularly recommended. Since Nova lox is not cooked, it should be cured in a saltwater brine for two to 12 hours before cold smoking.
Dry Cured Nova Lox
Bacterial presence on salmon is only an issue on the surface of the fish. The inside is already safe to eat. To cure the surface of salmon without affecting the inside of the fillet, use a dry cure. Mix 1 part sugar with 1 part salt, coat the fillets thoroughly, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two to five days. The juices of the salmon will come out, so rest the salmon on an upside down bowl inside a larger bowl. You can also gradually press the juices out by resting a third bowl on top of fillets while they are draining. The fish is then safe to eat, but most people lightly smoke the lox for one to four hours at very low heat.
Wet Cured Hot Smoked Salmon
Wet cured, hot, smoked salmon is a easy method for home-smoked salmon. For this method you cure the raw fillets in a brine. An effective light brine is 1 part salt to 7 parts water. You can also flavor the brine with seasonings, such as brown sugar and dill. Recipes differ in brine times, from two to 12 hours. Add dry seasonings or a brown sugar syrup and hot smoke the fillets. For hot-smoked fish you want your temperature between 100 degrees Fahrenheit and 160 degrees Fahrenheit; smoke the fillets for three to four hours.
Tags: degrees Fahrenheit, smoked salmon, brown sugar, cold smoked, cold smoking