start to finish cold smoked salmon (W/Pics)

[Mark R]

I might just have to do a batch of your's and a batch of Gravlox to compare!
Looks really good!

[bigfish98]

That is so weird. I just did 3 lbs of Lox using Aardvark's method from the tutorials yesterday! So tasty. Had it on my salad for lunch. Awesome!

One question. The method I use just uses salt, Brown sugar and dill. How much difference do you get with the cure?

Bigfish

[Mark R]

Butcher I'm going to do a comparison between your recipe and AC's but in looking at your recipe it calls for 35g of curing salt for 1 kilo of fish. Are you sure about that? According to what I know (and Kutas) that is enough curing salt for 25lbs of fish. It looks to me that it should be 2.5 grams? I'm going to go with what I know but if I'm correct ya might wanna fix that recipe in both posts.

[Richtee]

Here is my recipie.... ( in grams)
35 curing salt
35 salt
4 onion powder
4 garlic powder
5 celery powder
35 brown sugar
2 allspice
2 dill
use 50 grams / 1 kilo (2.204 lbs) of fish

OK..let me run some numbers here... Accepted cure amount of Cure 1 (Which I assume you are using...6.25% nitrite) is approx. 1.25 g/Lb OR 2.75g/ Kilo.

Your recipe adds up to 122 grams. (Hint..make it 100 grams... goes to percentages MUCH easier...)

Sooo 35 g cure #1 / 122 grams = .28 or 28% cure.

50 grams of mix containing 28% cure contains 14 grams of cure. When..accepted limits would be 2.75 grams.

You sure you din't blow a decimal point in the 35 grams cure to 3.5 grams? Then..admittedly..it would be a bit LIGHT in cure..but the 4 day process would likely accomodate that.

[Mark R]

Ok after re-reading the recipe

Here is my recipie.... ( in grams)
35 curing salt
35 salt
4 onion powder
4 garlic powder
5 celery powder
35 brown sugar
2 allspice
2 dill
use 50 grams / 1 kilo (2.204 lbs) of fish

It's actually two recipes (I think),
One for the cure,

Here is my recipie.... ( in grams)
35 curing salt
35 salt
4 onion powder
4 garlic powder
5 celery powder
35 brown sugar
2 allspice
2 dill

or 122g total.

And one for the application to the fish,

use 50 grams / 1 kilo (2.204 lbs) of fish

The 1st recipe = 122g so 50g = 41%, 35g* .41= 14.35g cure/kg @ 35g.

Now if the recipe is,
3.5 curing salt
35 salt
4 onion powder
4 garlic powder
5 celery powder
35 brown sugar
2 allspice
2 dill

Total is 90.5g so 50g = 55%, 3.5g*.55 =1.925g cure/kg. Much more like it!
I think I can proceed.
Crap, now I have to adapt it to per kg or lb.

[Richtee]

O

or 117g total.
.

I still get 122...

[Mark R]

I still get 122...

Musta fergot the dill, yea 122...ya biaotc...

[curious aardvark]

I don't think butcher uses cure# 1 or 2

Like me I believe he uses a more dilute curing salt. Kinda like a slightly stronger version of TQ.

The 1st recipe = 122g so 50g = 41%, 35g* .41= 14.35g cure/kg @ 35g.

The cure salt I mostly use is used at 15g per kg of meat. So that makes perfect sense to me.
Although I have never actually used cure salt on fish. Never seemed to need it. Might give it a go next time, see if it makes any difference.

Actually my query is why you soak the salmon after curing ?

Surely that will just weaken the flavours you've spent the last four days infusing also it will rehydrate the salmon, part of the curing process is to remove water from the salmon, which helps preserve it.
Just seems a bit weird to soak it. You have total control over the salt content, so soaking not necessary for that.

The rest is good

[Richtee]

I don't think butcher uses cure# 1 or 2

Like me I believe he uses a more dilute curing salt. Kinda like a slightly stronger version of TQ.

Hmmm I guess I had not considered that... well, that's something important allright...

Butcher? What cure are you using? Jeez I wish the world would standardize this stuff!

[butcher]

the numbers are from the recipie from my College instructor, I was givin a recipie book from him that has been passed down from generations...
over 400 years there has been at least one boy born (in germany, he is the first to have moved to canada, and is about 70 now) and they all have been butcher / sausage makers of smoked and cured meats.
I'm sure there is a reason behind it, the time process and also the rinsing and soaking.
I know if I contacted him, about this, that is what he would tell me...
Rich, you broke that down using a "round number" of 100 grams, when it is actually 122, and 22 grams out of 100 is almost a 1/4 of the math, bet that even makes more of a difference :) Tell ya what, I've eaten about half of it so far, and it is VERY VERY GOOD! not salty at all, anyone of my friends that have tried it, say'd it was the best they have had. The smoking time was long, and my homemade cold smoke generator only last about 3-4 hours, so I was up till 3 am LOL, but it was worth it, time to think of making a new "BOX" cold smoke generator, I'm thinking about 12" cubed with a rimmed lid on top...

[butcher]

I use a product called Called Cure 64, contains 6.5% nitrite, mixed with salt and sodium bicarbonate and vegetable oil (anti caking agents) I get all my products from a company called BSA, they are located in Montreal, and I have a supplier that has her company in Barrie, and comes up my way often as she is from the area
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[Mark R]

I use a product called Called Cure 64, contains 6.5% nitrite, mixed with salt and sodium bicarbonate and vegetable oil (anti caking agents) I get all my products from a company called BSA, they are located in Montreal, and I have a supplier that has her company in Barrie, and comes up my way often as she is from the area
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My package of cure#1 lists 6.25% nitrite and the other stuff. That's actually lower in nitrite than Cure 64.
There's some piece to the puzzle missing here!

[butcher]

My package of cure#1 lists 6.25% nitrite and the other stuff. That's actually lower in nitrite than Cure 64.
There's some piece to the puzzle missing here!

ya know... maybe Horst's recipie is so old that the "salt peter / pink salt" that was once used was not nearly as strong as what is used today.....
BTW, those are the stats on the cure that I use.

[nickelmore]

Butcher, I bought some polish cure recently to experiment/compare.

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26357

Its is more common in Europe, I think it is similar to what CA uses as well.

You mentioned old fashioned curing salt, maybe this was similar.

[butcher]

here is the response from my college instructor.... ( I emailed him) Thanks to Rich and Mark for really noticing the numbers here and breaking down the math.... LESSON LEARNT!!! KUDOOS GENTLEMENT KUDOOS!!!!!

Hi Steve,

Happy New Year. Your little problem is really none. My recipe book is
talking about a ready mixture of cure and salt.
You are working with Prague 64, a much higher concentration, which is
normally mixed with straight salt at a ratio of
6 parts (Salt) to 1 part (prague)
Since in my recipe we are mixing ready cure with straight salt @ 1 to
1, that means we are only using 50% of the
nitrite contained in a regular strength cure.

In your case to calculate as follows:

700 total salt and cure, breakdown into (6 parts Salt plus 1 part
prague, divided by 2) = 650 salt plus 50 prague!
Got that? The discrepancy is only in the difference of product's that
you and I are using. Therefore, proportions will have
to change to keep content the same. Have more questions, don't
hesitate to call or email.
Everything here is great, just got back from Bellingham WA were we
usually go once a week.
Happy Salmon curing. All the Best, cheers, Horst