salmon curing

[gadusmorhua]

I've read here that it is possible to use the smoked bacon cure on salmon to produce ersatz smoked salmon. I have also read somewhere that extra smoke powder is useful- where can I get some? I will get round to setting up my smoker before summer but am curious what the result will be with bacon cure, also I'm thinking I could finish off with the real smoke, reducing the time required in the smoker.
incidentally if anyone is within striking distance of London you can pick up salmon for next to nothing at Billingsgate on a Saturday morning, especially if you leave it late (seven o'clock!).Good to practice on if they are coming out at well under �1 a Lb. Dependant on market conditions you can get real bargains with cod and haddock, by the stone, and the quality is superb.

[Fallow Buck]

gadusmorhua,

If you are going to the trouble of setting up a home smoker then I would say that you are best to go the more natural route and dry cure your salmon and smoke it. The end result will be great and it really is simple, even if a little daunting at first. If you do a batch of 3 sided say then you can have three different smoking times to see what works best for you as smoke density between smokers varies substantially.

A recipe that I use and Welsh Wiz uses is on the board somewhere. If you have problems finding it let me know and I'll take a look. Basically you are looking at a mixture of salt and sugar and layer your fillets in the mixture for 12-18hours. Rinse Dry and smoke.

Two bits you must do to get the best result is dry the fish after curing to form the pellicle and then hang for 2 days after smoking to let the flavours develop.

It's great fun and very satisfying when it goes well

Rgds,
FB

[saucisson]

You can buy smoke powder from the forum owners shop, but if you just want to try some I can send you a sample gratis if you pm me your address. I did my first piece with a homemade "bacon" cure and smoke powder which gave me the incentive to start cold smoking myself, not because the initial result wasn't good, far from it . It's because doing it properly is ultimately much more satisfying. Unlike FB though, I've never caught my own.

Dave