Smoked salmon à la Grisell

[kletsbets]

Ha Grisell,

I'm making your recipe for smoked salmon, i hope it turns out fabulous.

[grisell]

It will.

[grisell]

Keep it for two days in the fridge after the smoking. That will 'equilibrate' the smoke and it makes a great difference. It will taste bland at first, but after the two days you can trim off the brown layer and... hmmm.

[kletsbets]

I have made it, followed your recipe to the letter but found it far to salty.
Do you really mean 65 grams of salt per kilo fish?

[grisell]

Yes. 65 grams per kilo fillet (6.5%) (i.e. boned fish). It's very strange how it could turn out too salty. I never had any complaints before, and I've made this maybe 20 times. Assuming equilibrium in salting has occured, and with 8% weight loss that gives 6.5/0.92 = 7.1% salt in the final product. Commercial cold-smoked salmon is far saltier (8.2% in the final product according to the Swedish National Food Administration's tables) because of the longer smoking time and subsequent weight loss.

Did you rinse it thoroughly before smoking?
Did you trim off the brown layer? That is very salty.

Well, I can't argue with you. I'm very sorry that the salmon wasn't to your satisfaction.

[wheels]

Grisell

7.1% would be very high for a UK product - 2 - 5% seems to be the norm:

Fillets are laid skin side down on a bed of salt 2-3 cm thick in the bottom of a box and covered with salt to a depth of about 1 cm at the thickest part and reducing to a light sprinkling at the tail to assist uniform penetration. Additional alternate layers of fillets and salt can be laid on top of the first layer until the stack is complete. The fillets are left in salt for up to 36 hours depending on size to achieve a salt content in the finished product of at least 2-5 per cent; typical times in practice are about 12 hours for fillets from a 4 kg salmon, and 24 hours for fillets from an 8 kg salmon, but the time will vary to some extent depending on initial quality and fat content.

From: http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5886e/ ... tm#Salting

I guess that you like a saltier product in your country.

Phil

[kletsbets]

Did you rinse it thoroughly before smoking?
Did you trim off the brown layer? That is very salty.

How long do you rinse, later I wondered if I rinsed too short a time.
Yes i did trim off the brown layer.

[grisell]

Grisell

7.1% would be very high for a UK product - 2 - 5% seems to be the norm:

Fillets are laid skin side down on a bed of salt 2-3 cm thick in the bottom of a box and covered with salt to a depth of about 1 cm at the thickest part and reducing to a light sprinkling at the tail to assist uniform penetration. Additional alternate layers of fillets and salt can be laid on top of the first layer until the stack is complete. The fillets are left in salt for up to 36 hours depending on size to achieve a salt content in the finished product of at least 2-5 per cent; typical times in practice are about 12 hours for fillets from a 4 kg salmon, and 24 hours for fillets from an 8 kg salmon, but the time will vary to some extent depending on initial quality and fat content.

From: http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5886e/ ... tm#Salting

I guess that you like a saltier product in your country.

Phil

It says at least 2-5%. No, the products I refer to are usually not made in Sweden. They are from Norway or Germany, I think. I don't have a package here, so I can't tell for sure.

Maybe it depends on country and manufacturer. Well, I can assure you that it is less salty than all the brands of commercial smoked salmon I have tasted, including the Balik.

Thanks for the link, though. That's interesting, but there's something fishy ( ) about it: there are no indications of amounts and they are talking abot 12-18% weight loss. Mine loses less than 10%. Also, they mention stiffness. I think my salmon feels like fresh after salting. I'll look further into it all when I get the time and see what comes up.

Anyway, it's not important. What matters is that the poor guy spent lots of money and time on something he didn't like.

[grisell]

Did you rinse it thoroughly before smoking?
Did you trim off the brown layer? That is very salty.

How long do you rinse, later I wondered if I rinsed too short a time.
Yes i did trim off the brown layer.

No, just rinse it off so the salt grains disappear, then wipe dry with paper. Nothing extraordinary. I'm sorry. Has anyone else tasted it?

[grisell]

Wheels, I read in the article: "Fillets are laid skin side down on a bed of salt 2-3 cm thick in the bottom of a box and covered with salt to a depth of about 1 cm at the thickest part and reducing to a light sprinkling at the tail to assist uniform penetration."

That's a lot more than 65 grams/kg! If I sprinkle salt on my fillets (65 gms/kg), that's a layer 1-2 mm thick.

[wheels]

You are, of course correct, but it doesn't absorb all that salt. I wasn't questioning your method - it's very similar to the method used in the 'Famous' London Cure - the bit I'm referring to is the salt level in the finished product:

The fillets are left in salt for up to 36 hours depending on size to achieve a salt content in the finished product of at least 2-5 per cent

The average would appear to be 3.5% rather than the 7% that you say is in yours.

Phil

[kletsbets]

Did you rinse it thoroughly before smoking?
Did you trim off the brown layer? That is very salty.

How long do you rinse, later I wondered if I rinsed too short a time.
Yes i did trim off the brown layer.

No, just rinse it off so the salt grains disappear, then wipe dry with paper. Nothing extraordinary. I'm sorry. Has anyone else tasted it?

You don't have to appologize, I'm not saying it was not fit to eat, just that it was too salty for my liking. And I'll be trying it again soon, but then I'll add less salt. Your recipe still appeals to me, just because i'ts a clean recipe, without al kinds of funny stuff.

[welsh wizard]

If I may interject - I cover my salmon in salt and then rinse. As I am rinsing just try a little and if its too salty keep the tap on and rinse some more. It will make a difference.

Cheers WW

[kletsbets]

If I may interject - I cover my salmon in salt and then rinse. As I am rinsing just try a little and if its too salty keep the tap on and rinse some more. It will make a difference.

Cheers WW

Will that work? Does the salt not pull into the salmon ( that is not good english I think, but I'm Dutch so please forgive me), so that you can not rinse all the salt away? I dit like the firmness of the salmon, so don't you lose that also if you rins for a long time?
I hope you don't think these are stupid questions....

[welsh wizard]

Hi

Never any stupid questions, only stupid answers.

This works for me. You wont ever wash all the salt out of the fish but continuious rinsing will reduce the top layer of salt residue which does make the fish less salty.

The firmness of the fish will reduce when the salmon is rinsed but will firm back up again during the drying process.

Cheers WW