by Wunderdave » Fri Apr 05, 2013 10:25 pm
This really depends on your method. Some dry brining methods call for an excessive amount of salt, which is moderated by either a short brining time or by soaking the product in fresh water after the brining is complete in order to remove excess salt.
Personally I find that using an equilibrium cure works great, and it reduces the question of the appropriate curing time, as well as the need to soak before drying. A number I found on this site for nova lox (i.e. salt cured cold smoked salmon) is 65g of salt per 1000g of fish, plus whatever spices. I think it was Grisell's recipe and included a pinch of ground white pepper along with the salt.
Using this ratio on my last batch of lox I had some events come up that caused me to let the fish linger in the fridge for an additional 24 hours beyond the 18 I planned. I proceeded to rinse, dry, and smoke as normal and the fish came out great, and not too salty. Note that it IS quite salty if you eat it straight up, but in my opinion lox is supposed to be on the salty side, and the saltiness is mitigated when you serve it with typical accompaniments.
I should add that using a wet brine may somewhat defeat the purpose of making this type of cured, smoked fish. Part of the process is intended to extract moisture from the fish to change the texture and for safety, and having it submerged to cure may defeat this. I can't speak in any more detail about this nuance of technique though.