Reminder - Cod's Roe

[wheels]

Hmm. Just saw the stuff about parasites. Yeuch. My freezer doesn't go to -20 so perhaps I will cold smoke but then give it 10 minutes at 65 degrees "just in case" .. ?

Sorry, but where is the advice that cod's roes need this treatment? I've seen advice about what to do to eliminate parasites from fish such as salmon for which there is a FSA warning - but nothing that says that you need to do so to cod's roe.

As to the salting, I virtually buried them in salt for 8 hours and they were fine.

Phil

[smokeandumami]

Hi Phil

Good stuff, I wasn't worried about parasites until I read the thread but now I realise that's just general advice and not about cod roe specifically.

I will dry cure and cold smoke and see how it goes. If you don't hear from me in 72 hours I'm dead

Cheers

[wheels]

I'm ahead of you there, I had some of last year's a few days ago!

Now, I'm not saying that it doesn't have worms - and I'm not saying that it does. But in either case, I can't find any advice against cold smoking it. Also, given that most small commercial smoke-houses only sell it seasonally, I assume that they use fresh - if they were freezing it, they'd be selling it all year around surely?

Certainly, the Torrey advice I linked to earlier doesn't mention it (They were the official Gov't fish research people) - albeit that they closed a good while ago.

As with all cold smoked fish, weight loss is the best guarantee of safety. The ideal weight loss figures are in the Torrey document I linked to previously.

I hope this helps.

Phil

[smokeandumami]

Ah, great document, very useful resource.

Any tips on best type of wood for smoking roes for taramasalata?

I am thinking either alder or oak, or perhaps a combination...

[wheels]

Yes, alder an oak sounds great - I used beech and oak which I imagine may be similar.

Where do you source your alder from?

Phil

[smokeandumami]

I've got a Bradley - so I buy the bisquettes online.

I used Great Fire of Nantwich for the last order (http://www.greatfireofnantwich.co.uk/).

OK then, should be all set for a smoking session later on!

[smokeandumami]

Overnight dry cure in the fridge dropped weight from 320g to 270g which seems about perfect!

[Franco]

There's an old thread here

http://www.rivercottage.net/forum/ask/p ... amasalata/ where I made some taramasalata.

If I was to make it again I would use a lighter smoke and brine for less time.

Franco

[wheels]

I think that a lot of the supermarket stuff is made with salted roe that isn't even smoked. I use a light oil for mine, with just a touch of olive oil.

Phil

[smokeandumami]

OK so Franco smoked for 20 minutes and said that was too long (although those weren't roes were they? They looked like milts).

And the Torry note references smoking between 4 - 8 hours.

So .. hmm! Let's see how it goes, I guess.

[wheels]

The roes are cold smoked at a temperature of 90° to 100°F for from 4 to 8 hours, depending on size, in a mechanical kiln, using fires of suitable hardwood chips and sawdust; all the fires should be lighted. In a traditional kiln, smoking may take from 12 to 24 hours.

I smoke for 30 hours (ish) with the CSG which in my set-up equates to about 15 hours with a CSG in a more enclosed space. I imagine that the time needed in a Bradley will be much less - nearer to the ones they give for a (Torrey) mechanical kiln.

Those herring roes (milts?) of Franco's look a lot thinner than the cod's roe I get.

Phil

[smokeandumami]

I won't give it more than 4 hours, mainly because I want to eat it tonight :O

[wheels]

That's fine, but don't forget that they're better after a couple of days 'maturing' to let smoke to equalise throughout the roe. Also, if you want them a bit firmer, you can always 'dry' them in the fridge for a while.

My mate likes it just spread on toast as it is.

Phil

[saucisson]

I won't give it more than 4 hours, mainly because I want to eat it tonight :O

Necessity is the mother of invention...

Enjoy your supper

[smokeandumami]

Here's the final result!

http://nickloman.tumblr.com/post/276530 ... cured-over

It was very nice.