Ruedeleglise

Hi Hoogle, This was the first time I have cold smoked with the temperature below my usual 20 degrees C. I know you must not go above 30 degrees otherwise the fats melt and you start to cook the food. The result even after 24 hrs of smoking was bland. I used my usual oak clippings etc. well I have now got two more vivarium heat lamps and with the thermostat I can maintain 20 without any trouble. I am suspicious as I have cold smoked salmon for 5 years now and this is the first time I have had a disaster! The only difference was the temperature. The wind was bitter and from the north blowing into the open covered area I have the smoker so I can only suspect the temperature. Anyhow I will be having another go sometime in the next week, so we will see! I will report back! Ruedeleglise.

Is there anyone out there? Oh well……carried on and smoked for about 18 hours. Initial tasting…..wont kill anybody! Cant say if it is up to my normal expectations. Must try it on somebody who knows my smoked salmon but doesn't know the problems I had.

Cant get my cold smoker up to my normal 20 degrees…..only reaching 10 degrees” Can I compensate by smoking for longer. I am 5 hours into the smoking time.

SNAFU........did you know that is an acronym used in the RAF.....Situation Normal All Fu##ed Up! Was that in fact meant in this post!!?

Yes they are generally a very friendly lot. I have a daughter, son in law and 2 granddaughters in Ottawa. People actually say hello to you when you pass them in the street even if you don't know them!

Well! I do like your idea of using a splash of gin......please give me more details as this sounds great. Spices etc.

Hi there! Hope everyone is healthy in this unsettling time. Well this is the first time except for my first foray into cold smoking when the plume of smoke nearly had the fire brigade round, that I have had a total failure! 1 kilo of Scottish Salmon, cured for 12 hours in the fridge with a mix of salt and sugar. 2/3 salt to 1/3 sugar. Rinsed patted dry and rested in the fridge for 12 hours. Then smoked using apple wood chips for 11 hours. Result a pale moist and rather tasteless side of salmon which is now cut up for bbqing! i suspect I was too mean with the cure. (As my wife tends to complain my smoked salmon is too salty) The weight loss was minimal. Then also the smoking time?......again HID complains my produce is sometimes too smoked!! Usually I would have smoked for 18 hours. Note: everyone I have given or supplied with my smoked salmon have been happy ...or kind...and like the taste! No I won’t change the wife, not after 50 yrs 9 months and 6 days! I recon I have probably answered my own questions but would appreciate your ideas as well. David / ruedeleglise.

Thanks. Mine doesnt usually last that long, but good to know if I find an errant pack hidden away in the depths of the freezer!

Hi. How long is vac packed deep frozen sliced smoked salmon good for please. David Lindy....Ruedeleglise.

Went to another shop as I don’t actually remember where I bought the first! Found exactly the same bulb, 150 watts, cost.....wait for it...£35.!!! Don’t remember the cost of the last one as I had bought a lot of bits and pieces at the same time. I asked the assistant how long it should last and she said 6 months! BUT bear in mind this is in 24 hour use as a reptile environment warmer. So being used for a smoker even once a week for me, at the most, for say 12 hours max a smoking, it should last way longer. You do the maths, I am too lazy! But you bet I will keep the new receipt safe and sound in the original box!

Ceramic bulb gone....and only after 6 months use! Words with the supplier me thinks. At least it isn’t the thermostat unit which would be more expensive.

Alls well that ends well.....sliced, vac packed after being passed by “you know who”. Now to find the fault.

Thanks for the advice. I took it out after 14 hours smoking and it has rested overnight. Now for a tasting.

Yes I can but not this minute and the process has been going 12 hours so will just have to hope!

After a winter of successful salmon smoking my heater fails to work. As yet I don’t know wether it is the bulb or the thermostat which is at fault. I loaded up the unit early this morning and then went out. Just come back to find the temperature hasn’t risen above ambient which today is about 10 centigrade. What effect can I expect on the smoked salmon please. To compensate could I smoke for longer?

Yes. I have frozen it. I did try to “dry it” using the fan oven with no heat. It appeared to work but the taste just wasn’t there! Fish pie is about it’s zenith now!

Over salted the trout! Partially due I think to the fillets being much thinner than my usual salmon. Is there a reliable way of correcting this? I have sliced the trout and have spread it out on a cake cooling grill, put this in my usual dish, filled with cold tap water and will leave soaking for a couple of hours. I am hoping that like salt cod it may leach out some of the salt. Won’t be top of the range but might be ok for risotto.....I hope! Any tried and tested ways or is it the bin!

Had a stroke of luck last week...went into a cook shop and bought, in their restocking sale, a Victorinox smoked salmon fluted knife. Was £65 and got it for £15! It is amazing and has changed the slicing game completely. I have a wonderful flexible fish filleting knife, a Sabatier, also a sale item bought when I lived in France....on the coast. They are both “les bijoux du chien “ ....look that up if you don’t know it!

Now doing the same!

I was sure, but I am now not so sure that........I read a post on smoking rainbow trout. As they are much more subtle / delicate in taste I would imagine they need a bit of “fine tuning” when it comes to salting and time in the smoker. Please can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks again for your wise words. I may well make a foray into the unknown! Hopefully should have some muntjac or fallow soonish.

After a dodgy start with the local airport (Stansted) thinking they had a disaster and the neighbours about to call the fire brigade, I have now tamed my adapted cheap cold smoker and we are all friends again! Moral of the story....don’t pay peanuts for equipment because by the time you have altered it, bought thermostats, heaters, non Micky mouse smoke generators and an air pump, you will have paid more than if you had gone out and bought a good piece of kit. Never mind, I have learnt a lot on the way and may I say, mostly thanks is due to you lot of gurus who have been so generous with your advice and who didn’t laugh too loudly at my ignorance. Cold smoking is, as I have found out, a totally different game to hot smoking which I had done for years, often on the river bank. Anyhow.....Smoked salmon hailed by family and friends as great and now the same for gravilax. I think I will stick to non nitrate preserving/ smoking so would appreciate some suggestions as to where to go to now.(don’t spoil it, you have been so kind so far!)

Ok!

Saltpetre/ nitrates / nitrites have had bad press for quite a number of years but are getting now very bad press indeed. Not only in the general press but in professional medical publications. I for one am going to make every effort to avoid foods that contain these agents. Surely there are ways of avoiding their use? I gather one of the main uses of these agents is to enhance colour in addition to preservative measures. What is the opinion of all of you.

Thanks for your advice. Actually the best smoked salmon so far.....even the wife liked it without so much as a single comment except thumbs up!