Homemade LOX! How to smoke your own Salmon, Trout, and Cheese.

Lox. Scottish Gold. The Sultan of Salmon. Cold smoke is king and people pay a big premium for it.

At work, I've done quite a bit of hot smoking, which is where you smoke and cook the fish at the same time, but I'd yet to try my hand at cold smoking. Cold smoking is an ancient method of preservation, used to keep all sorts of fish, particularly oily fish, good for longer periods of time. As it evolved, we got the cold smoked salmon that people know and love today. You can eat it plain. You can put it on crackers. You can make a dip with dill and cream cheese. It's wonderful and I'm going to show you how to make it!

Step 1: The Cold Smoker

A total, in depth explanation on how to make a cold smoker will be another blog, but what you need to know is that you need a chamber for the smoke production and a separate box for the smoke to funnel into. For me, that meant putting a cold smoke generator in my weber grill and running a steel pipe to a pine box that I built myself. *don't use aluminum or plastic for the tubing. It could potentially taint the food*

There are lots of options for cold smoker generators, but I went with the A-MAZ-N 12" smoke tube. It uses wood pellets, which I'll also include a link to, and gives a ridiculous amount of smoke for a good 4-5 hours. I was blown away by how well it worked. My cabinet is a good four feet tall and it was billowing smoke for a really long time. You do need a good amount of heat to get the pellets started, so I made a little fire out of pine in my grill to get it started. Make sure you let whatever fire you use to start the smoking pellets die and stop smoking before connecting the smoke to your cabinet. Pine smoke, for example, will impart a bad taste. I wouldn't try and smoke fish with a charcoal fire.

Here's the cold smoke generator I used. https://amzn.to/2RRSF4Y

Here are the wood pellets I used. I bought Alder, which is kind of sweet and mapley, but you can use hickory, apple, or cherry as well! https://amzn.to/2B6E6Fg

Step 2: The Fish

I used two fish this time. Rainbow trout that I caught and an atlantic salmon fillet I got from work (we carry really high quality salmon). Do yourself a favor and don't buy cheap fish from Walmart. Go buy a fresh fillet from a local grocer, ask when it came in, and make sure you buy the tail end. This is important because you'll hang the fish by the tail.

An important note is that salmon is the only fish I've heard of that's safe to cold smoke and eat without cooking. The trout I cured, smoked, and cooked. There are potentially unsafe bacteria and parasites in freshwater fish that aren't as commonly present in salmon. If you want to be sure, just deep freeze the cold smoked salmon after you've smoked it. That should kill anything that could potentially make you sick. You smoked salmon will also last a long time in the freezer and since it hasn't been cooked, it doesn't lose texture or flavor when it's frozen.

Step 3: The Brine

Brining fish is a way of killing bacteria and seeping out the moisture. The salt and sugar in a brine breaks down the cell walls of the meat as well, making the texture different. This is an essential step in cold smoking. It cannot be skipped. I use a dry brine, which works faster and I believe produces a superior meat.

Brine recipe:
2 parts brown sugar
1 part kosher salt
seasonings if you desire

Method:
Mix sugar, salt, and any seasonings. Get a plastic or glass container large enough for the fillet to lay flat in. Put a coating of the brine on the bottom of the pan, then set the fillets on top.

Cover the top of the fillet with the brine. It should be totally covering the fish on all sides. Larger pieces of fish will need a longer time in the brine. For an atlantic salmon fillet that's nearly an inch thick (height) let it sit in the fridge for 12 hours. For smaller fillets, like rainbow trout, six hours will suffice. If you let it sit too long, it will be way too salty. You can also elect to make a brine with 4 parts sugar and 1 part salt if you want it to sit longer.

Making fish syrup 

After twelve hours, pull the fish out. The sugar/salt should have become like a syrup. Rinse the fish off and pat dry with a towel. Allow the fish to sit in the fridge, uncovered for around an hour. This will allow a crust to form on the edge of the fish, which traps all the delicious fat inside the fish during the smoking process.

Step 4: The Smoke

Smoke the fish for 10-12 hours. It should be tacky all the way through. Make sure the temperature of the fish stays at around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets above 41 for more than three hours, there's a chance that bacteria will grow to a dangerous level. Just smoke on a day when its gonna be low thirties and you'll be fine. Also make sure your smoke source isn't pumping a ton of heat into the cabinet.

Step 5: The Yum

The cold smoked then cooked trout! 

A slice of my homemade cold smoked salmon! 

As I said before, if you're not confident about eating the salmon raw, freeze it overnight in a deep freezer, and then try a few small pieces and see how your body reacts. It goes great on bagels, on crackers, by itself, and lots of other ways.

Cook the trout and make a dip out of it.

Addendum: Cheese

You can smoke cheese in your cabinet as well. Pick a mild, creamy cheese (no sharp cheddars or parmesans) that will absorb the flavor of the smoke. You don't want the smoke competing with the flavor of a strong cheese.  Wrap it in cheese cloth and hang it in the smoker. Then, smoke it for 2-4 hours. Pull it out and viola!

All I want for Christmas is a pack of cheese!