Is fish just another type of meat?
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I make a fair amount of Lox (cured, smoked salmon), and have come across a great source of Chilean Salmon. Although it works great, I find it is extremely greasy / oily as compared to Norwegian Salmon… Does anyone have a suggestion to extract some of the oil from the fish during the curing process?
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raider2119 so, what you are wanting to end up with is a finished smoked salmon with less oil right? Or are you wanting to extract and keep that salmon oil?
Oil is a fat so I have to imagine there is a fairly simple smoke schedule that we could use to render that out? I’d be willing to do some testing! It’s gonna have to wait though until we get back From pheasant fest next weekend!
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I make a fair amount of Lox (cured, smoked salmon), and have come across a great source of Chilean Salmon. Although it works great, I find it is extremely greasy / oily as compared to Norwegian Salmon… Does anyone have a suggestion to extract some of the oil from the fish during the curing process?
raider2119 do you dry brine it first? I get my salmon at Sams club not sure what kind it is. When I make smoked salmon I dry brine it in a rib rub I use for 24 hrs it has salt, brown sugar, paprika, garlic salt and some other seasonings then I rinse off the brine and let it set in the fridge on a rack till it forms that pellicle on it I smoke it at 175 when it’s almost done I mix up some maple syrup and some of the rib rub I used to brine and brush it on
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raider2119 do you dry brine it first? I get my salmon at Sams club not sure what kind it is. When I make smoked salmon I dry brine it in a rib rub I use for 24 hrs it has salt, brown sugar, paprika, garlic salt and some other seasonings then I rinse off the brine and let it set in the fridge on a rack till it forms that pellicle on it I smoke it at 175 when it’s almost done I mix up some maple syrup and some of the rib rub I used to brine and brush it on
blackbetty61 I use a simple dry brine, brown sugar, salt and dill, 4 days in fridge weighted and drained daily, 1 hr in ice water then cold smoke or just use as is.
I might add I only use hard frozen salmon just to be sure any parasites are gone -
Jonathon and blackbetty61 I dry brined for 5 days, the fish tightened up nicely, then cold smoked for 8 hours (maintained 40 degree temp in smoker), then let it sit in the fridge for 24-36 hrs… It looked nice and dry till I sliced the salmon for final vac packaging… Once sliced it started releasing oil still in the fish
The fish is on a dri-lok pad, and an aluminized piece of cardboard, you can see the streams where the oil is being pulled out of the fish during the vac process, and in the 2nd photo you can see how much leached into the backing cardboard…

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raider2119 do you dry brine it first? I get my salmon at Sams club not sure what kind it is. When I make smoked salmon I dry brine it in a rib rub I use for 24 hrs it has salt, brown sugar, paprika, garlic salt and some other seasonings then I rinse off the brine and let it set in the fridge on a rack till it forms that pellicle on it I smoke it at 175 when it’s almost done I mix up some maple syrup and some of the rib rub I used to brine and brush it on
blackbetty61 Sams Club is probably Atlantic Salmon or pen raised. Much less fat content then the wild Pacific or Chilean.
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blackbetty61 Sams Club is probably Atlantic Salmon or pen raised. Much less fat content then the wild Pacific or Chilean.
John Gehringer gotcha…I guess I’ve only used the salmon from Sam’s and yes I do remember seeing farm raised…which I heard it’s not as good for you… Anyone hear any truth to that?
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raider2119 glen I’ve only hot smoked salmon haven’t tried the cold smoke method that’s probably why I don’t see much oil it gets cooked out I’m guessing and like John Gehringer said the salmon from Sam’s has less oil in it
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Jonathon and blackbetty61 I dry brined for 5 days, the fish tightened up nicely, then cold smoked for 8 hours (maintained 40 degree temp in smoker), then let it sit in the fridge for 24-36 hrs… It looked nice and dry till I sliced the salmon for final vac packaging… Once sliced it started releasing oil still in the fish
The fish is on a dri-lok pad, and an aluminized piece of cardboard, you can see the streams where the oil is being pulled out of the fish during the vac process, and in the 2nd photo you can see how much leached into the backing cardboard…

raider2119 it still looks tasty there’s nothing better than smoked salmon on crackers

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raider2119 glen I’ve only hot smoked salmon haven’t tried the cold smoke method that’s probably why I don’t see much oil it gets cooked out I’m guessing and like John Gehringer said the salmon from Sam’s has less oil in it
blackbetty61 never had a problem with fat/oil but i don’t make enough to vac-pack
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raider2119 This is on my board for some testing when we get back but the one thing I keep coming back to is 2 options, maybe 3? 1st mechanical force, find a way to press the salmon while brining it and push the oil out. 2nd partial cook to force more oil out. 3rd is a 2 step brine, 1st wet brine and then dry brine. I have absolutely zero evidence any of this will give positive results but the 1st 2 are both methods that are commercially used to extract omega 3 from salmon so…maybe?
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In regards to the 1st sentence of my last post. Me Speak English Goodly
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