Lox Recipe

[Shoeman]

I received an email from Salmon Smoker about revealing my secrets to cold smoking fish.

I start with fresh, not frozen fish. The firmer the better. Salmon or steelhead.

Make a bed of kosher salt in a ceramic dish. Place the filet on top of the salt, rub a few drops of Liquid Smoke on the filet ,sprinkle with fresh dill weed and cover with salt.
Allow this to stand in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
Remove and rinse the filets.
Prepare your smoker with briefly soaked apple chips. Get the temperature to the max and generate a good amount of smoke.

Now the tricky part. In order to "Cold Smoke," the internal temperature of the smoker can not exceed 100 degrees.
Once the chips have an even glow, fill your water pan with ice cubes. This will reduce the temperature.
I use an electric smoker, but it can be done with gas or charcoal. You'll have to experiment.
With the electric, I turn it down to the lowest setting and smoke the filets for about 15 minutes, turn the smoker off, but leave the filets inside for another 45 minutes to dry them out.
Remove them and add a light coat of premium Olive Oil.

Slice thinly add a slice of onion and serve on bagels with cream cheese.

[Salmonsmoker]

Shoeman,

Thanks for the post. After SFK recommended it, I had to try it. Will let you know how it turns out.

I read in a very old cook book that originally, the Irish or Sweeds or who ever first made Lox, placed a heavy platter or flat stone on the fillet while it was on the salt bed - this was to squeeze some of the moisture out of the meat.

Very interesting. In the store, Lox is quite expensive.


Again, thanks for the recipe.

SS

[Shoeman]

There's a Lox kit on the market utilizing the stone. With the kit, it never mentions smoking it. I've tried both methods, but the salt will pull most of the moisture form the meat and the smoke will pull the rest. Just make sure you wash the filet thoroughly after curing it, or it will be way too salty.
I have also experimented with different woods. The apple adds a nice flavor, do to it's strength and the short amount of smoking time.

[Salmonsmoker]

Shoeman,

Over this past weekend, I made my first batch of Lox. I followed your recipe, and then I tried it. For my taste, it needed more time in the smoker - put it back in for another hour of cold smoke.

Sliced thin on crackers, it is excellent. Will try the creamed cheese idea this week.

Thanks for posting the recipe.

Salmonsmoker

[Shoeman]

I'm glad you enjoyed it.
The cream cheese is a vital ingredient. I had the same problem with the smoke. There's a fine line between creating enough smoke and cooking the fish. I quit soaking the chips, in order to minimize the smoking time. A billowing smoke in the initial phase is neccessary.

[Salmonsmoker]

Shoeman,

After turning several batches of cheese into a puddle of melted goo in the bottom of my smoker, my wife bought me one that has the capacity for temp control. Makes the job a lot easier.

Salmonsmoker

[Salmonsmoker]

Updating this chain to answer current question on the subject.

Salmonsmoker

[northern_outdoorsman]

Lox are AWESOME!

[Brian S]

Shoeman,

I tried your lox recipe this weekend and have a few questions.

First of all, I ran out of Kosher and ended up covering the fillets with non-iodized sea salt. Is that OK, or is the coarseness of Kosher important?

I covered the dish with plastic wrap. After 16 hours there was a lot of condensation on the plastic wrap and there was a large puddle at the back end of the dish (the fridge leans back a little:) ). Is this normal? Should I have drained it and added more salt? Maybe I shouldn't have covered it?

Overall, I thought it was great. I spent a couple weeks in Sweden about 10 years ago and had Lox for breakfast every day. This was the first time I've had it since then. Without a doubt, I'll be making this recipe again.

Thanks.

Think it will work with bluegill fillets:D ?

[Shoeman]

Brian,
The purpose of the salt is to cure and dehydrate the fish. The accumulation of water is normal. As you could tell, the meat was firm. I generally remove the water every 6-8 hours. I keep mine covered as well.
As far as using regular salt, you better ask SalmonSmoker. I have never used it in any curing application.

[Craig M]

I love lox and want to give this a try (sounds like an easy enough recipe). But I have one question, I don't have a smoker, and could you recomend trying this (cold smoking) on a gas grill? If so I assume that I would need to get one of those lttle wood chip boxes, right? Or don't even try it this way.

[Shoeman]

Thought you quit smoking......... LOL

I bet it would work. Try this, take a peanut can and fill it with fine wood chips, like the Luhr Jensen ones, and try to ignite them with a torch. Once they're smoking, put the can into your grill, without lighting it. Add the fish and let it smolder for about 20-30 minutes. You may have to re-ignite the chips occassionally.
BTW, do not soak the chips.

Remember, it can't go above 100 degrees. I did a batch last night and it "cooked" on me. Maybe it was the outside temp (90 some degrees), or not enough ice.

[Brian S]

Is the entire smoking step optional?

While waiting for the smoker to get going I kept tasting the Lox. Ended up eating about 1/3 of it before it even made it to the smoker. It seemed like the liquid smoke alone added a nice flavor.

[Craig M]

Sounds good I'll give that a try. And yes I did stop smoking, now with all the money I'll save I just need to re-direct my time & money into some other vice(s). :)
Just got a new hunting dog. Hmmm, now I need a new shotgun, truck, boat.... :D

[Shoeman]

Brian,

It probably is, but it allows the fish to gain in additional flavor and further reduces the moisture content.

Glad you're enjoying it. Make sure to eat in on a bagel with cream cheese and onion. :)

[Craig M]

Ended up using a really small metal potting container and it worked like a charm! I can't seem to keep enough on hand as the family realy enjoys it! Three batches in one week!

[Salmonsmoker]

To the best of my knowledge and experience, any non-iodized salt will work. It all draws out the moisture.

Certainly, the smoking step can be eliminated - however, it won't have the flavor or the excellent smoked color.

As for a gas grill and cold smoke - it might work the way Shoeman described but just covering a rack with a box and piping in some smoke from a few feet away (a covered V trench in the ground works very well) will work a lot better and will give much cooler smoke.

Salmonsmoker

[Ladykiller]

Hey Ralf,

Do you leave the skin on the fillets during the whole process?

[Shoeman]

Nope, and leave a good amount of meat on the skin (1/4").

This will allow you to simply notch the mudline. Remember, the fish isn't cooked and salt will not remove the toxins

Trim ALL the fat!

[YPSIFLY]

Funny coincidence Ralf, I was going to send you a PM about this recipe. I have about 20+lbs of salmon fillets in the freezer at work and wanted to give it a try.

A friend who's the Sous Chef at a place I used to work has an interesting cold smoke method. I forgot exactly how He does it, but involves putting smoking charcoal and fish in a sealed container, and then leaving the whole thing in a walk-in cooler.

Anyone familliar with something like this? I'll track that guy down this week and get the low down.

[SALMONATOR]

Now here's somthing I'm gonna' have to try. You all have me hankering for a particular sandwitch I used to get down at the Bagle Fragle in East Lansing. The Super-Nova. Not sure if the place is still there or if the sandwitch is still on the menue, but the next time I'm in town I'll stop and find out. All I remember was It was served on a bagle loaded up with cream cheese, a load of Novascotian (sp?) lox, onion, and a bunch of green stuff ((sprouts of some kind maybe?). I'm gonna' try to make some after reading this thread. Thanks for the idea Ralf.

Al

[Shoeman]

Al,

This is much better than any store-bought even at 20 bucks a pound.
It will take you a few tries to dail it in. I also found that no 2 batches are alike. I believe the absorbtion of the meat differs from fish to fish. I try to select the firmest fillets for this recipe. (Tail sections are best ;)) My last attempt was with chunks of wood. I didn't soak them in water. I fired up the smoker, let the chunks catch fire, turn off the heat source, add the ice and fish and leave it in there for a couple of hours with the smoker sealed. That sounds much like Ypsi's recipe.

[Steve]

And let me tell ya I know first hand Shoe's recipe is good stuff ;)

[YPSIFLY]

Yeah, I think He did mention that ice is involved in the process.

I'm gonna get ahold of that guy this weekend. I'll post his cold smoke method and give it a try. I don't have any parties booked for Saturday, so I might have time to give it a whirl.