🍖Smoker BBQ
Cold-Smoked Salmon (Lox)
Silky cured salmon cold-smoked over alder — the Bradley does this better than almost anything. Slice paper-thin for bagels.
30 min
Prep
6 hr
Cook
Involved
Difficulty
6
Ingredients
6
Steps
Ingredients
Servings
- 1 side of salmon, skin on, pin-boned (about 600 g)
- 120 g sea salt
- 80 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp coarse black pepper
- Zest of 1 lemon (optional)
- Alder bisquettes
Method
- 1
Mix the salt, sugar, pepper and lemon zest. Lay the salmon skin-side down in a dish and pack the cure over the flesh.
- 2
Cover and refrigerate for , draining off the liquid that draws out — the flesh should firm up.
- 3
Rinse the cure off thoroughly, pat dry, and rest the salmon uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 6– to form a tacky pellicle.
- 4
Set the Bradley for cold smoking, keeping the cabinet below 30°C (85°F) with the cold-smoke adapter or a tray of ice.
- 5
Cold smoke over alder for 4–, to taste, until glossy and bronzed.
- 6
Wrap and rest in the fridge overnight before slicing thinly on the bias, off the skin.
Notes
- Keep it COLD — above 30°C the salmon starts to cook and loses its silky texture.
- The cure firms the fish and makes it safe to cold smoke; don't shortcut the 24 hours.
- Eat within 5 days, or freeze.