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Cold-Smoked Cured Salmon on the Kamado, for the Christmas and New Year Table

A frozen centre-cut salmon loin, cured for 24 hours in salt and sugar and smoked with beech in an unlit kamado at 25 °C. A Christmas Eve starter and New Year zakuska, with ten days on the calendar.

Quick answer

Freeze the loin for 5 days at -20 °C, cure it for 24 h in the fridge with 125 g of salt and 100 g of sugar, rinse it and air-dry it uncovered for 12-24 h. Smoke it for 4-6 h in the unlit kamado with a beech sawdust generator, chamber at 25 °C and never above 30 °C. Keep it below 4 °C and eat it within a few days.

Lonchas finas de salmón ahumado con eneldo, alcaparras y sésamo en un cuenco de cerámica moteada, con aceite de oliva y una cucharada de crema blanca, sobre una mesa de madera claraSave to Pinterest
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Prep
2940 min
Cook
300 min
Servings
10 servings
Temperature
25 °C

Ingredients

  • centre-cut salmon loin with skin, about 30 cm long and 3-4 cm thick, frozen for 5 days at -20 °C or bought frozen1.1 kg
  • coarse sea salt125 g
  • soft brown sugar100 g
  • black peppercorns, crushed1 cda
  • unwaxed lemon, zest only, grated1 ud
  • fresh dill, chopped, plus a few sprigs to serve20 g
  • beech sawdust for cold smoking, as much as the generator spiral takes1 carga
  • ice cube tray (optional, to temper the chamber)1 ud
  • soured cream or smetana, to serve200 g
  • loaf of dark rye bread, in thin slices1 ud
  • cold butter80 g

The gear for this recipe

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Method

  1. 01

    Freeze and thaw

    Wrap the loin in cling film and freeze it at -20 °C or below for at least 5 days, in a three-star freezer or better, as AESAN requires for fish that is cold smoked. If your freezer does not get there, buy the loin already frozen. Thaw it in the fridge, below 4 °C, overnight. For Christmas Eve, count back about ten days.

  2. 02

    Cure for 24 hours

    Mix 125 g of salt, 100 g of sugar, the pepper, the lemon zest and the chopped dill. Spread a third in a glass dish, lay the loin skin side down and cover it with the rest, thicker on the top. Cover with cling film and leave for 24 hours in the fridge. At 12 hours, turn it over and pour away the liquid it has released.

  3. 03

    Rinse and dry

    Rinse the loin under cold running water until all the mixture is gone and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Set it on a rack, skin side down, uncovered, in the coldest part of the fridge, below 3.3 °C if yours gets there, for 12-24 hours. The Alaska guide gives 6 to 8 hours for a 2.5 cm fillet to let the salt distribute; a 3-4 cm loin needs longer.

  4. 04

    Decide whether today works

    The kamado must be completely cold, in the shade and outdoors. Put a ThermoPro TP17H probe outside, in the shade, an hour beforehand. The generator adds some heat, so if the air is already around 25 °C, not today: wait for the night or another day. In December and January, on the Costa Blanca, any hour in the shade usually works.

  5. 05

    Load and light the base

    Fill the spiral of the Weber 17636 base with the grillart beech sawdust, tap it to settle it and press it down with a finger, without packing it. Hold a lit tea light under the start of the channel until the sawdust glows, then remove it. Leave the base outside for a few minutes to check that the ember is advancing, then put it on the charcoal grate, empty and free of ash, centred: in a 40 cm kamado there is no room to move it to one side.

  6. 06

    Set up the chamber

    Lay the loin skin side down across the centre of the roughly 33-34 cm grid of the Kamado Bono Minimo, the only place its 30 cm fit. Push one probe into the centre of the fish and leave another with its tip in the air beside the loin: in a 3-4 cm loin the centre nears the chamber temperature within a few hours, so the 30 °C ceiling applies to it too. Vents: bottom at 1 cm, top at half. A still-wet surface forms its pellicle in the smoke.

  7. 07

    Smoke for 4 to 6 hours

    Hold the chamber at 25 °C. If it climbs past that, put the ice tray in the gap left on the grid next to the loin. Above 30 °C, open the dome; if it does not drop, stop and put the salmon back in the fridge. The same if the centre probe passes 30 °C. If the smoke is white and dense, open the bottom vent a little. At 4 hours, check the colour: look for an even golden tone and go up to 6 hours at most.

  8. 08

    Rest and slice

    Wrap the loin in cling film and leave it in the fridge, below 4 °C, overnight: the smoke spreads and the flesh settles. Slice cold with the Arcos 290 mm salmon knife, on the slant, in thin slices, from the tail towards the head and leaving the skin on the board. Serve on rye bread with butter or with soured cream and dill.

  9. 09

    Store without vacuum in the fridge

    Keep the salmon wrapped below 4 °C and eat it within a few days: the Torry note gives 5-6 days for commercial smoked salmon, and a home-made one should not go past that. For more margin, slice it, vacuum pack it and take it straight to the freezer, where the Alaska guide estimates 2-3 months. Thaw in the fridge.

About this recipe

The smoked salmon on the Christmas table usually comes out of a packet. At home it takes about ten days on the calendar and just over an hour of actual work: freeze, cure in salt and sugar, dry, then give it smoke in a kamado that is unlit, without a single coal burning. The result is a different product from the guajillo salmon, which is hot-smoked at 130 °C until the centre reaches 60 °C. Here the fish stays raw, with the silky texture of a cure and smoke only on the surface. It works as a Christmas Eve starter and as the New Year zakuska (закуска), the Russian table of cold starters, where semga kholodnogo kopcheniya (семга холодного копчения) on buttered rye bread is never missing.

The calendar rules: November to April

Cold smoking means exposing the fish to smoke with the chamber below 30 °C, aiming for 25 °C, the two figures from the cold-smoking guide. Around 35 °C the fish starts to cook, according to the University of Alaska guide, and above 30 °C it spends hours in the band where bacteria grow best. On the Costa Blanca that leaves the season between November and April: from December to March any hour in the shade will do, watching the midday sun in March, and in November and April, the night and the morning. Christmas falls squarely inside it. If on a mild afternoon the probe passes 30 °C and opening the dome does not bring it down, no adjustment will fix it: stop, and the loin goes back in the fridge.

What protects the salmon is not the smoke

Cold smoke does not pasteurise or kill parasites. Safety comes from before and after. Before, freezing: AESAN (the Spanish food safety agency) lists cold-smoked marine fish among the home preparations that must be frozen because of anisakis, at -20 °C or below for at least five days, something only a three-star freezer or better guarantees; if yours does not get there, buy the loin already frozen. After, cold: fridge below 4 °C and only a few days. Vacuum packing is for the freezer only, because Clostridium botulinum type E grows without oxygen from 3.3 °C and at home you cannot measure how much salt has gone into the fish. And one warning: because of listeria, AESAN recommends that pregnant women, children, the elderly and the immunocompromised avoid smoked fish.

One cold kamado, one centre-cut loin and three probes

A 40 cm kamado such as the Kamado Bono Minimo, with a cooking grid of about 33-34 cm, takes a centre-cut loin of 1-1.2 kg, about 30 cm long, not a whole side. Its even thickness of 3-4 cm spreads salt and smoke equally. The ceramic has to be cold: if it was used the day before, it holds heat for hours. The smoke comes from the Weber 17636 base, a 20 x 20 cm spiral loaded with grillart beech sawdust, one of the mild woods that the guide to smoking woods reserves for fish. The base sits on the charcoal grate, empty and free of ash, with the salmon above. The vents, as for the cold-smoked cheese: bottom vent open one centimetre and top vent at half. Always outdoors, because a sawdust ember in a closed box produces carbon monoxide.

The dome thermometer does not read that low; a ThermoPro TP17H, with four probes and a range from -10 °C, watches three things at once: the ambient temperature of the chamber next to the loin, the temperature outside in the shade, and the centre of the fish. The smoking hours come from the Torry technical note, which gives enough flavour and colour at around 5 hours in an industrial kiln at 27 °C; in the kamado, 4 to 6 hours is a starting point, not a measured figure. After a night in the fridge, wrapped, the Arcos 290 mm salmon knife (salmonero), with its long, flexible blade, takes thin slices on the slant in a single pass.

In 30 seconds

A centre-cut loin of 1-1.2 kg frozen for 5 days at -20 °C, 24 h of curing with 125 g of salt and 100 g of sugar, 12-24 h of uncovered drying in the fridge and 4-6 h of beech smoke in the unlit kamado: chamber at 25 °C, never above 30 °C. Fridge below 4 °C, a few days only, and vacuum packing goes in the freezer. Not suitable for pregnant women or at-risk groups.

Editor's tips

  • If the cold window reaches the start of December, use it: smoke, slice, vacuum pack and freeze. On 23 December, move it to the fridge to thaw. The freezing afterwards does not replace the freezing before the cure.
  • Before a salmon, practise on a semi-cured cheese or butter, which are more forgiving and teach you to read the smoke and the probe. The cold-smoking guide recommends them for beginners.
  • Sawdust is the format the base is made for: a fine grain that burns evenly. Chips and chunks are for hot smoking over the coals, and heating pellets are not meant for food.
  • If someone at the table cannot eat cold-smoked fish, the guajillo salmon reaches 60 °C in the centre, and AESAN considers that 60 °C for one minute throughout the piece destroys anisakis. For pregnant women, the recommendation is still to avoid smoked fish.

Gear for this recipe

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  • Kamado Bono Minimo 40 cm

    Kamado Bono Minimo 40 cm

    For cold smoking you do not need a big kamado, you need a sealed ceramic box with two vents. The 40 cm **Kamado Bono Minimo** has a grid of about 33-34 cm, and it takes a centre-cut loin of 1-1.2 kg and about 30 cm, on the grid above the generator: the separation that counts is height, not a side. Below, the 20 x 20 cm base fits on the charcoal grate, and the fibreglass gasket the manufacturer declares keeps the smoke circulating slowly with the bottom vent open one centimetre. A whole side will not fit: that takes a larger diameter. And one condition: the kamado is not lit that day, and if it was used the day before, check that the ceramic is completely cold, because it holds heat for hours.

    €472

    View on AmazonRead review
  • Weber Base de ahumado en frío, Negro, 20 x 20 x 3 cm (vista 1)

    Weber 17636: spiral cold smoke generator base, 20 x 20 cm

    Without a charcoal fire, the smoke has to come from somewhere that barely heats. The **Weber 17636 base** is a 20 x 20 cm tray with a spiral channel that is filled with sawdust and lit at one end with a tea light: the ember advances slowly through the maze and releases a thread of smoke with very little heat, just what a chamber that must not pass 30 °C needs. Weber speaks of smoke "for hours" without giving a fixed figure, and this salmon calls for 4 to 6. It fits any kamado from 33 cm, so on the charcoal grate of the Minimo it goes in with room to spare.

    €40

    View on AmazonRead review
  • grillart Premium Harina de haya – 3 kg – ideal para fumar en frío – 100% madera de haya natural (vista 1)

    grillart beech sawdust 0.5-1.0 mm for cold smoking, 3 kg

    The spiral of the Weber base needs fine sawdust, not chips or pellets. The **grillart beech sawdust** has a grain of 0.5 to 1.0 mm according to its data sheet, which recommends it for cold-smoke generators; neither of the two sheets mentions the other, so the pairing is a deduction from grain size, not a declared compatibility. Beech is among the mild woods, with a sweet and discreet smoke, that the woods guide reserves for fish: over five hours on a fatty salmon loin, a strong wood would leave bitterness. The 3 kg bag gives several loads, also for cheese or butter.

    €26

    View on AmazonRead review
  • TempPro TP17H Termómetro para carne Termómetro digital para cocina,4 sondas (vista 1)

    ThermoPro TP17H: 4-probe wired thermometer, -10 to 300 °C

    In cold smoking the deciding figure is a low one, and the dome thermometer does not read it. The **ThermoPro TP17H** has four wired probes and a range from -10 °C, so a December night does not leave it blind. In this recipe three of them work: one with the tip in the air next to the loin, marking the 25 °C target and the 30 °C ceiling; another pushed into the centre of the fish, which within a few hours approaches the chamber temperature and must not pass 30 °C either; and the third outside, in the shade, which tells you before you start whether today works. No app: you read it on the screen.

    €36

    View on AmazonRead review
  • Arcos Universal Cuchillo Salmonero / Pescado 290 mm

    Arcos Universal Salmon / Fish Slicing Knife 290 mm

    A cured and smoked salmon is eaten in thin, long slices, and a wide, stiff chef's knife crushes them as it saws. The **Arcos Universal 290 mm salmon knife** (salmonero), from the Albacete maker, has a narrow, long, flexible blade: it cuts on the slant in a single pass, follows the skin without taking it along and produces even slices from a 30 cm loin. It works best on cold salmon straight from the fridge, after the wrapped rest, because the cured flesh is firm. A pass on the honing steel before each use keeps the edge straight, and that shows in slices that do not tear.

    €25

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FAQ

  • How do you make home-smoked salmon?

    With a loin frozen for at least 5 days at -20 °C, a 24-hour cure in salt and sugar, 12 to 24 hours of uncovered drying in the fridge and 4 to 6 hours of cold smoke, with the chamber at 25 °C and never above 30 °C. In a kamado it is done with the charcoal unlit and a sawdust generator. Afterwards, fridge below 4 °C and only a few days.

  • How much salt and sugar does the cure for 1 kg of salmon need?

    For a 1 kg loin, 125 g of salt and 100 g of sugar, spread over all of the flesh. The cure lasts 24 hours in the fridge and the loin is turned over at 12 hours. Afterwards it is rinsed, dried and left uncovered in the fridge before the smoke.

  • Does a whole side of salmon fit in a small kamado?

    No. A 40 cm kamado, with a grid of about 33-34 cm, takes a centre-cut loin of about 30 cm, not a whole side. The centre-cut loin, of even thickness, cures and smokes uniformly.

  • Can you cold smoke salmon in a kamado?

    Yes, with the kamado unlit and completely cold. Any live coal pushes the chamber far above the 30 °C of cold smoking, so the smoke comes from a maze generator loaded with sawdust, on the empty charcoal grate. The closed ceramic and the two vents keep the smoke circulating slowly, and a probe next to the loin tells you whether the chamber is still below 30 °C. On the Costa Blanca, the good season runs from November to April.

  • How long does home-smoked salmon last in the fridge?

    A few days, always below 4 °C. The Torry technical note gives 5-6 days for commercial smoked salmon, and a home-made one should not go past that, because listeria grows even in the fridge. Do not vacuum pack it for the fridge: type E botulism grows without oxygen from 3.3 °C. To keep it longer, sliced, vacuum packed and in the freezer.

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