Kitchen Essential

Salmon farming in Scotland has become a new industry. Farmed salmon are excellent to eat but muscle tone is flaccid compared to wild fish, which continually exercise their bodies in the normal course of their existence. Farmed salmon may tear under their own weight when hung, so it is recommended that the fillets are smoked flat on wire racks.

The ribs can either be left intact until the sides are smoked, or can be removed at this stage by taking them out along with a thin layer of flesh. I favour the former course in the case of frozen salmon, as I believe the less the sides are disturbed before smoking the better, to avoid damage.

A slit should be cut behind the shoulder plates and lug bones, through which to thread string to hang the sides by. Some authorities suggest that the skin of the fish should be scored in three places, directly over the thickest parts of the fish to assist salt penetration; but in my own experience this is entirely unnecessary, and undesirable as it disfigures theside.

An alternative method to filleting, which is sometimes preferred in the case of small fish, is splitting. The whole, ungutted fish is split down the back, including the head, and the guts and blood channel are removed, leaving the belly intact. The spine is taken out, save for 3 in. of the tail, which is left to strengthen the fish during subsequent handling, as the fish is smoked suspended by the tail. After pre-salting, a suitable stick is passed through cuts behind the lug bones, to keep the fish opened up. The eyes and gills are also removed.

Pre-salting or brining

If dry salting is favoured, the fish is well washed in cold water, then rubbed with fine salt. The sides are laid on a 1-in.-thick bed of salt in a suitable receptacle. A 1/2-in. layer of salt is spread on the body of the side, but with only a sprinkling towards the tail. The other side is laid skin down on the first, and another 1/2-in. layer of salt is spread on top. The time required in the salt obviously varies according to the size of the fish and fat content. Here I find myself at variance with any previous information I have read on the subject. It is suggested that sides from salmon varying between 8 and 24 lb should be salted from 12 to 36 hours. This is far too long; I consider the resulting product to be inedible and would advocate a reduction of these saltings times by half. After salting, the sides should be well washed to remove surface salt and should feel springy and firm to the touch. The fish should then be hung up to drip for 24 hours, preferably at a room temperature of about 65 - 70^° F.

During dry salting, the sides will lose 8 - 9% in weight, and wastage through gutting and filleting will probably amount toabout 25%.

Brining

This is my favoured method. An 80% brine is prepared (2 lb 10³4 oz of salt to 1 gallon of water) and the sides are totally immersed for periods varying from 1 hour to 3 hours, according to size and fat content, frozen salmon requiring less than fresh fish on account of oil loss. I once prepared a 7-lb September hen fish in poor condition, very red and distended with spawn. I was asked by the clients to salt it lightly, as commercial salt cures always seemed to be too salty for their tastes. I brined this fish for only 50 minutes and this was entirely to their palates.

The brined fish should be hung up, unwashed. In my opinion it is even more preferable to hang the fish up to dry for 24 hours than in the case of dry salted fish, as the sides will only lose 11/2 - 3% weight during brining. Brined fish, hungin the manner described, will form a good salt gloss which adds to their appearance.

Smoking

Prior to dry salting or brining, at least one side should be weighed and the weight recorded. The finished product must lose 17 - 18% in weight, so you must do a sum and work out what weight 17 - 18% is of the whole, subtract this from the whole, and the answer is what the smoked side should weigh. So under traditional methods, which depend to a certain extent on atmospheric humidity and ambient temperatures, smoking time required is not therefore a matter of so many hours but until the product has dropped to the correct weight. This is likely to take from 24 to 60 hours and I have even heard of salmon smoking for 4 days. Smoke temperatures should be about 80^°F, never higher than 90^°F.

Storage

When the salmon has finished smoking, it should not be eaten immediately but should be allowed to mature for at least 24 hours. According to the Norwegians, a salmon should be caught on a Thursday, smoked over the weekend and eaten on thefollowing Wednesday.

Smoked salmon has a fairly good shelf life under conditions of ordinary refrigeration — about a week, with a 10-day maximum. However, it is a commodity which deep freezes particularly well, so there is no need to push it to its limit of keeping time. It can either be cut into pieces, on the skin, or be cut into slices, wrapped in aluminium foil and deep frozen.

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