Kitchen Essential

As I have already mentioned, the addition of salt to the raw material is an essential part of the smoke curing process. The product is either completely covered in dry salt for a period, or soaked in brine of varying strengths according to what is being processed.

Dry salting is favoured by the commercial fish smoking concerns, particularly in the case of salmon, as the dry salt attracts moisture from the tissues of the fish, causing a weight loss of up to 9% during this part of the process. It follows, therefore, that the time the fish will need in the smoking kiln will be much reduced, as about half the weight loss required in the finished product will already have taken place. So the whole process can be speeded up, and of course in any commercial enterprise time means money. To home smokers, speeding the process is not important, as in any case they will be conducting the operation partly as a hobby. I have no hesitation, therefore, in recommending the use of brine as opposed to dry salt (but see ‘Dry Salting and other methods’).

Brining

In common with all minority activities of a traditional nature, there are a number of closely guarded ’secrets’ connected with smoke curing. So it is with brining. In bygone days, other secret ingredients were added to the brines: brown sugar, molasses, rum, white pepper, saltpetre, cloves and bay leaves, all of which were alleged to impart additional flavour to smoked salmon; yet all that is required to make a first- class smoked product is pure vacuum-dried salt, which is very cheap.

Originally, wooden brining tubs were employed. Metal is to be avoided as it can taint the product. Modern plastic vessels are particularly suitable, and a plastic dustbin is ideal. Crockery or earthenware vessels can also be used for brining small quantities of food.

As the home smoker is unlikely to be dealing with large quantities of food at any one time, there is no reason why you should not use a fresh lot of brine for everything you process. This is far more hygenic than keeping used brine and adding more salt to it in order to keep the strength up to the required level, as bacteria can breed in stale brine.

In large smoking plants it is customary to use the same lot of brine for several batches of fish, adding more salt and checking the concentration of the brine by floating a salinometer in the liquid. This instrument gives a reading of the salt concentration. The raw product absorbs salt from the brine solution, causing it to become weaker, hence the need to add more solid salt. The most widely used brine is an 80% solution, which is formed by dissolving 2 lb 10³4 oz of salt in each gallon of water. Make the solution by adding the salt to 3 pints of hot or boiling water, giving it a good stir to dissolve the salt partly, then adding another 5 pints of cold water and stirring again.

When brining, it is not a good idea to pack the fish or other articles too closely together, otherwise the brine may be denied access to all parts. As they will float to the surface, they must be weighted down, so that they remain at all times completely submerged. A good idea is to place a wire cake cooling rack on the surface, with a fairly heavy object such as a 7-lb weight on top of the rack. A ¹/2-gallon plastic ice cream box partially filled with water also makes a convenient weight. During the brining period, it is advisable to lift the weight once or twice and agitate the contents. After the brine has been used, it can be re-used as a good non-selective weedkiller, particularly on waste ground or garden paths. Brining tubs should always be well washed after use.

Fish should always be brined separately from meat, poultry or game, or these other products will become fish-tainted. There is, however, no objection to their sharing the same smoking kiln later on.

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