Kitchen Essential

Dry salting and other methods

In addition to the strong brines which I favour for use in most of my own smoking and curing operations, and the sweet pickle brine already described for use during other processes, I will also outline alternative brining methods and seasoning techniques, and dry salting methods for fish curing which you may prefer since dry salting removes more water from the fish during the curing process than does brining. The smoking process can then be shortened, as the fish only needs to make half the total required weight loss during actual smoking as the other half has already been lost during dry salting.

To dry salt fish, either filleted or split, a bed of either plain vacuum-dried salt, or special dry cure, which I will describe later, should be made about 1 in. thick on a wooden or plastic surface. When several fish are to be dry salted, a stack of fish should be formed by laying a split fish, or two fillets side by side, skin side down on the bed of salt. The cut surfaces should be covered with a 1/2-in. layer of salt over the thickest parts of the fish, thinning to a mere sprinkling towards the thinnest parts of the tails. Another split fish or pair of fillets is then placed on top of this layer of salt, skin side down, and the process repeated until the stack is complete, the last layer of fish being covered with a ‘/₂-in. layer of salt or special cure (see below), with the exception of the tail. The salting time varies according to size, fat content and species of fish involved. Small salmon fillets (11/2 - 2 lb) require about 5 - 6 hours. Medium fillets (3 - 4 lb) require 8 - 9 hours, while fillets of 5 lb and upwards will require 12 - 14 hours. Note that, in the case of split fish, double the weight of a certain sized fillet only requires salting for the same length of time as quoted for a single fillet. During the salting process brine will be formed as water is extracted from the fish and drains away from the stack of fish. After salting, the fish should be well washed in cold water to remove all traces of surface salt, then soaked in fresh water for 5 minutes and hung up to dry for 24 hours. In the case of non-fatty fish such as cod or haddock, salting times should be decreased by 25%.

Dry cure for fish

8 lb salt

4 lb brown sugar

2 oz saltpetre

4 tablespoons white pepper 2 tablespoons garlic powder

Special dry cure for fish

8 lb salt

4 lb brown sugar

2 oz saltpetre

6 tablespoons garlic powder 6 tablespoons crushed cloves 6 tablespoons onion powder

6 tablespoons crushed bay leaves 6 tablespoons crushed mace

Pre-drying

With the exception of trout and eels, which are placed in the smoker when wet with brine, most products will benefit by a pre-drying period before being placed in the smoker. This will get rid of any excess moisture and will reduce the smoking period required accordingly. It is recommended that salmon sides should hang in a room at about 70°F for 24 hours prior to smoking, or at least overnight. Poultry, venison, game and beef should hang for the same period, but small birds such as quail, grouse and woodcock only need to pre-dry for about 3 hours. Of course the relative humidity of the atmosphere will have some bearing on the required pre-drying period, so one must again ‘play it by ear’. It is rather important that small birds, pheasants, venison, beef and fish should be protected from a drying wind when pre-drying, otherwise they will case harden, with the same results as if over-rapid smoke drying was allowed to take place (domestic ducks would not be similarly affected, owing to the very oily nature of their skins).

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