Cold Smoking and Canning Salmon for the Winter

It's been almost one year since cold smoking and canning my last batch of salmon. It worked out that I have 4 jars of my old batch left in the pantry.  I have been careful with how I've used them.... it is so tasty. I wanted to make the jars last the year. It worked out well for me. :)

I washed the salmon and made slits without cutting through the skin.

The cuts help both the cure and smoke penetrate into the meat.
After cutting, I grab the tail end and the head end of each filet and give them a gentle pull. This lengthens and stretches the skin on the fish and opens the cuts even farther. You have to do this gently.

I use a simple cure, three parts brown sugar mixed with one part canning salt. I use the smoked salmon in a variety of ways and do not want "extra" flavors in the finished, canned meat. This simple cure works best for my dishes.

I coat the salmon well, getting the cure into the slits and on the skin side too... make as many batches of cure as you need to to be able to cover the fish.

I wrap and place the fish into a container to catch any drippings.  Cure in the fridge overnight.

I rinse the cure from the fish with cool water.  Making sure to rinse in the slits too.

Then let the fish dry before smoking.  

I hang the cured salmon in the smokehouse...

Went with a mixture of alder and apple woods and kept the smokehouse temperature under 75F.

Since the canning process intensifies the smoke flavor, a 2 hour smoke is all that is needed.

The alder wood, apple wood cold smoked salmon...

The salmon is ready to can.  I remove the meat from the skin, fill hot sterilized canning jars leaving a 1 inch head space.

I use 1/2 pint jars. I can get 4 smoked salmon patties out of one jar which is enough for 2 meals for me.  Also the smaller 1/2 pint jars work well for making dips and smoked salmon spreads.

To each jar I add a sliver of onion and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to keep the smoked salmon moist.

Wipe the jar rims with a clean cloth and top with hot lids...

Ready for the pressure canner...

My pressure canner hold 24  half pints so that's how many jars I prepare at one time...

For my altitude, I process the salmon at 12 pounds of pressure for 100 minutes. Check your canner for times and pressure in your area.

The canned smoked salmon ready to cool...

Had to test a jar. :)

It was pretty tasty!  Think I'm set for the winter. :)