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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

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. :)


26 comments:

Frugal Canadian Hermit said...

That curing, smoking, canning process is pretty interesting there Jeanie. Seems like quite a complex process though. That salmon looks pretty fine.

Ralphy said...

Sure looks yummy! Did you custom order the salmon or did the grocery have it?

Also, just got word about the Foss lake cold case discovery. Two cars side by side with in a year of each other seems beyond coincidence. This is the kind of stuff Stephen King writes about. Gotta be careful, even in western Oklahoma!

Ohiofarmgirl said...

fantastic!

LindaG said...

I would buy some of your salmon. ;-)
Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

This is a fantastic looking recipe, it's encouraging me to buy a smoker just for this salmon!

cowgirl said...

Thanks Mark! It's a bit of work for two days but then I get to enjoy it the rest of the year so I guess it's worth it.
Hope you're doing well. I've enjoyed your canoeing pics, looks so beautiful up there! :)

cowgirl said...

Ralphy thanks! The store carried the fish. I bought it on sale and waited for cooler weather to smoke it. Had to smoke it in the morning but it worked out fine.

That was really creepy about the 2 cars. Can't believe they weren't discovered before now. Pretty strange....
I'm sure I'll have that on my mind next time I'm at the lake fishing!

cowgirl said...

Thank you Ohiofarmgirl! :)

cowgirl said...

Linda I'd be happy to give you some! Thanks!

cowgirl said...

Thank you Lilliesinthecountry!

Kathy Shea Mormino, The Chicken Chick said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bushman said...

Looks great! Do you have a similar process for venison? I'll have to dig thru your blog again. I just got my new pressure cooker this year. Looks just like yours!

Anonymous said...

This is a must. Nothing better than smoked fish when it starts to get cooler outside. Time to run to the local fish market since we can't find any Salmon down here. If you ever find Whitefish, give it a try. Smokes great.

Chris said...

I've just never worked up the nerve to do any serious canning, I'm afraid I'll slip up and kill someone. I should have paid attention when my grandmother was making it.

Three Dogs BBQ said...

Looking good Jeanie. I bet it smelled great around your house.

cowgirl said...

Bushman thanks! I see that you found the venison recipe. Hope it works out well for you. Have a great weekend! :)

cowgirl said...

Joe thanks! I will check for whitefish. I bet it's really tasty!
Hope all is well with you, I'm still enjoying your blog. :)

cowgirl said...

Chris I bet you would do great at canning. Your cooking skills are excellent! Hope you have a great weekend! :)

cowgirl said...

Bill thanks! The salmon is disappearing fast. lol
Hope all is well with you, have a great weekend! :)

Salmonberry907 said...

This is how a lot of us up here in Alaska cut and smoke our fish, but we fillet the bone out so that we can flip the entire filleted salmon onto the rack. We also make strips. It looks like your doing a fantastic job!

Salmonberry907 said...

Your smoked salmon looks great! That is how we cut and smoke our salmon up here in Alaska, except we only cut out the backbone so when we hang the fish, we just flip it onto the racks. You can also cut the bones out by the belly if you wanted...smoking the fish without the belly part gives the fish less of a rancid flavor when you smoke it.

Seba Cantero said...

That was great! Say, what are you up to these days? Do you still make smoked meats? Raise schrimps?
Cheers!

cowgirl said...

Thank you Salmonberry... I appreciate the info!
Would love to get hold of some fresh salmon. The only option I have here are the pre-cut sides. I love smoked salmon and these jars last the year for me.
Thanks for stopping by!!

cowgirl said...

Thank you Seba!
I've been too busy to get to my blog. I'm still living on the little ranch, raising calves and critters. Still smoking meats too.
Went camping/fishing once this spring. Hope to go again soon.
Thanks so much for asking and thank you for stopping by. Hope all is well with you!

Robin said...

I am going to try this with Bighead Carp and Common Carp. They are fabulous smoked but have the fine Y bones that are difficult to remove Pressure canning will dissolve the bones

Asian Carp taste similar to Cod. Canned common Carp actually taste similar to canned salmon

cowgirl said...

Hi Robin!
For some reason, your post didn't show in my comment section. Sorry for the delay in getting this posted!
I've tasted canned carp that a friend made, he used a mustard sauce and a hot sauce mixture in some of the jars...they were tasty! I pressure cooked some common carp recently and it didn't turn out well. I bet pressure canning will be the way to go!
Thanks for the info about asian carp. I've caught those while fishing in Texas....they get huge! I gave them away but will keep them next time. lol
Good luck with the smoking and canning!
Thanks for stopping by!