Storing cured produce

[Oddley]

Do you blokes freeze your fresh salmon, then defrost it before smoking?

[welsh wizard]

Hi Oddley

Yep I do this when I have to and as long as I use the salmon within 3 months then I still get a very good product coming back out.

In fact following adivce I have recieved you can freeze, defrost, smoke and then refreeze if you really need to but as smoked salmon has a vac pack shelf life of around 14 days and half this if not vac packed I tend to eat it or sell it well within these time frames.

Cheers WW

[Oddley]

I was asking because it is now EU law, that raw fish must be frozen to a temperature of at least -20C (-4F) for more than a day in order to kill parasites.

If you are unsure of this advice I would suggest you contact the FSA. The FSA are having a bit of a crackdown on it at the moment.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... shi128.xml

I think this may also apply to smoked salmon. Not sure though.

[welsh wizard]

Thanks Oddley.

Total B*****y Madness! I will have to be spraying them with anti bacterial spray next!

Oh well gone are the days of fresh fish in resturants then I suppose...................

Cheers WW

[aris]

Properly trained sushi chefs are taught to look for parasites and are experts in spotting any dodgy fish. I think the problem comes in where you just get any old person with a few weeks training making sushi. A "proper" Japanese sushi chef takes 10 years to fully complete their training.

[saucisson]

I'm neither professionally trained nor EU approved so please take my advice with a pinch of salt (pun intended, sorry ).

WW: Fish takes up salt so much faster than pork it is scary, 20g salt 10g sugar is what I use for bacon, if I cure salmon in that mix for more than a day or so it is so salty as to be unpleasant, so I just leave it overnight then cold smoke it. Pictures to follow

I'm not sure on weight loss on curing/smoking I'll check next time.

Aris: I don't ever freeze, perhaps I should...



Dave

[jpj]

if you look for pdf "enfe07045" on the food.gov.uk website the enforced freezing of fish debate is further clarified.

smoked salmon is not included as it's not classified as a raw or nearly raw product

unlike sushi & sashimi

[Ptarmigan]

Oh well gone are the days of fresh fish in resturants then I suppose...................

Umm, I think not
(as Descartes might have said before he vanished !)
I read it as only applying to fish to be consumed raw.

[Oddley]

The FSA .pdf only talks about farmed salmon, fed on pellets. The new rules, I think apply to wild fish. The wild salmon for instance, are having a bit of an epidemic of roundworm, Anisakis simplex.

So If I had a wild salmon apart from being very happy I think I would freeze it before smoking.

http://www.invernessanglingclub.co.uk/rules/news.htm

http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstor ... m_parasite

[Richierich]

........

WW: Fish takes up salt so much faster than pork it is scary, 20g salt 10g sugar is what I use for bacon, if I cure salmon in that mix for more than a day or so it is so salty as to be unpleasant, so I just leave it overnight then cold smoke it. Pictures to follow

I'm not sure on weight loss on curing/smoking I'll check next time.

...................

I used the 20g salt and honey/whiskey on a small side overnight, it has lost 10%, looks like a cool overcast day is on the cards, so it will be cold smoked today, gonna allow it to dry in the smoker, although it will have had 5 hours in the fridge this morning before smoking, I can't get in the garden yet, theres washing out.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Ptarmigan

I guess I was having a fit of peak at the time of reading the article. I am sure you are correct.

With regard to Smoked Salmon I bury my fish in salt before smoking so I would have thought that would have knocked out any of the creepy things that are lurking.

Cheers WW