Cold Smoking Plate - Nova Salmon

[wmeister1]

Has anyone been able to cold smoke salmon?

I would love to figure out how to do this with my #2.  We love cold smoked salmon and were wondering if it was possible to do with the cold plate on this unit.  Need a method to do this.  Any help?

Thanks...

 

[Muttley]

I ended up using an AMNPS for my cold smoking duties.  I have an old an an old aquarium pump I pipe through he drip hole to give me all the O2 I need.  You could also use the AMNPS on a weber and achieve the same results. 

 

[Pork Belly]

I have not tried it in my #3 but I have done a lot in other smokers. I prefer to cold smoke when the ambient air temp is 40F or below. I have done jerky at 100 which technically is still cold smoke. I had good results with the jerky.

 

[NDKoze]

I bet you could use a James Jerky Dryer to keep the air flowing too.

 

[Chipper]

This a good topic.  What is cold smoking and how do you do it?  On You Tube, under "cold smoking," there are weird videos of guys demonstrating how to build a cold smoker out of.... grandma's stereo unit, outhouses and garbage cans!  Some discussion on how to use the cold smoking plate, some recipes, cures would all be interesting.  By the way, I visited a competitor's forum and was disappointed at the quality of information their customers were receiving.  You guys do a great job! 

 

[NDKoze]

It is basically the practice of applying smoke flavor without cooking the product.

The best use is probably to cold smoke cheese. You can't smoke with much heat or the cheese will melt. But with cold smoking you can apply the smoke flavor and not melt the cheese.

I am sure there are other examples. But cheese is probably the most common.

 

[Pork Belly]

Cold smoking is done at temps of 100F and below. Typically it is done over several hours and sometimes days.
The cold smoke plate blocks a majority of the heat from the element shielding what you are smoking. You can buy that or use a sheet pan. SI recommends using a pan of ice on the plate. I would freeze large blocks of ice in foil pans and load them in the smoker on the cold plate or sheet pan. This is my favorite cold smoked salmon:
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1820.0

I used chips, but I'm sure pellets would work good to. I found blocks not generating enough smoke at 100F.

 

[Chipper]

Pork Belly, how much wood do you use and do you keep the smoke flowing (reloading the smoke box?)the entire smoke cycle?  Can you over smoke the Salmon, make it bitter? 

Thank you guys, a good explanation of cold smoking I was looking for.  I'm taking the plunge and ordering a cold plate for my #1.  There has to be more to Smoking than just, ribs, brisket and butt. 

 

[Pork Belly]

Cold smoking calls for a constant application of smoke. You are flavoring not cooking. I use a large hand full of chips about 2 oz and replenish as necessary to keep the smoke flowing.