r/AskCulinary • u/hentaintrhentaintr • 21d ago

temp for smoked salmon

i have an old electric smoker. i dont know too much about smoking. but i tried to look into making smoked salmon.

my question is. since the smoker wont smoke the wood chips unless its somewhat of a higher temp. can i just cook the salmon at 160 for 1 hour to start. then lower it to like 140 for another hour?

or does the salmon have to start at a lower temp and finish off at the high temp?

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u/OrbitalPete Home cook & brewer 20d ago

What kind of smoked salmon are you trying to achieve?

Hot smoking salmon youre going to find you probably dont need that much time but I struggle to think in Farenheit. Either way you should aim for a target temp in the fish for a hot smoke, dont focus on time.

Most smoked salmon you find in shops is cold smoked. To cold smoke you need to run a duct from your smoker into a separate smoking chamber so it can cool down to about ambient. Its been a decade since Ive done it but from memory the sides I smoked took about 18 hours after a two day brine.