COLD Smoking method for Salmon
Place a fish side on good quality dry rock salt, covering it with salt and leaving it for four to six hours. Then rinse and place in a kiln for up to 10 hours. Sometimes it will be smoked quicker but it is imperative that the temperature stays under 30 degrees.
If the fish is HOT Smoked the side still has to be cured and smoked for 8 hours at under 30 degrees but the last 2 hours the temperature is raised to 80 degrees.
The difference between the two methods means that in 'Cold Smoking' the salt cures the fish and the smoke, penetrating through the fillet, provides the flavour but the fish is not actually cooked, whereas in 'Hot Smoking' the fish is cooked right through as well as being smoked.