My First Attempt At Nova Lox Is Underway ~ New Cold Smoker Tray

[thirdeye]

I'm an old hand at hot smoking fish. Last night I took one 1/2 of 1 nice fillet (about 7" long) and I'm trying my hand at cold smoked Nova Lox. It's a lot of prep and time, so it won't be ready to sample until Monday. If it does not pan out, I guess I'll have a new cut bait to try out on the next ice fishing trip. Heheheee.

Instead of salmon I found some outstanding steelhead, very fresh, real thick, skin-on and wonderful fat content. I did a salt/sugar dry cure for 9 hours. Then did a brine cure for 7 hours. A 1 hour soak-out followed. Then it was seasoned really lightly with white pepper, black pepper and dill weed. Now it rests 10 or 12 hours, then gets cold smoked. Then it's rested again for 8 hours before serving.

Here is my new cold smoking tray. It fits in any smoker, and you adjust your vents to keep the wood dust burning. The single row of dust smoked for 4 hours the other day when I was smoking some cheese. The smoker temp never got above 45°, and the cheese was still cool to the touch when I removed it.

[reinhard1]

it will be interesting to see how it turnes out. you were right about the prep work and the fish look great. that's a cool looking cold smoking tray. i love that picture of the close up of the fillet. have a great New Year. good luck.

[thirdeye]

I tried a few pieces of the lox (cured and chilled only) this morning, along with a piece of the hot smoked that came off my smoker last night. I really like it.... it's not salty and has a fish taste (but not fishy taste). In an hour the lox goes into the cold smoker and will emerge as Nova lox later today. Tomorrow it will be ready for a second test.

[reinhard1]

that looks awesome!!!!great presentation as well. good luck.

[thirdeye]

How do you describe what you taste when eating lox?

[reinhard1]

great texture, moist with a mild fish taste [ in a good way ] with a hint of salt. i dont think i have ever had it with added spices so that would be better yet. with the thin slices the texture is totaly different than the typical smoked salmon. lot's of prep work, but ultimatly well worth it. good luck.

[prov1900]

Thirdeye,

Can you explain that diffuser thing a little more? I have the Big Chief and would like to tame down the heat a little more and do something like you did (looks great btw...as usual). Was that something you dreamed up?

Could you use that for pork loins to make Canadian bacon with? Of course, after curing them.

BTW, my description of eating lox would be a hint of fish, a hint of smoke (very slight) and the great sensation of eating sushi/sashimi. (Don't know how to make it, so I buy the Sam's Club stuff)

[bloc004]

Google A Maze N Products. They are in Savage, MN.

[prov1900]

WHOA! 4oz of pellets for 8 hours? That is cool. Thanks for the heads up. I will be glad to support a local Minnesota business.

[pikebaybum]

looks like a cold smoke tray from todd

[thirdeye]

Thirdeye,

Can you explain that diffuser thing a little more? I have the Big Chief and would like to tame down the heat a little more and do something like you did (looks great btw...as usual). Was that something you dreamed up?

Could you use that for pork loins to make Canadian bacon with? Of course, after curing them.

BTW, my description of eating lox would be a hint of fish, a hint of smoke (very slight) and the great sensation of eating sushi/sashimi. (Don't know how to make it, so I buy the Sam's Club stuff)

My A-Maze-N tray is the 6X9 one (or 6X8) one for using sawdust. In this photo I had one lane filled with wood and got 4 hours of burn time.

The dust is easy to light, and smoke is very gentle. If for some reason I wanted a heavier smoke, I could just fill the lane on the other side of the tray with dust and light both sides. (there are two lighting holes) The tray is very sturdy and has a X shaped support on the bottom.

Yes, you could use the tray for "flavor smoking" meats (like your cured loins, cured pork belly, sausage, or some fresh ribs or chicken for a few hours but you would have to finish them off to the proper (and safe) finish temperature using an additional heat source as the smoke tray does not create much heat at all. Generally fresh meats should only be in the danger zone (40°F to 140°F) for 4 hours. So if you flavor smoked some chicken thighs for 2 hours and then moved them to a grill you would be fine.

A Big Chief (or any of their other models)is an ideal unit for using the cold smoke tray because of the rack system. As you can see, I remove the drip tray so it won't interfere with air flow, and set the smoker tray on a low rack. As far as air flow, I made a brace to hold the bottom vent open, using some thin metal banding material. It is an "L" shape with one leg 4-3/4" long and the other leg 1-1/2" long. The short leg fits under the vent and is held in place with a clamp (a clothes pin will work) and the other end has one corner snipped off so it rests against the side of the Big Chief. With the lid on, the draft is perfect, you really have to look to see smoke coming out, but when you remove the lid the box has plenty of sweet blue smoke inside.

If you look really close on the right side of the smoker, you can see a whisp of blue smoke.

When I cold smoked the lox, I turned my Big Chief on for 10 minutes (no chip pan on the element) and preheated the box to 80°. Then about once an hour I would turn it on for 10 minutes or so. I was using the heat to slightly dry the surface of the fish while smoking. When I smoke cheese I never turn on the Big Chief.

The smoked Nova Lox was really good. When I sampled the cured only lox I thought the texture was like soft gelatin (not chewy or raw feeling or anything), after smoking it was more tender and of course had a light smoky flavor. The color changed slightly.

I took this styrofoam go-box to my neighborhood tavern during the Gator Bowl to get some other opinions. I wrapped a blue ice pack in plastic to keep the lox chilled and served it with crackers and onion slices. One dude said it looked too much like cut bait to try it, but a lot of others did (including two self proclaimed sushi gurus) and everyone liked it.

[prov1900]

Thank you. Very educational. I am jealous that you have the Big Chief with the removable top lid. I had that one and tossed it after the heating element wore out (I know, bad move...at the time, I didn't even ponder the fact that those could be replaced or even substitued...pre "good internet info"). So, my second model has the front door thing which is terrible in comparison. When I had the top lid model, we made smoked deviled eggs alot that turned out perfectly (leave the lid off and replace it with an elevated smoker cardboard box...my version of cold smoking).

We still do the deviled eggs and they are always a huge hit, I just don't think that they are quite as good as the 'old days'.

Thanks again Thirdeye. As usual, your picture tutorials are much appreciated.