Freezing smoked salmon

[harvey lee]

I smoke alot of salmon over the summer and fall months.

If one were to freeze some, how would it be best to do and how long will it keep in the freezer? I would probably vacumn seal it.

Does it taste as good as fresh off the smoker?

Thanks

[DonBo]

I do it all the time with smoked trout Tom. Vacuum seal it and freeze it, no problems. Yes, still tastes great when thawed out later.

[rexlan]

I smoke alot of salmon over the summer and fall months.

If one were to freeze some, how would it be best to do and how long will it keep in the freezer? I would probably vacumn seal it.

Does it taste as good as fresh off the smoker?

Thanks

How in the world can pre-frozed anything taste as good as fresh off the grill/smoker ... silly boy!

If you just freeze after smoking then vacuum seal is you best shot. Probably will keep a year but lose quality daily. It will also strip most of the oil out of the fish.

We used to freeze the whole fish in the round (guts and all = in-the-round). The only salmon worth smoking IMHO is the king. The reds are to rubbery and the silvers are much too dry (low oil). Thaw a couple occasionally and fillet or whatever then smoke them ... That is as close to "fresh" as you will ever get. We could hold fish in excellent condition 2 years pretty easy in vacuum seal cyrovac bags. They bags we buy now are not cryovac unfortunately.

On salmon the bellies are the best and turn out great with a hot smoke.

[Alagnak]

If you vacuum seal it nobody will ever know the difference . In fact if you microwave it for a few seconds to get the aroma of the fish oil going most will swear it is right off the smoker

[hockeybc69]

I vacuum and freeze every time I make it. And when I make it, I am making several fillets at once. And there is no way its going to all be eaten in a timely manner if I didnt freeze it.

I couldnt honestly couldnt tell you if it loses taste or not. If it does over time, its minimal because it goes dang fast whenever I put it out.

I vacuum it while its still hot, and when it seals up, there is a lot of juice in the bag. That juice isnt going anywhere but staying with the fish in the bag. My boss claims that freezing them dries them out.... not sure how thats possible if they are vacuum sealed...

[reinhard1]

freezing them could dry them out if not wrapped properly in freezer paper or better yet as most have said, vacume seal them and make sure the packs are on top of heavy item so they do not get punctured or crack to let air in. we got frozen salmon that was smoked and pre packaged all the time. sure it tastes great after smoking, but vacume sealed smoked salmon keeps it's moisture and taste just fine. if you make good smoked fish, it should be long gone before a year is up. good luck.

[harvey lee]

Thanks.

I love the king smoked but I wanted to do a bunch so I could just pull one out of the freezer whenever I wanted to enjoy some smoked salmon.

Also wanted to take some to the place in North Dakota and keep it there at the start of archery season so we can have some every weekend up there.

[eyeguy 54]

eat some before you hunt an spook those big bucks my way ;>)

[fivebucks]

I prefer to keep the fillets frozen and vacuum sealed over the smoked fish. The last batch I did I froze and vacuum sealed the smoked fish and the thawed smoked fish was at best 75% as good as the freshly smoked using thawed fillets. I would rather smoke more often in smaller batches than freeze smoked salmon. Been smoking salmon for 30 years and that's been my experience.

[Walleyehooker]

The meat market that smokes my Salmon also vaccum packs it and I still have a couple pieces over a year old that sill look fine. Keep in mind they have commercial type vaccum sealers and the plastic bag material also looks thicker than what most use in the cheaper home vaccum sealers. No matter what you freeze it seems to loose a little over time.

[harvey lee]

I prefer to keep the fillets frozen and vacuum sealed over the smoked fish. The last batch I did I froze and vacuum sealed the smoked fish and the thawed smoked fish was at best 75% as good as the freshly smoked using thawed fillets. I would rather smoke more often in smaller batches than freeze smoked salmon. Been smoking salmon for 30 years and that's been my experience.

I also do very small batches and love the results, trouble is, everyone loves the results also. I am going to try it and vacumn seal the smoked salmon and see how it tasyes a month later.

The longest I would keep it frozen would more than likely be a month or 2 at the very most.

Stuff never lasts long around here as someone always seems to want some right along with the relatives.

[reinhard1]

Harvey, you dont have to worry about a thing with vacume sealed smoked salmon or any smoked fish that is frozen. not too many people leave good smoked salmon laying around in the freezer for a year. i have friends, neighbors, and relatives that use it up quickly also. good luck.

[fivebucks]

I have not had any problem keeping vacuum sealed smoked salmon in the fridge for over a month. Of course it will depend how long you brine it etc but it will last much longer vacuum sealed in the fridge vs. in a ziplock. Of course the only time it lasted a month or so was when friends were not coming over and I had a large batch

[reinhard1]

with the upcomming football season we will be lucky to keep smoked fish or pickled pike for even one weekend . good luck.