How to save over salty home cured salmon?

[joesan]

Prior to smoking I've just tasted some salmon that I've home cured. It's way too salty!

Any advice on how I can bring the salt level down before smoking?

Rinsing or soaking in water? For how long?

[nickrey]

One recommendation for soaking anchovies or herring to remove the salt is to soak them in milk or buttermilk. You'l probably need to leave it in the milk/water for a reasonable time as the salt is being leeched out by diffusion.

[joesan]

Thanks Nick. I'd be a little worried that the milk would have spoiling effects on the storage of the salmon? Water might be safer do you think?

[Mjx]

I'd consider leaving it as is, but slicing it very thinly, and serving it with something intrinsically bland, which would act as a strong foil/balance it (e.g. rice)? I don't know how much salmon you cured, but you might want to experiment with small batches, first, to see what approach makes the most of what you've got.

[ScoopKW]

I've made this mistake before.

I made a salmon cheese sauce and omitted the salt I would normally use. Be sure to use unsalted butter when building the sauce. Makes a great gratin. And works well poured over broccoli, pasta, etc.

[Blether]

Prior to smoking I've just tasted some salmon that I've home cured. It's way too salty!

Any advice on how I can bring the salt level down before smoking?

Rinsing or soaking in water? For how long?

Just soak in cold salt water. How long did you brine it (or did you dry-salt ?) and how over-salted is it ? Going the other way, I've found 1 hour in 80% brine (based on Keith Erlandson's book) to give a good level of salt.

[joesan]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I rinsed it well twice last night and the salt level has gone down considerably. It's definitely edible now.

I think I will soak it overnight for an extra 12 hours or so in cold water. That works for reducing the salt in baccala etc.

Blether - why soak in salt water? I want to reduce the salt in the fish - or am I missing something?

I'm thinking that it won't do any harm to soak in plain water because there is already enough salt to keep the fish from bacterially spoiling and putting in plain cold water should leach some of the salt out.

I'll report back tomorrow with the results...

[Blether]

Blether - why soak in salt water? I want to reduce the salt in the fish - or am I missing something?

Sorry, a complete mis-type - I meant only to say "cold water".

[nickrey]

Thanks Nick. I'd be a little worried that the milk would have spoiling effects on the storage of the salmon? Water might be safer do you think?

I know you've done it now and don't ruin your salmon over my theories but I suspect the smoking after soaking would nullify any potential bad effects (may even help develop a pellice for the smoke to stick to).

[Chris Amirault]

Please report on any textural changes. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had this problem, and I worry about sacrificing quality texture for decreased salinity....

[joesan]

Chris - that nails the concern that I have too. In the interest of science I may set aside one piece that is not soaked but only rinsed and do a side-by-side comparison.

[scubadoo97]

I think an additional soak for 12 hours or so in cold water maybe going over board. It may leach the majority of the salt out

[joesan]

The results are in...

The short version

1. You can reduce the saltiness of cured salmon by soaking it for 4 hours.
   
2. Don't ever soak your cured salmon in cold water for 4 hours!
   

The longer version

I soaked it for 4 hours with the following train of thought - the salmon is over-salted so there is sufficient salt to stop bacterial spoilage even if some of the salt leeches out into the plain water (which I wanted to happen). I also figured that some people wet brine their salmon so it must be acceptable for some to soak in water.

However the reason my salmon was over-salty was that I purposely left it longer than usual (3 days) in the cure in order that I would get a firmer, drier product. Soaking it in water got rid of some of the salt but made the flesh extremely flabby. So I was left with a still overly-flabby and overly-salty product.

The lesson learned is don't salt for too long, or with too much salt. And only rinse not soak the salmon.

After smoking the salmon is still a little too salty to eat on it's own but would be acceptable in cooking, or with bagels and cream cheese, or on scrambled eggs etc.

Edited December 20, 2010 by joesan (log)