Mastodawn

OmegaMouse Jul 9, 2023

Why does smoked salmon look 'raw'? And why does it taste so different from a cooked fillet?

Why does smoked salmon look 'raw'? And why does it taste so different from a cooked fillet? - Feddit UK

I don’t tend to eat much fish, but in the supermarket earlier I saw some smoked salmon which didn’t need cooking, and some salmon fillets which did. They looked the same really - both ‘raw’. I decided to buy some of the fillet. It was nice, but a very different flavour from when I’ve tried smoked salmon in the past. The cooked fillet was quite chicken-y with a slight earthy/fishy taste, whereas smoked salmon has a very strong fish flavour. Why do they taste so different? And why is smoked salmon safe to eat without cooking when other smoked fish do need cooking?

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TheYear2525 Jul 9, 2023

Low heat for long time = safe

High heat for short time = safe

High heat breaks down more compounds in meat and makes colors change

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DireLlama Jul 10, 2023

This really shouldn’t be the top rated comment. Cold smoked salmon is smoked at 15-25°C for about half a day. If temperature were the key, you would achieve the same effect by just placing it on the countertop overnight.

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OmegaMouse Jul 10, 2023

I didn’t realise how complex this was! So with hot smoked salmon, the temperature is hot enough to kill bacteria but not denature the protein (so it still looks ‘raw’). Cold smoked doesn’t cook the fish but imparts the smoky flavour, and it’s made safe to eat by other preservation methods? (as per @[email protected]’s comment)

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Margot Robbie

Well, smoking is a wide variety of processes and very food dependent, but hot smoked food is usually cooked. For example, if you buy Alaskan smoked salmon, they look cooked and a bit jerky like; similarly, for Texas style smoked briskets, the meat is cooked slowly over a couple of hours inside a smoker.

Maybe it would be easier to watch a video on cold smoked salmon to see how the process works.