Pellicle (Cooking)

A pellicle is a thin skin or coating of proteins, or in some contexts cellulose, that forms on the surface of meat such as smoked salmon or of a fermenting beverage. In smoking, a pellicle develops when meat is air-dried, sometimes with the help of a fan, before it goes into the smoker; this tacky surface layer protects the meat and gives smoke particles a surface to adhere to more readily than they would on unprepared flesh, improving the finished product's flavor and color, and the technique is especially valued for smoking fish such as salmon. A related but distinct pellicle, a biofilm of cellulose, forms on fermented beverages such as kombucha, a use of the same term for a different process.