Originally Posted by
alex67500
The smoking process, be it for ham or fish, does tend to give that "salty" flavour, but they don't necessarily salt the meat before they start the process, it could be that your taste buds interpret it this way.
I must admit that I'm not aware of any fish or cured meat smoking process that doesn't involve salt rubbing or curing. In fact when I've seen smoked salmon being prepared the amount of dry salt used in good ones (or salt brine in bad ones) is pretty scary!
I'm sure that if you say some non-salt versions exist it is so, but it can only be the exception rather than the rule and i'd be very surprised if ba used it!