IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Montana => Ice Fishing Montana => Topic started by: coldcreekchris on Mar 18, 2019, 07:36 PM
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had the smoker going all weekend....brined the trout and salmon filets in brown sugar..garlic..ginger. .and mango/ pineapple juice..bay leaves..lots of maple syrup..then smoked them with oak ..apple..and cherry....took a few of the filets..and put them in the dehydrator ….incredible trout jerky.....I know some people call trout turd and all that....but trout jerky is good...try it some time....
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Duly noted and the ingredients written down. Smoked a lot of fish, have never used the juice in the brine. Looks
like I better make a trout run
Ken
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Sounds amazing. Might have to give it a try the next time I hook into some of those bait stealing trash fish ;)
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Sounds good, might have to try that. I like smoked trout once in awhile.
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I've noticed lots of bagged jerky in stores have mango or pineapple juice as an ingredient. I started adding it a few years back after.i saw that. I do reduce it down quite a bit by boiling...
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smart move m fish on the juice reduction...I always glaze with maple syrup on the last hrs of the smoke...but a heavier fruit glaze sounds awesome...
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no joke...take a couple fillets after they are done in the smoker..and put em in the dehydrator..great jerky...
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That's the plan here. Another weekend or two and i'll fire the smoker up!
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do it before the bears wake up.....about a decade ago I got a big haul from g town on march 31.. about every hungry critter from miles away showed up...scrubbed all my trays and pans and still..bear was at the smoker the next morning till my blue tic hound chased him off....
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(https://i.postimg.cc/6T2CGVTZ/20190223-194231.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/6T2CGVTZ)
I'll keep that in mind... clearly my bear alarm is broken...
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HA!!!!!.....best dogs ever .. in my opinion....that's a good looking pooch.....
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Yea, she does just fine on the ice and slush
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Duly noted and the ingredients written down. Smoked a lot of fish, have never used the juice in the brine. Looks
like I better make a trout run
Ken
I use apple juice 《 Cheap Generic )》 to brine all my trout and Salmon in. A great investment in a great finished product. Use two 64 oz. bottles of juice, in a clean plastic 5 gal pail, cup of dark brown sugar, 2 cups uniodized salt. Add 4 tablespoons black pepper. Brine over night in cold garage, refrigerator, or safely outside if the temperature is 45 or below. I put a dinner plate on top of the brined fish, then weight it down with a water filled bottle or whatever. Secret being, you can leave fish in this brine for seversl days as long ad it is cool. Rinse before smoking.
Ii hate to tell people what to do, but I gave always used a latex glove, and slathered Maple SYRUP, EVEN GENERIC SYRUP ON THE FISH PIECES ABOUT 1or 2 hours before completely smoked. I and everyone who eats my product really like the color it provides and of course the sweet sour taste.
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Were you smoking rainbow trout CCC? I'd like to try this recipe out but small-stream brookies are about the only trout available in smoker-worthy numbers. Do you have a preference as far as salmonid species go or would you do the same recipe for any trout or even kokanee?
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seriously tho..smoke those brookies,...you can either can em..or make a dip that everybody will rave about...
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seriously tho..smoke those brookies,...you can either can em..or make a dip that everybody will rave about...
Couldn't agree more. That's the reason they were brought here.
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Couldn't agree more. That's the reason they were brought here.
how many times do you find an 8 inch brookie with a 4 inch brookie in its gut....I know...not trying to start crap...but..in the western part of the state...catch..can or smoke em
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CCC. I am a little confused. Did I say something that rubbed you the wrong way? If so, I apologize as that was not my intention. I was simply agreeing that Brookies are perfect ingredients for a smoking and or canning day.
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Thanks CCC and Miza. I now have an incentive to try out a few more lakes this spring, as well as whip out the ol 3 weight and hit the local creeks. My kokanee season has been less than stellar this winter...this seems like the perfect alternative!
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Sounds incredibly delicious!
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My apologies for drumming up an old thread, but I like to give credit where credit is due. CCC and Miza, you fellas were dead on the mark with your suggestions last spring. I took advantage of a hardwater opportunity for brookies that won't be around much longer (for me anyway), as the road is usually snowed in by New Years. I managed a limit for the smoker on back-to-back days, smoked them up, and couldn't tell the difference between them and the kokanee I normally prepare...simply fantastic. Thanks for your suggestions last spring!
On a side note, I'm curious what ingredients other people use for their brine. Mine consists of brown sugar, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, worcestershire sauce, and a dash of liquid smoke. It produces a fantastic sweet and spicy kick and never fails to produce a quality flavor; I wouldn't be opposed to trying different ingredients, however...MFish and CCC's suggestion of fruit, as well as Bear Lake Bob's syrup idea sound intriguing...
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Glad you enjoyed. One of the best treats out there. I don't usually get too creative with my brine. I like simple, easy to remember things. I usually go with what I call the all ones system because it's easy to remember and it's good. 1-1-1 cups of salt, brown sugar, white sugar to 1 gallon of water. If I can then it's 11 lbs for 111 minutes. Pretty boring I know but I always remember it.
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I love the simplicity Miza. Even I would be hard-pressed to forget that, haha. Also, I neglected to include salt in my list of ingredients. This go-round, I broke custom and used regular old Morton's iodized salt, as it was the only thing I had on-hand. My palette might be unrefined, but I couldn't tell a difference between it and the Kosher salt I normally use.
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I am no expert on the subject but I believe that iodine in salt will not cause taste difference but rather more of an appearance difference. I am sure someone will come along and correct me on this. Actually looking forward to learning about it.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/6yw8tFcS/5-DD49-DDF-73-AB-4911-BD9-C-6-D9-BE1-B4-B27-E.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/6yw8tFcS)
(https://i.postimg.cc/dhVDTdzj/82-D7644-A-4-B54-419-E-993-B-2-C6-E9924-C221.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/dhVDTdzj)
(https://i.postimg.cc/cKKHFW1K/D7833-CED-900-D-4-C81-A01-E-A61705-BC112-C.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/cKKHFW1K)
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I try not to brag and/or post too many pictures, but these fish were too beautiful not to share. I'm sure there are bigger swimming around in that lake, but the "trophy" for the day was the 13"er up front and the rest averaged closer to 10-11" (perfect for my smoker in my opinion). The true prize was seeing brookies dressed for the spawn.
Interesting thought on the iodine merely causing an aesthetic difference. Such things don't tend to bother me, but I'd definitely go with Kosher salt for guests if what you suggest is correct.
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Dandy looking bunch of mountain invasives.
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Some cooks prefer not to use iodized salt in recipes, believing that it has a more metallic taste than non-iodized salt. However, some taste tests indicate that most people can't taste any difference between iodized and non-iodized salt. I use Morton's pickling salt, which doesn't contain iodine, in my fish smoking brines and when pickling fish, but I could probably use ordinary iodized table salt without any significant difference in the taste of my smoked and pickled fish.
The major difference between various kinds of salt is the size and shape of the salt crystals. For example, kosher salt has large irregular crystals, and as a result, a cup of kosher salt weighs less (i.e. contains less salt) than a cup of table or pickling salt. Specifically, a cup of table or pickling sale contains the same amount (i.e. weight) of salt as one and a quarter cups of kosher salt. See https://www.mortonsalt.com/article/salt-conversion-chart/. As a result, a recipe will produce more consistent results if it specifies the quantity of salt by weight, rather than by volume, so it doesn't matter what type of salt you use in the brine.
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Thanks for the update Pete! I definitely fall into the category of being unable to taste any discernible difference between the two. You're right though. Table salt has significantly smaller crystals. I ended up doing a 1:2 ratio (i.e. 1/2 cup of table salt vs. the 1 cup of kosher). I like the idea of measuring by weight rather than volume...sounds like a more consistent method.
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I take my frozen fish out of the freezer before bed and throw them in the brine. I mix just enough table salt in the brine to float an egg, and use only enough brine to cover all the fish. I pull them out of the brine in the morning and like to smoke with applewood or chips.
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I take my frozen fish out of the freezer before bed and throw them in the brine.
Interesting. I assumed they needed to thaw before going in the brine. Do they soak up the brine while thawing or do you just add more time to accommodate?
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I just leave them in there until the fish are completely thawed, usually throw them in the smoker about 9 or 10 in the morning....