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My father in law's cousin told me to brine fish overnight, then rinse and dry, then refrigerate overnight again. He said that way you really get a real good pellicle formation.Is that o[/verkill?quote] Sounds logical if you have the time.I put mine in a spare refrigerator with a small fan blowing on it for a couple of hours.I must also say,that my son has been doing some experimenting with brining fish longer in a brine with 1/2 the salt.Up to 4 days,and the results have been excellent.He is also hot smoking with charcoal & using maple . Wish I could share it with you all, its some good stuff ! He does not let it form a pellicle, even though I have told him to do so.Pike,salmon,steelhead fillets,no skin. Hey he's 25 & I cant convince him that he's doing it wrong ! Kinda hopin he doesnt listen to me !!!!
I got my first smoker when I was 13, that was 38 yrs.ago.You will definitely want to stick with a brine with Kosher salt & brown sugar,and anything else you want to put in it.I also add Mexican vanilla extract,liquid smoke ,garlic powder & 1/2 a lemon.I agree withToguehunter the brine makes a huge difference,but I usually cant tell much difference with what wood I use.I am going to try the sassafras that was reccomended,I have tons of it here,& that sounds like it might be good.I smoke mostly salmon,pike & smelt, plus jerky.The smelt get brined for 3-4hrs. & hot smoked for 1 hr.max. !
I do a lot of cold smoking of salmon and here are some additional tips for that:1) Cold-smoked fish is raw fish. If done properly, the fish never gets above 80-90 degrees, which is too low to kill any pathogens. So it is absolutely necessary that you handle with clean hands and utensils, and freeze the fish prior to smoking. Freezing will kill any parasites that may be present in the flesh. 2) Leaving the skin on when filleting will make thin-slicing a lot easier prior to serving. Keep the smoked fish refrigerated in a ZipLock type re-sealable vacuum bag prior to serving. Superficially shave off the dry outer surface of the part you are going to serve, and leave it on the rest of the fish to retain moisture. Use a "salmon knife" (available at cuttlery stores) to make long paper-thin slices. The pink flesh is the good part. The darker brown fatty tissue from just below the skin should be trimmed off each slice prior to serving. 3) Cold smoking is best done at warm ambient temperatures. I learned the hard way that cold smoking a nice salmon on a cold January day will lead to LOTS of soot and moisture from the smoke condensing on the fish, making it inedible. If you have to cold smoke in cold weather, put a low heat source (100 watt light bulb, for example) inside your smoker to keep the fish temp in the 50-80 degree range.I know, TMI. Just lessons learned from lots of trial and error.
On average, how long do you smoke the fillets for? I have been wanting to try cold smoking for some time now,just havent done it. Thanks.
We like to use a brine of around 1 3/4 cup of salt (pickling or canning salt) per gallon of water, put a raw egg (in the shell) into the brine and it should float up to about the size of a quarter, much more than that the fish will be quite salty. after you get that done add in 2 cups of dark brown sugar, 2 table spoons each of black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, mix it until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Fillet the trout leaving the skin on, put the fillets in the brine and we like to let them rest there for 6 hours if the file ts are around 1/2 inch thick, a little experimentation here to get the flavor you want, longer will give a stronger salt taste. Take the meat out and lay it on a clean old towel (don't use one of your wife's new ones), we have several that we save for just this. let the fish dry until it from a film that feel slight sticky, this is known as pell (not sure why), this should be in a cool area, we put ours out in the shop, takes 3-4 hours usually around 40-45 degrees. Then I get the smoker ready to go, I like to smoke fish with a low temp, 140° F. and 5-6 hours. We have a Cajun Smoke Injector, and uses wood pellets, for fish you will get the best flavor from the fruit wood, alder or ash. Hickory or mesquite is a bit bold for our taste for fish, great for red meat though. We use this brine for Cornish game hens or turkeys, use a thermometer to bring the heat up to 170° to make sure they get cooked properly.That is the way we do it out here in Northern Nevada, not saying that is the only way, do a search on the internet for a truck load of information.Okay I'll shut up now finish my beer.Les
Also be careful if you are looking to vacuum pack smoked fish. Because the fish will look and seem fine well after the perishable time period the vacuum package can lead to botulism.
I can't wait to smoke a bunch next week. Ive been Steelhead fishing and have 4 or 5 fish filleted but want to fill the smoker before I fire it up so need a few more. I'm going to try the salt/brown sugar brine mix. How long do you guys smoke it for and what temp.