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I have recently got a smoker and am trying to learn how to smoke fish. Does anyone have some good brines and methods for smoking. If you know how long to smoke fish and brine it and all, and good wood chips to use, please tell me, it's greatly appreciated. Thanks
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I heard willow leaves do the trick but be careful, some leaves and wood chips are toxic. A finger pinch is a good test to see if its smoked and cooked. It should feel crustie on the out outside with little indentation when squeezed.
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Ryan there's only one way to go with a smoker-buy "Smoking Salmon & Trout" by Jack Whelan. Available from http://www.bcbooks.com It's a BC classic and has more info than you'll ever need to know. There some info on the net but not a lot for our species-Smallmouth and the like (!) Paul is absolutely right about different woods/leaves being poisonous-Rhododendron especially.
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The lil chief/big chief smokers from Luhr Jensen all come with a booklet of really good beginning places. Of course that's what a recipe is... someone else's take on a food product. These booklets are available for about 4.00 at your favourive sports shop, and have good tips, recipes, and ideas. Stick with common local broad leaf trees if using local stuff, or the prepared chips and sawdust from suppliers. The most popular local specie by taste tests everywhere is barkless alder. Take the bark off any of the following and they are all good ones too. Birch, poplar/aspen/conttonwood, willow, vine maple, oak, etc. In the fall, I collect beaver bites off the river, as they've conveniently removed all the bark for me.
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Ryan here's my simple input. Experiment. I prefer a dry brine (mixture of demerara sugar & pickling salt, spices)as opposed to the standard liquid brine. Go with the standards that come with the booklet(if you acquired a Big/Lil Chief) then experiment. Also there's a place in New Westminster for buying chips in bulk. (don't have the name off the top of my head. Good Luck and enjoy.
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Here's a few tips from my limited experience: If you go for the wet brine (I haven't tried a dry, but it sure looks good), put your fish out at room temperature, ideally with a fan blowing on them or in a breeze outside (keep an eye out for the neighbourhood cats and crows), to allow some evaporation, giving the fish a "glassy," but drier feel. It might take about 2-3 hours. Don't worry about spoiling, the salt and sugar will prevent this. It will provide a nice "glaze" on the meat when smoked. Do your first half of time at a lower temperature to allow more smoke flavour to permeate the fish. Once it's cooked, that flavour has a harder time getting in. Lots of smoke is not neccessarily better and will lead to harsher flavours. My smoker is one of those BBQ briquet types. My first time, I used the "instant" briquets which gave the fish a fuel flavour, something I wasn't very happy about after spending so much time on some potentially great smoking fish. Also, according to the briquet package, it's unsafe. I'm now looking for sources of dry alder for fuel. Check the internet out for smoking recipes and techniques. It's pretty hard to screw up fish (myself excepted). Brining time seems to be an important thing. I would rather brine not enough than too much to avoid strong salt and savoury flavours that hide the taste of fish (unless you like it). Good luck and enjoy. Your neighbourhood will get jealous of the smells you create.
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For 'Indian Candy' I use regular table salt generously, demerarra brown sugar (cover the fish with it) and pepper. I let it sit overnight covered with foil. In the morning, it's usually got alot of moisture in the bottom of the trays...don't worry about that, the salt's taken some moisture from the fish. Get the smoker going, add a panful of whatever wood chips you like (I prefer alder or cherry), then put your salmon in and smoke it! I usually do 3-4 smokings, then let the fish basically 'cook' for another 4-6 hours. Towards the end, you've got to keep a close eye on the fish. When the fish is done, the flesh will be firm but not dried out. Good luck and happy smokin
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