Smoking Brines

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I have a great one that I developed for smoking the trout I catch ice fishing. The biggest secret is making sure you use NON-IODIZED SALT and rinse the brine off the fillets slightly prior to smoking after a good 12-24 hour soak. Also, use a combination of alder wood and cherry. If you don't rinse them off, they will taste salty. Also, DO NOT RE-USE YOUR BRINE from one batch to another. The salt draws out the bad stuff in the fish to help preserve it while the other ingredients like sugar etc. are absorbed in the meat for flavoring. Used brine will not perform the way it's supposed to. Hope this helps, PM me if you would like a copy of my recipe and I'll see what I can do...
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