01-03-2015, 11:45 PM
Ok, I'll go into what I did for smoking them since I have time on my hands waiting for the second batch. Two part post since the second batch of Stripers just went in and I changed it up a hair. I am up in the air about the prep. Brining them or the old way of salting them down. The second batch will help with that decision.
(The big down side to a brine is the quantity of raw materials needed to create a brine.)
Seasoning wise I used all the same stuff I always do for Smoking fish. Just that this batch was brined verse salted.
I am not complicated. 3 materials.
Morton Tender Quick curing salt. (You can't buy this in Vegas... I have looked and even emailed them asking about vendors. My last batch came to me by a family member coming down from Montana. You can get it off Amazon (I just looked/ordered some since I need more.))
Garlic salt.
Brown sugar.
That is all. Usually applied with a salt shaker like set-up but had to change it all up for a brine.
For the brine.
2 cups of water and one cup of brown sugar. Into the microwave for a minute then stirred to get the brown sugar to dissolve.
One gallon of water into the cooler followed by 1 2/3 cups of Morton Tender Quick curing salt. A good healthy splash of Garlic salt was tossed in also (unmeasured quantity). Then the dissolved brown sugar mix was added in. Stir it up to help the salts dissolve.
Add the Striper fillets with the skin still on (very important) then a nice thick coat of ice on top of all of that. Let it sit overnight.
In the AM take the fillets out and rinse them off (my hands were fricken frozen doing that this morning outside). Set them up on a table and pat dry. Let them sit for 1 - 2 hours (I turned on an electric heater in the shop to help since it was nice and cool out this morning). You want them to develop almost a skin like feel/appearance. They are ready when one touches them and your finger sticks.
Temp wise on the smoker there is a thousand different ways that I have read. I just went with what I have done before and what my dad has done for the last 50+ years of smoking fish. Straight up 175 degrees. No this temp for x hours then this temp for x hours type of deal. Too much of a pain.
Anyways I figured I would start with 3 hours (the smoker was already up to temp when the fillets went in and the 3 hour timer started) and see what happens. I added hickory when the Stripers went in and opened the vent fully. I have a water tray in the smoker and had it filled too. I added more hickory chips at the 2hr point.
At 3 hours I checked the temp on the fattest one and it was 150. I pulled a small slice from the top shelf and fat slice from the bottom and went inside for a taste test between Madi and myself. They were waaaay too moist for me and really didn't have that "just been smoked appearance or flavor". I like a strong hickory flavor on everything I smoke! Also, very surprisingly, they were not overly salty. I was sweating that due to the amount of Morton I had in the brine. So with that I added another hour and another batch of hickory.
Perfect. 4 hour cook time at 175 plus 3 batches of hickory chips used. Still very moist but looks and tastes like something that was smoked. (3 hours would of been fine if they were the normal Mead dinks but these fillets were super thick compared...)
Batch one of 6 Stripers (12 fillets) was 8 1/2 pounds and took up my entire smoker space wise. They were in the brine for 14 hours. The second batch was in the brine for 18 hours.
For the second batch I am going with 4 hours also with hickory added at the start and at 1.5 and 2.5 to spread it out some now that I know the overall time needed for this thickness of Striper fillets plus the amount of hickory flavor that suits my taste. The only thing I am changing up is that I dusted this batch with a brown sugar powder right after I patted the fillets dry. This is what I would normally do smoking fish traditionally (not a brine). I want to see what a little more direct sweetness would do to the flavor.
*** Powdered brown sugar. Lay brown sugar out on aluminum foil to dry out some (30'ish minutes). Once dry put it in a food processor and grind the snot out of the sugar until it is a fine powder/dust. Let the brown sugar settle before opening the lid on the processor otherwise you will coat your entire kitchen in a fine sticky sugary dust...
First batch about ready to go in. Just waiting on the smoker to get to temp.
![[Image: LakeMead_01-02-15_011.jpg]](http://www.outlawrc.com/stuff/fishing/LakeMead_01-02-15_011.jpg)
First batch done (minus the test pieces at the 3 hour point). 4 hours @ 175. Perfect. Madi and myself noticed a huge difference between the 3 hour test pieces and these at 4 hours. These were waaay better. Taste and appearance wise.
![[Image: LakeMead_01-02-15_014.jpg]](http://www.outlawrc.com/stuff/fishing/LakeMead_01-02-15_014.jpg)
Second batch about ready to go in. Just waiting on them to completely "skin" over in the sun.
![[Image: LakeMead_01-02-15_015.jpg]](http://www.outlawrc.com/stuff/fishing/LakeMead_01-02-15_015.jpg)
Cookin'
![[Image: LakeMead_01-02-15_017.jpg]](http://www.outlawrc.com/stuff/fishing/LakeMead_01-02-15_017.jpg)
Tom...
[signature]
(The big down side to a brine is the quantity of raw materials needed to create a brine.)
Seasoning wise I used all the same stuff I always do for Smoking fish. Just that this batch was brined verse salted.
I am not complicated. 3 materials.
Morton Tender Quick curing salt. (You can't buy this in Vegas... I have looked and even emailed them asking about vendors. My last batch came to me by a family member coming down from Montana. You can get it off Amazon (I just looked/ordered some since I need more.))
Garlic salt.
Brown sugar.
That is all. Usually applied with a salt shaker like set-up but had to change it all up for a brine.
For the brine.
2 cups of water and one cup of brown sugar. Into the microwave for a minute then stirred to get the brown sugar to dissolve.
One gallon of water into the cooler followed by 1 2/3 cups of Morton Tender Quick curing salt. A good healthy splash of Garlic salt was tossed in also (unmeasured quantity). Then the dissolved brown sugar mix was added in. Stir it up to help the salts dissolve.
Add the Striper fillets with the skin still on (very important) then a nice thick coat of ice on top of all of that. Let it sit overnight.
In the AM take the fillets out and rinse them off (my hands were fricken frozen doing that this morning outside). Set them up on a table and pat dry. Let them sit for 1 - 2 hours (I turned on an electric heater in the shop to help since it was nice and cool out this morning). You want them to develop almost a skin like feel/appearance. They are ready when one touches them and your finger sticks.
Temp wise on the smoker there is a thousand different ways that I have read. I just went with what I have done before and what my dad has done for the last 50+ years of smoking fish. Straight up 175 degrees. No this temp for x hours then this temp for x hours type of deal. Too much of a pain.
Anyways I figured I would start with 3 hours (the smoker was already up to temp when the fillets went in and the 3 hour timer started) and see what happens. I added hickory when the Stripers went in and opened the vent fully. I have a water tray in the smoker and had it filled too. I added more hickory chips at the 2hr point.
At 3 hours I checked the temp on the fattest one and it was 150. I pulled a small slice from the top shelf and fat slice from the bottom and went inside for a taste test between Madi and myself. They were waaaay too moist for me and really didn't have that "just been smoked appearance or flavor". I like a strong hickory flavor on everything I smoke! Also, very surprisingly, they were not overly salty. I was sweating that due to the amount of Morton I had in the brine. So with that I added another hour and another batch of hickory.
Perfect. 4 hour cook time at 175 plus 3 batches of hickory chips used. Still very moist but looks and tastes like something that was smoked. (3 hours would of been fine if they were the normal Mead dinks but these fillets were super thick compared...)
Batch one of 6 Stripers (12 fillets) was 8 1/2 pounds and took up my entire smoker space wise. They were in the brine for 14 hours. The second batch was in the brine for 18 hours.
For the second batch I am going with 4 hours also with hickory added at the start and at 1.5 and 2.5 to spread it out some now that I know the overall time needed for this thickness of Striper fillets plus the amount of hickory flavor that suits my taste. The only thing I am changing up is that I dusted this batch with a brown sugar powder right after I patted the fillets dry. This is what I would normally do smoking fish traditionally (not a brine). I want to see what a little more direct sweetness would do to the flavor.
*** Powdered brown sugar. Lay brown sugar out on aluminum foil to dry out some (30'ish minutes). Once dry put it in a food processor and grind the snot out of the sugar until it is a fine powder/dust. Let the brown sugar settle before opening the lid on the processor otherwise you will coat your entire kitchen in a fine sticky sugary dust...
First batch about ready to go in. Just waiting on the smoker to get to temp.
First batch done (minus the test pieces at the 3 hour point). 4 hours @ 175. Perfect. Madi and myself noticed a huge difference between the 3 hour test pieces and these at 4 hours. These were waaay better. Taste and appearance wise.
Second batch about ready to go in. Just waiting on them to completely "skin" over in the sun.
Cookin'
Tom...
[signature]