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I have a few pounds of trout that I would like to smoke up. I have tried a few times in the past with limited success. It seems that my brine is always to strong or that the trout takes up to much of the solution or smoke flavor. I need a solid recipe for trout if anyone is willing to share. I have already filleted the fish so no skin just steaks. I plan on trying more with the skin on or a whole fish (gutted). Which way works the best for you? Any help will be appreicated................
Thanks
Bass_Turd
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I don't have any recipes. but you could try posting something on the recipes board.
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I can offer a little insight on smoking fish. I bought a Luhr-Jensen Little Cheif electric smoker and have done a handful of batches so far. I have only smoked trout or salmon as of yet. I fillet the fish and keep the skin attached to the fillet. I brine the fish over night and smoke the fish for 4-13 hours, depending on the thickness of the fillet. The brine solution I use is: 2 cups hot water and add 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and a little bit of brown sugar and mix the solution until the the salt/sugar dissolves. After it has dissolved, add 2 cups of cold water and pour over the fillets and place in the fridge overnight. Depending on the smoking time, I use two pans of hickory/alder wood. As mentioned before, smoking times will vary due the thickness and/or outside temp. Generally it takes 4-6 hrs, but have had it take as much 13 hrs (outside temp. was 5). Enjoy!
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I don't fillet my fish and you shouldn't skin them but thats up to you. Here are a couple of different brines:
1. Basic Brine; 1 qt water, 1/2 cup non-iodized salt, 1/2 cup white sugar.
2. Brine for oily fish; 2 qts. water, 1 cup non-iodized salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp lemon concentrate or 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 tbsp garlic power, 1/4 tbsp onion power.
3.1/3 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup curing salt(smoke flavor), add to 1qt water.
Pour one of these brines over the meat in a glass container, a plastic container will also work. I like to use 3 pans of apple chips but hickory or alder will also work depending on your taste. I brine for 8 to 12 hours or overnight. After brining I rinse fish off,pat dry and put in smoker. Smoke for 4 to 12 hours depending on thickness of fish.
Good luck, let us know how this works for you. WH2
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]My buddy, Jeff, smokes a lot of fish. Here's his favorite recipe for trout and it is good![/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][#646464][size 5]Jeff’s Smoked Fish Recipe[/size][/#646464][/font]
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[size 4][black][font "Times New Roman"]Brine Solution:[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]2 cups of Brown Sugar[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]1 ½ - 2 cups of Salt[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]1 gallon of water [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Process:[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Clean fish whole, removing the heads and tails. Score skin only along backbone. Don’t fillet![/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Place fish in refrigerated brine solution in a glass container overnight. Keep fish submerged at all times.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Remove fish from brine and rinse with cold water. Pat dry and allow fish to dry producing a “glazed” surface.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Place fish in smoker at 160°- 180° F for approximately 4 hrs or until meat can be easily remove from skeleton. Holding the spine at the head end, peel the meat from the fish skeleton. Flip fillet over and remove skin from meat. Reverse fish and repeat process. [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Smoke until desired dryness.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Warm some honey to thin before removing fish from smoker. While fillets are still warm, lightly brush a thin covering of honey on the fillets. Gently work into fish meat. Allow to dry.[/font]
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i have never heard of such a thing...cigaretts, cigars, even some kind of weeds....but how on earth are you going to smoke a fish??? do you put pieces in a pipe, or roll up a shiner in a paper? or just do the indian thing and toss em on the fire in a tee pee and let the smoke "hot box" the tee pee? LOL.
really though, isnt there like a smoker machine you buy at cabelas or sporty's to things like that with fish, birds, game and what not? I always thought you picked the wood (applewood, cherry, mesquite, cedar yadda yadda) and hung the flesh in a smoke shed and just feed the fire enough to keep it smoldering not flaming. is that the old way? thats why i never smoked anything, i dont have a smoke shed. and no where to build one....
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Thank you all for your insight. I will have to try them all and alter them to my liking. I guess that I will have to go out and catch some more slimers. Sounds ruff doesn't it? Life is hard with the Wasatch in our back yard, I don't know how we manage.................[  ]
I will let you know how they all turn out.
Bass_Turd
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[cool][#0000ff]Unless you are smoking your fish to last you through the winter (curing), you do not need to brine them. Most brine solutions make the fish far too salty for my tastes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have been using the fast smoking technique for a whole lotta years, on almost all the fish I smoke. I gives them plenty of flavor and cures them well enough to last for several weeks in the refrigerator. At least I think they would last longer. They usually go pretty fast.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here is a [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=205567;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"]LINK TO A POST[/url] that I put up a while back on smoking skinless boneless catfish fillets. You can use the same principles and seasonings. Just don't use as much and it won't take as long for the fish to smoke. Cats are heavy fleshed fish and take a lot of cookin' or smokin'. Trout and salmon are best if you don't overdo them.[/#0000ff]
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I'm with Tubedude, many of the brines tend to make the fish too salty, at least for my taste as well.
I got this "secret" recipe and it does have salt in it but the fish doesn't seem to come out as salty tasting.
1 qt. water
1/4 cup table salt
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
Mix it all together until the dry ingredients are dissolved and the molasses is mixed in well. Let the fish soak overnight and then smoke as normal.
I usually don't let the fish soak more than overnight and depending on the thickness of the fillets and outdoor temps I vary my smoking times. Don't over cook!
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In my experience smoking fish it is all in the curing. I fillet all the fish I plan on smoking leaving the skin on. I cure the fillets in a simple brine.
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup lemon juice
1 gallon water
(mix all ingredients in a pan and heat till disolved, then cool brine in fridge)
I place all the fillets in a bowl (glass or plastic) cover with brine and place a glass plate over the top of the fillets to keep them down in the brine, and place in fridge.
To me this is the important part. When the fillets take in enough salt (are cured) the texture of the flesh changes from soft and slimy to a little firmer and leathery feeling, immediately take them out of the brine, let the brine drain off and srinkle the meat side with lemon pepper. It can take from 12 to 24 hrs for them to cure depending on a lot of things, temperature, type of fish...
Then I smoke the fillets in my Little Chief smoker 3 or 4 pans of cold smoke. Then finish by placing the fillets in the oven on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees until I get the dryness I like. LBD
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I'm with tubdude in that I don't like my fish brined. But keep in mind there are different types of smoked fish. Some like theirs smoked like jerky, which typically requires a brine. Others like theirs hot-smoked, which is similar to cooking it in the oven or grill, but just adding some smoke for flavoring.
Brining does several things: it infuses the meat with flavor, helps the meat retain moisture, and extends the shelf life. You can control the saltiness, but it's the salt that does the above three things. Plus, if you're smoking it on a Little Chief or Totem, especially during this weather, the meat may remain in the danger zone (between 40 and 140 deg) too long and allow bacteria growth. So brining may be required for food safety depending on your smoker.
I hot-smoke my salmon 250 - 325 degrees. I may marinate it slightly beforehand--I have maple salmon and asian salmon recipes that I like--or just apply kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. I hot-smoke for an hour tops, until it's just done and still very moist.
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There are some more Smoke recipes on the recipe board. I too favor the unbrined fish.
I ate plenty of TubeDudes Smoked Salmon as a kid and it didn't kill me.[cool]
Maybe that's why he cancelled my life insurance policy[shocked]
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Here is a easy one as well that is not very salty. Just 1 TBSP salt per 1 cup of water. that is it let marinate for a few hours. Than season with cracked pepper and some Lemon Juice. Smoke with your favorite wood. We use this on salmon fillets all the time.
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For a nice kick, I like to add a little Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce too.
The wood is always good. If you look at the flavor ratings for wood, you will notice that Mesquite is almost always on the top.
Cherry, Alder, Hickory and Maple will play their roles in there as well.[cool]
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Mesquite produces a strong smoke flavor. I use it exclusively for brisket. Hickory is probably the next strongest, then maple, then cherry, and last alder. Alder smoke is mild, which is why it's popular on fish.
It all depends on how much smoke you like. I personally like smoke, so I use fruit wood on fish. Heck, fruit wood from local orchards is great for any BBQ.
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The Mesquite can be done light or heavy as well. I really love the taste that the Mesquite gives to steaks or chicken. It is a little strong for fish unless you are using it on something like Tuna or Barracuda.
For most general fish, I seemed to like Hickory since that is what I was brought up on.[cool]
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I bought a water smoker about 5 years ago and have hardly used my bbqer since. The best cookbook I've found is one from Cabelas for $9.99. It has recipies for everything. Including marinades, sauces, side dishes, appetizers, wild game and the list goes on and on. I've used the recipies for Turkey, chickens, roasts, jerky, Salmon halves, stuffed Salmon, Stuffed pork chops, and even smoked a meatloaf. Getting hungry yet? haha It also has a section to tell you how long to smoke and at what tempature it is done, wheather you want it rare, med. rare, or well done. And the best part, the pages are plastic! Here is their recipe for "fillets au gratin" 3lbs fish fillets, 1/4 cup oil, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1 tbl. lemon juice, 1 clove garlic, minced, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and 1 cup fine bread, cracker or cereal crumbs.
Combine oil, salt, pepper, lemon and garlic. Mix shredded cheese and crumbs. Dip each piece of fish in oil mixture and roll in cheese crumb mixture. Place fis on heavy duty foil that has been doubled and greased. Place foil with fish on water smoker. Serve with tarter sauce, seafood cocktail, or bbq sauce. Smoke for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The fish are done when it flakes when forked.
I've used this one and it really turns out great. Of course you alyways need to play with any recipie to fit your taste. Check out the book. weel worth the 10 bucks.
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