Smoking Fish

Jon,
I couldn't agree more! I just finished smoking the last three coho from last summer's fishing trip. I have had good luck freezing the fish whole, then later I thaw, fillet and smoke them. After smoking I have found that I can vacuum-pack and freeze them and they stay very tasty for as long as 6-9 months. I try to save one package for the first days snack during the next summer trip.
 
Great discussion! I've even heard of people making smokers out of refrigerators after gutting the electrical and refrigeration equipment and adding a firebox and smokestack. The door is probably a very handy feature in such an arrangement.

The mention of stainless steel racks by Ken brings to mind an admonition I heard once from a chemist who said not to use the regular refrigerator racks for heated food preparation, such as in a BBQ, as they are coated with the metal cadmium, which is definitely unhealthy for human consumption. I guess that rules them out for use in a smoker unless the fish is laid on aluminum foil or is somehow otherwise isolated from the cadmium. I'm not sure the foil would be a good idea either, since the fish has been treated with so much salt. Perhaps wooden racks could be used.

Just thought I'd mention the cadmium issue for everybody's safety.

"Smoke 'em if ya got 'em."

Joe.
 
Hi,
I have tried all the stuff for racks and wasn't to pleased with most of it the salt and heat ect release a lot of stuff from the metal racks and the fish stick like crazy to them my last idea seemed to work the best so far. I used and old down rigger cable and strung my own rack the fish dosen't have hardly any surface to stick to and there isen't a lot o metal to oxidze seems to be working great so far and they are super easy to clean.
Richard
 
Jon - CLou":28l6eoq9 said:
Tip...For a great looking end product, use dark brown sugar instead of light brown. I usually do this for Christmas gifts.
Click to expand...

HMMMMMM, so how do I get on your Christmas list.....lol......
need some taters??????????????
 
Thanks RedFox for the link to your injun candy!! I was born and raised in Sitka. We moved down to Washington when I was 14 and I have missed it ever since! :( At least I can still get back up there from time to time. :D
Julie
 
Yes... "Sacred Injun Candy" might I ad :lol: Hey it's neat your here at least and it's good to meet you :thup Never know, we might be in Sitka again soon! Actually were considering a migration to Hoonah!!:love I'll be a "displaced Athabaskan Injun" to-be-sure :roll:

I'm back on the 'web till my back heals... then I'm back out to go tear it up again on the Snowmachine :disgust lol I hope not! Nice to be able to get back to my "Brating" again :moon :teeth once in a while. What else we gona do in winter... huh :)
 
Couldn't resist adding some more thoughts on cold smoking. When I was about 20 years old, I went on a trout fishing trip to lake Anahiem (spelling?) up in British Columbia. The owner of the resort where we stayed smoked some trout for us. It was cold smoked and I always remember his smoker and said to myself that I would make one in the future. About eight years ago I made mine. The smoke box itself is about 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep and 6 feet tall. This is mounted on top of a concrete box which is buried in the ground. The fire pit is located about thirty feet away, down a hill and is also made out of concrete with a heavy steel top and has an opening in front for adding wood. Six inch old clay pipe is buried in the ground and runs from the fire box to the bottom of the smoker. You build a real wood fire with alder, apple, cherry or my favorite is pecan, when I can get it from my "father in law." As you start the fire and the smoke starts to reach the smoker, the temperature inside the smoker actually drops due to the cold temperature of the ground. It is easy to smoke for several days without the temperature getting above 85-100 degrees. As mentioned by "Red Fox" part of the key is drying the fish off first. For this I use racks and large blowers for several hours until the outside of the fish is dry and shiny. If I smoke chinook for 1 day, it is what we call "smoked salmon butter" due to all the oil, this is my favorite but doesn't keep for long unless frozen. If you smoke for two full days and vacuum pack it keeps pretty long and is drier.

For parties, I lightly brine salmon (less salt) and load the smoker up with 4-8 filets, depending on the number of guests. I then start the smoker early in the AM with a normal fire. About an hour before it is time to eat, I add a lot of wood to get the temperature above 130 degrees. People are always amazed how good the fish is.

This works great for beef jerky also. Cold smoke for several hours then transfer to a food drier, dry for as long as you prefer then vacuum seal.

If I get the chance this afternoon, I'll take some digitals of the smoker a try to post them on the MacNaughty website. Pictures are posted as of 12/21/04.

Mason C. Bailey
 
Having grown up in the Ky. Country Ham business and produced over 100,000 hams, bacons, and pork shoulders over the years I have smoked a lot of meat. I won't try to tell you that there is only "my" way of doing it, because that just isn't true. There are dozens of ways but in the end it all comes down to taste, Your's.

Here is a very rough sketch of a way to build yourself a cold smoker that is affordable and controllable. It will just take a temperature gauge and some trial and error on your part. Have fun and don't forget to send samples.

http://www.c-brats.com/albums/Papillon/ColdSmoker.sized.jpg
 
I am a transplanted west coast salmon fisherman and a very quick and effective brine is 50% soy sauce and 50% Memmi . Memmi is a japanese noddle soup base that is made by Kikkoman . This brine is great on all fish and depending on the oil content of the fish , you can brine in as little as 2 hours for white low oil fish [grouper,snapper,rock cod, white seabass ] or overnight for oilier white fish [king mackerel,spanish mackerel,tuna,yellowtail, halibut ] or with the king of oily[in a good way] fish ,Salmon for up to 2 days .Also it depends how thick you cut it as to how long the brining process takes .Put it in a ziplock and turn it around every now and then. I must say I have a Bradley Smoker from Canada and it is awesome . A chef friend of mine says it the smoker for nerds ,but I dont care as it is great and with a timer and a little practice ,you can walk away and know you will have perfect results when you return ......
Marc
 
Does anyone have the "Sacred Injun Candy" recipe from Red Fox. The link to the site will not work for me. :roll: I had soooo many good tasting samples of Salmon at the Seattle boat show this year I am having withdraws just thinking about it! I would like to treat my southeast friends to some Thursday. Thank you :smiled
 
Papillon":14w54t1w said:
Having grown up in the Ky. Country Ham business and produced over 100,000 hams, bacons, and pork shoulders over the years I have smoked a lot of meat. I won't try to tell you that there is only "my" way of doing it, because that just isn't true. There are dozens of ways but in the end it all comes down to taste, Your's.

Here is a very rough sketch of a way to build yourself a cold smoker that is affordable and controllable. It will just take a temperature gauge and some trial and error on your part. Have fun and don't forget to send samples.

http://www.c-brats.com/albums/Papillon/ColdSmoker.sized.jpg
Click to expand...

This appears to be gone -- can you re-post? Thanks,
 
Jeff Brigner":3t99ws6x said:
Does anyone have the "Sacred Injun Candy" recipe from Red Fox. The link to the site will not work for me. :roll: I had soooo many good tasting samples of Salmon at the Seattle boat show this year I am having withdraws just thinking about it! I would like to treat my southeast friends to some Thursday. Thank you :smiled
Click to expand...

I found the Red Fox site with the Injun Candy instructions. I will probably use one of the recipes listed here because I do not have time to dry and smoke for 4 days.
 
l use this on trout and salmon 5lbs fish 1 cup white sugar,1 cup brown sugar,1/2 cup tender quick salt or sea salt. Mix sugars and salt together to make a dry brine. rub liberally over fish,place in shallow pan and leave at room temp for 3 hrs. sprinkle water over fish lightly and place in fridge over night. smoke until golden brown and flake apart . you can add a little brown sugar 1/2 way during cooking. this is for hot smoking 2 to 4 hrs at least 160 degrees.I have used this many times with excellant results cap dick bohlmann
 
Cabella's has some high end propane smokers that look like they should be effective at temp control. Not sure that i would want to put that kind of money into one.

Years ago, we used an old refrigerator with a hot plate in the bottom, a vent at the top. My suspicion is that you might want to find out what the racks, assuming they are metal racks, are made of. I have heard that some manufacturers used cadmium as a coating, and i believe it is toxic.
 
I have had the propane smokers - they can get pretty hot. The charcoal smokers - you have to really have your game plan down - hard to keep not too hot and not too cool. I have a Traeger pellet grill/smoker - OK, but expensive to feed and upkeep.

For most years, the best thing for me was/is what Sagebrush just mentioned - an old refrigerator with a hot plate with a pan of wet chips on the hot plate and a big metal bowl/pan of water above that. You can put a small "chimney" on top with a closing flap, so you can monitor the actual smoke output. These simple things - even a metal box instead of a fridge - work great because you don't have much risk of heat cooking the meat.

The propane smoker, I smoke an hour or so, then wrap in foil and stick in the 180 degree oven holding box for many hours. That will really tenderize the briskit.

John
 
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