It was last fall that a friend of mine that I fish with gave me a peice of trout that he had smoked...I was in love instantly and knew that I had to give smoking fish a try.
I used his recipe and instructions and just wanted to share my experience here. This first smoke opened up a new world to me and I am already looking into buy a smoker and upping my bbq game.
I borrowed a bradley digital electrical smoker from a frFirst Smokeiend to avoid the cost of purchasing a smoker right away. The trout were cleaned and cut into peices and then frozen until I did the smoking. After thawing I placed the fillets into a brine consisting of roughly 2.5 gallons of water, a cup of salt, cup of sugar and cup of mollases. I was instructed to taste the brine to be sure I could taste all three ingredients. I added another half cup of sugar.
I brined the two steelhead and one small coho salmon for twenty four hours covered in the cool basement. I removed the fillets from the brine, washed them off with cold water and placed them out to dry. Once the fish was sticky to the touch I placed them into the smoker. I did a ten hour smoke at 130-150f using alder for the first 8 hours and then two hours of apple. I removed the fish from the smoker, let them cool and then refrigerated over night. I have eaten a fair bit myself and it is very close to my friends. The people who I have shared the fish with are floored and cannot get enough. A few of my friends have been fishing and smoking fish for thirty plus years and said it was the best they had ever had.
I am pondering buying a smokey mountain smoker in the near future and start learning to smoke and bbq more then just fish. The preparation and entire process intrigues me and it is something I can see myself enjoying.
I used his recipe and instructions and just wanted to share my experience here. This first smoke opened up a new world to me and I am already looking into buy a smoker and upping my bbq game.
I borrowed a bradley digital electrical smoker from a frFirst Smokeiend to avoid the cost of purchasing a smoker right away. The trout were cleaned and cut into peices and then frozen until I did the smoking. After thawing I placed the fillets into a brine consisting of roughly 2.5 gallons of water, a cup of salt, cup of sugar and cup of mollases. I was instructed to taste the brine to be sure I could taste all three ingredients. I added another half cup of sugar.
I brined the two steelhead and one small coho salmon for twenty four hours covered in the cool basement. I removed the fillets from the brine, washed them off with cold water and placed them out to dry. Once the fish was sticky to the touch I placed them into the smoker. I did a ten hour smoke at 130-150f using alder for the first 8 hours and then two hours of apple. I removed the fish from the smoker, let them cool and then refrigerated over night. I have eaten a fair bit myself and it is very close to my friends. The people who I have shared the fish with are floored and cannot get enough. A few of my friends have been fishing and smoking fish for thirty plus years and said it was the best they had ever had.
I am pondering buying a smokey mountain smoker in the near future and start learning to smoke and bbq more then just fish. The preparation and entire process intrigues me and it is something I can see myself enjoying.
