Hey All, So I've been browsing around a bunch and figured I'd make my foray into my own post over here.
This is a recipe I've tried last week and it came out delicious. One mistake I made was vacuuming the product so it lost a lot of its vodka flavor and kick but otherwise, before it was vacuumed it was beyond delicious.
So here is what I did:
First thing is first, I am starting with a chilean 4 lb, skin on, trim D fillet (no bones)
I put it in a 25* Salometer brine with brown sugar, 1/2 bottle of vodka, and a whole bundle of cilantro.
I let it sit for 3 days upside down, then rebrined it again overnight in another 25* salometer with brown sugar, other 1/2 bottle of vodka, and bundle of cilantro.
The reason I rebrined it was mainly for the bacteria and for the freshness, the cilantro can get modly and spoil over time, and, another reason for the rebrine was to add a final kick of the vodka.
There is a lot of science that a rebrine is stronger than keeping something in the same salt content for the same amount of time.
Anyway, so that was the brining method.
Now for the smoking.
I'm using a mauer-atmos, heat exchange gas powered oven with a friedrich woodchip electric generator. It's my own toy that's been jimmied the way I like it, and is optimal for high intensity smoke values and cold smoking.
I dried it for about 4 hours at a house temp at 72* and then smoked it for 1.5 hours at 1300* smoke value and 70* house temp.
This is what it came out to be.
The reason for the cracks is because of the way I handled the fish while it was in brine. In a liquid brine you are supposed to mix the brine up a few times a day to add uniformity to the fish.
It was beyond amazing, I hand sliced it of course and walked around buzzed for the large portion of my day.
:)
This is a recipe I've tried last week and it came out delicious. One mistake I made was vacuuming the product so it lost a lot of its vodka flavor and kick but otherwise, before it was vacuumed it was beyond delicious.
So here is what I did:
First thing is first, I am starting with a chilean 4 lb, skin on, trim D fillet (no bones)
I put it in a 25* Salometer brine with brown sugar, 1/2 bottle of vodka, and a whole bundle of cilantro.
I let it sit for 3 days upside down, then rebrined it again overnight in another 25* salometer with brown sugar, other 1/2 bottle of vodka, and bundle of cilantro.
The reason I rebrined it was mainly for the bacteria and for the freshness, the cilantro can get modly and spoil over time, and, another reason for the rebrine was to add a final kick of the vodka.
There is a lot of science that a rebrine is stronger than keeping something in the same salt content for the same amount of time.
Anyway, so that was the brining method.
Now for the smoking.
I'm using a mauer-atmos, heat exchange gas powered oven with a friedrich woodchip electric generator. It's my own toy that's been jimmied the way I like it, and is optimal for high intensity smoke values and cold smoking.
I dried it for about 4 hours at a house temp at 72* and then smoked it for 1.5 hours at 1300* smoke value and 70* house temp.
This is what it came out to be.
The reason for the cracks is because of the way I handled the fish while it was in brine. In a liquid brine you are supposed to mix the brine up a few times a day to add uniformity to the fish.
It was beyond amazing, I hand sliced it of course and walked around buzzed for the large portion of my day.
:)
