Smoked bass and bluegill

[Bearcarver]

Well Bear, that's kinda what this is all about, learning...Lol...
We usually do pan or deep fry these fish fresh...I found these filets left over from my nephews trip here this fall while adding butt roasts to my freezer and thought, what the heck, I'm doing jerky Sunday let's try some bass filets...Nothing ventured nothing gained...But I'm tending to agree with you.
Most will robably end up as fish jerky and in dip but I wanted to see if the shoulder portion of the larger ones might fair differently so I seperated a few of the larger ones and cut the shoulder of the filet off to do a dry brown sugar salt cure... They're about 3/4 inch thick so I'm hoping for reasonable results.

Sounds good to me---Wish I was there!!

Bear

 

[jokensmoken]

IMG_20170121_134030142.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 21, 2017

So here are the trimmed thick shoulder pieces of several filets going into my brown sugar, salt and spices. I'll pull and rinse them about 4:00 am and rack them to dry till I'm ready to smoke.

 

[jokensmoken]

IMG_20170121_134409747_HDR.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 21, 2017

Here they are fully coated and ready for the fridge.

 

[jokensmoken]

The rest I'm going split and do 1/2 in an EVOO and spice rub as smokenAl suggested and the rest are going into a the brine recipe from Bear.

 

[jokensmoken]

So...Everything's on schedule for today's smoke. I rinsed the filets in the dry cure first off this morning and put half the remaining in Bears wet brine and rubbed the rest up with EVOO and a Cajun spice as Al suggested...Everything's now racked and drying in the fridge for smoking to start in about 2 hours. I post more pics when I.load up the smoker.

 

[Bearcarver]

So...Everything's on schedule for today's smoke. I rinsed the filets in the dry cure first off this morning and put half the remaining in Bears wet brine and rubbed the rest up with EVOO and a Cajun spice as Al suggested...Everything's now racked and drying in the fridge for smoking to start in about 2 hours. I post more pics when I.load up the smoker.

Sounds Good !

Bear

 

[bellaru]

I'm interested

 

[jokensmoken]

Well as luck would have it, everything's on track but the weather lol.
Knowing I'd be leaving my Michigan winter wonderland for Texas and NC this Tuesday, I planned one more cold weather smoke for today before leaving.
So much for a cold day for a colder temp smoke...It's 44 out now and projected to be 60 ish by 1:00 pm...Who da thunk 60 in the middle of January in Michigan. Not that I mind because it's beautiful out, I was just hoping for the more traditional mid 20's temps for the Smoke today.

 

[jokensmoken]

IMG_20170122_132340838_HDR.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 22, 2017

Here's the fish from left to right
Al's suggestion of EVOO and Cajun spices
In the center (slightly darker)
My traditional brown sugar, salt dry cure
Left...Bears wet brine recipe...
Time will tell.

 

[jokensmoken]

IMG_20170122_133350212_HDR.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 22, 2017

One rack of peppercorn dry rub/cure top round jerky

 

[jokensmoken]

IMG_20170122_133932027_HDR.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 22, 2017

One rack with teryak, brown sugar, garlic, pineapple chunks, juice included...
I'll post the recipe if it turns out...Lol...

 

[jokensmoken]

Well, as it turns out my smoker loves 55° outdoor temps...
It's mild, overcast and calm and I'm holding very constant temps.
Predictable and controllable
About to bump enough to get an "on cycle" to add a little smoke (thanks Bear for the suggestion of starting cool and bumping the temps every half hour to keep the smoke going).

 

[Bearcarver]

Well, as it turns out my smoker loves 55° outdoor temps...
It's mild, overcast and calm and I'm holding very constant temps.
Predictable and controllable
About to bump enough to get an "on cycle" to add a little smoke (thanks Bear for the suggestion of starting cool and bumping the temps every half hour to keep the smoke going).

Looking good so far !!

You're bringing memories back about playing the Temp game.

If you get an Amazing Smoker, You won't have to worry about bumping the temp to keep it smoking.

Bear

 

[jokensmoken]

IMG_20170122_193012305.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 22, 2017

Well here's my verdict...Anyone who thinks you can't smoke bass either did it wrong or are repeating gossip.
The EVOO and Cajun spice rubbed ones are quite tasty right off the grill and WILL be amazing in dip...Thanks Al.
The dry brown sugar and salt are a little salty...But otherwise good...and they also would be exceptional in dip.
A couple mods could easily be made...First I cured them for 14 hours so a shorter cure time might help, but I think the key will be cutting back on the salt...Let ya know next batch...But the 50/50 course kosher salt to brown sugar ratio I usually use for salmon is to salty.
By far the best straight off the grill were the ones done in Bears wet brine...Thanks bear, delish.
All that being said...No they're not salmon...They are drier and chewier but much less chewy than jerky BY FAR and certainly are deserving of learning to do.
Of course, I'll.probably continue to fry my pan fish but if I ever have any I'm not sure what to with...I'll smoke them.

 

[jokensmoken]

IMG_20170122_195316392_HDR.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 22, 2017

And the jerky, as usual it came out very good...I'll post my recipes when I go over my notes.
Thanks for following along...and Bear...Thanks again.

Walt

 

[jokensmoken]

And now it's time to get out the cream cheese, some mayo, dice up a little onion and make some fish dip...I got a box of wheat thins and n the cupboard and a lazyboy calling my name.

 

[jokensmoken]

Well, so much for the dip...As I munched a piece of fish, then another and another...Lol...I finally just took a plate full with me and ate them like potato chips...Nope, couldn't eat just one...
I'll do dip tomorrow.

 

[Bearcarver]

IMG_20170122_195316392_HDR.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 22, 2017

And the jerky, as usual it came out very good...I'll post my recipes when I go over my notes.
Thanks for following along...and Bear...Thanks again.

Walt

Looks Great, Walt !!

Nice Job!

Bear

IMG_20170122_193012305.jpg

• jokensmoken
• Jan 22, 2017

Well here's my verdict...Anyone who thinks you can't smoke bass either did it wrong or are repeating gossip.
The EVOO and Cajun spice rubbed ones are quite tasty right off the grill and WILL be amazing in dip...Thanks Al.
The dry brown sugar and salt are a little salty...But otherwise good...and they also would be exceptional in dip.
A couple mods could easily be made...First I cured them for 14 hours so a shorter cure time might help, but I think the key will be cutting back on the salt...Let ya know next batch...But the 50/50 course kosher salt to brown sugar ratio I usually use for salmon is to salty.
By far the best straight off the grill were the ones done in Bears wet brine...Thanks bear, delish.
All that being said...No they're not salmon...They are drier and chewier but much less chewy than jerky BY FAR and certainly are deserving of learning to do.
Of course, I'll.probably continue to fry my pan fish but if I ever have any I'm not sure what to with...I'll smoke them.

That's what I like to hear, Walt !!

Thank You for the Report !

Always glad to help.

Bear

 

[biteme7951]

Good looking smoke! 

If you want another crack at a dry brine, try a 20/80 salt to sugar ratio. 

Barry.

 

[hillbilly jim]

This thread is perfect timing. In a coupla' weeks, I'm gonna drag out 10 or 15 lbs. of bass and bluegill that got put in the freezer last year. I might throw a couple of the larger pieces of bass in the skillet, but the most of it is goin' in the smoker with dip as the goal.