Smoked Cod Fail

[Inscrutable]

Well, maybe a partial one ... although my mechanics professor said “You build bridge, bridge fall down ... no partial credit!”

Anyway, had some cod loins been in the freezer too long ... decided to give first time smoking them a try, with just a few for experiments sake ...

Didn’t want to ruin fish texture with a wet brine, so Did a dry brine ... 1T kosher salt, 2T Dk brown sugar, 1t Old Bay ... brined for 5 hours ... rinsed, dried, refrigerated for 4 hours ... smoked at 200* to IT 145* (about 90 minutes with cherry and apple)

Holy crap ... WAYYY too salty ... perfect texture and moisture, and very nice flavor, until the salt wall hit you

Have seen other threads brining even longer, although some have a greater sugar:salt ratio. But didn’t think the salt quantity used (1T) would be too much.
So was the problem the salt ratio, the brining time, ..???

 

[TuckersBarbeque]

1T is a lot of salt! I typically would do 1T salt for a 5 lb roast or something.
I admit, I'm not too much of an expert on the fish side of things, but if I read a recipe asking for 1T salt dry brine on a couple cod loins, I'd question it. Wet brine... definitely.
I'll let other experts weigh in on this. Don't listen to me.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I tried dry brine fish one time and way to salty for me but that been several years ago now. I wish I could find whitefish around here. I sure miss it from living in Mi.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

I have thought about giving cod a try but my plan was to do a wet brine. I see we got some on sale up here so might have to pick a few up and take a swing at it.

 

[Murray]

I use a 4:1 brown sugar to Kosher salt ratio and dry brine overnight with salmon and don’t find it too salty. That being said “too salty” is a personal taste thing. IMHO a white fleshed fish will absorb more flavour faster than fish from the salmonid family.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I use a 4:1 brown sugar to Kosher salt ratio and dry brine overnight with salmon and don’t find it too salty. That being said “too salty” is a personal taste thing. IMHO a white fleshed fish will absorb more flavour faster than fish from the salmonid family.

Do you rinse the fish after?

 

[Murray]

Do you rinse the fish after?

I make no mention of rinsing in my notes but I usually give everything a quick rinse coming out of any brine. I can say for certain that I don’t soak and have never soaked any brined meat/fish. We love our salt. To answer your question, probably.

 

[Inscrutable]

1T is a lot of salt! I typically would do 1T salt for a 5 lb roast or something.
I admit, I'm not too much of an expert on the fish side of things, but if I read a recipe asking for 1T salt dry brine on a couple cod loins, I'd question it. Wet brine... definitely.
I'll let other experts weigh in on this. Don't listen to me.

Yeah, seems a lot in retrospect. But I’ll still listen to you ... I’m not your wife

I have thought about giving cod a try but my plan was to do a wet brine. I see we got some on sale up here so might have to pick a few up and take a swing at it.

I use a 4:1 brown sugar to Kosher salt ratio and dry brine overnight with salmon and don’t find it too salty. That being said “too salty” is a personal taste thing. IMHO a white fleshed fish will absorb more flavour faster than fish from the salmonid family.

Dealing with 3 variables, and not sure which (if any) exert more influence - two deal with the salt itself - salt ratio/concentration, and actual or resultant salt mass applied per unit volume or surface area - and time. Not likely to be independent variables. Seems I need to experiment with varying each alone and again in combination.
Cod population going to take a big hit in the service of scientific progress.

 

[Murray]

Yeah, seems a lot in retrospect. But I’ll still listen to you ... I’m not your wife


Dealing with 3 variables, and not sure which (if any) exert more influence - two deal with the salt itself - salt ratio/concentration, and actual or resultant salt mass applied per unit volume or surface area - and time. Not likely to be independent variables. Seems I need to experiment with varying each alone and again in combination.
Cod population going to take a big hit in the service of scientific progress.

Sorry I should have also mentioned that my 4:1 ratio was by volume not weight. We like Cod deep fried/pan fried way too much to brine and smoke, salmon/trout on the other hand will get eaten if brined and smoked at our house.

 

[cmayna]

When you say cod, what species of cod are you cooking? Rock cod? Ling cod? They do not smoke the same. I only smoke Ling and it is with a wet brine. Found dry brine being too dry. I do not smoke Rock cod. Don't like the flavor nor texture, when smoking, but it is my favorite fish to fry. Go figure.

 

[Norwester55]

Its been years (decades?) since I've smoked fish and we always used a wet brine but IIRC Ling cod/ Rock cod absorbs salt similar to salmon. But I found out the hard way that Black cod/Sable Fish being a soft fish really sucks up the salt! 1st time brining it I used my normal brine and smoked a batch. URK! Tasted a piece and it was way too salty. I had a Siberian Husky at the time that thought it was his job to guard the smoker or BBQ when something was cooking in return for bites of jerky, fish or whatever when it was done. He'd lay there for hrs on guard against roving packs of cats/children/raccoons etc. I thought maybe the dog will eat it and gave him a piece. He spit it out and gave me the most disgusted look I've ever gotten from a person, much less an animal. Turned his back on me and every time I tried to pet him he'd walk away. Wouldn't even look at me. I finally remembered that I had some jerky in the fridge and after a couple pieces of that we were friends again.
Its been a long time but next batch I think I cut the salt back to a third or less of what I'd used. Again this was a wet brine but illustrates that certain fish will absorb salt much more than others and to always fry up a test piece before you smoke. I incurred the wrath of the Husky once, never again!