Smoking white fish

[aksel]

The first 2 times I tried smoking fish it was ok this time brined for 3 hours in salt water
I started out @ 120 for 3 hours then to 130 ant 140 then 150 on the hour till 145 pulled they had no tast more like cooked fish I’m thinking I over did them
and more or less I just cooked the meat instead of slowly drying the meat this alsobwax the first time trying to smoke the whole fish instead of the fillet maybe brine linger also just looking for pointers for next year I will not have any more till next winter

 

[cmayna]

What type of fish is your "white" fish?

 

[aksel]

Tulipiee / whitefish

 

[gmc2003]

Tulipiee is basically a bottom feeder. Be careful of parasites. They can be horribly slimy also. Your best best would be to take the head and tail off, gut it and brine it overnight in a salt water brown sugar solution. Then onto the smoker at lower temps until done. I'm thinking more of an appetizer then a main course. Good luck and let us know how you decide to do it.

Chris

 

[cmayna]

Agree with Chris on this. For such fish if freshly caught, I'd probably vacuum seal and freeze after I cleaned and filet it. Want to make sure those small critters are dead.

 

[piker]

Agree with Chris on this. For such fish if freshly caught, I'd probably vacuum seal and freeze after I cleaned and filet it. Want to make sure those small critters are dead.

I do not think you have to worry about the bacteria as I have smoked lots of them and no problem. What I do is gut the fish take head and gills off vacuum pac and freeze for two or three months as they are an oily fish and I think this step helps a lot. Depending on thr thickness it does not take very long to smoke them.

 

[Bearcarver]

Like said above, you have to freeze fish at certain Temps for so long to eliminate Parasites, unless you're going to cook them to a higher temp.
There are various Time & Temp suggestions on the internet.
I believe one of them is freezing and storing fish at a surrounding temperature of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit or colder for seven days.

Here's a couple of my Step by Steps:
Smoked Salmon
Smoked Brook Trout & Tilapia


Bear

 

[Gwanger]

Like said above, you have to freeze fish at certain Temps for so long to eliminate Parasites, unless you're going to cook them to a higher temp.
There are various Time & Temp suggestions on the internet.
I believe one of them is freezing and storing fish at a surrounding temperature of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit or colder for seven days.

Here's a couple of my Step by Steps:
Smoked Salmon
Smoked Brook Trout & Tilapia


Bear

Bear you beat me to it, your index finger is faster than mine, I was going to mention freezing at -5 deg. for over a week,to eliminate parasites, I love pickled northern pike till I read that fisherman got sick maybe died from parasitic infection from eating pickled pike without freezing b4 hand. I have had pickled pike many times, very popular in N Wi.and I was researching the recipe when I read article about the parasites.Like me you can eat it a hundred times till your luck runs out.

 

[Gwanger]

Bear you beat me to it, your index finger is faster than mine, I was going to mention freezing at -5 deg. for over a week,to eliminate parasites, I love pickled northern pike till I read that fisherman got sick maybe died from parasitic infection from eating pickled pike without freezing b4 hand. I have had pickled pike many times, very popular in N Wi.and I was researching the recipe when I read article about the parasites.Like me you can eat it a hundred times till your luck runs out.

Now you have tweaked my curiosity and will look up recipe for pickling northern pike, bc thats where I saw the warning.

 

[Bearcarver]

Now you have tweaked my curiosity and will look up recipe for pickling northern pike, bc thats where I saw the warning.

You guys in WI are lucky!!
We don't have to worry about Northern Pike around here. :(
The only toothy critters we have an abundance of are Pickerel, Muskies, and Walleyes.

Bear

 

[Gwanger]

You guys in WI are lucky!!
We don't have to worry about Northern Pike around here. :(
The only toothy critters we have an abundance of are Pickerel, Muskies, and Walleyes.

Bear

Bear, up here we have the same fish. I think they would all require the same freezing precautions, up here when we have foul hooked a smaller N. Pike they are all pickled with onions and black peppercorns and vinegar,not cooked very tasty with a good quality beer, the Doc won't let me drink as many as I would like,I just drink the better ones, commercial beers have too many Nitrosimines except for the better craft beers. Bear, I am very impressed by your attention to detail for your recipes. I can't wait to try the bacon and salmon recipes but won't smoke salmon quite as dark as you show,won't go past 145 it. but your recipes look extremely good.It seems you are a master of your craft. thnx for all your info.

 

[Bearcarver]

Bear, up here we have the same fish. I think they would all require the same freezing precautions, up here when we have foul hooked a smaller N. Pike they are all pickled with onions and black peppercorns and vinegar,not cooked very tasty with a good quality beer, the Doc won't let me drink as many as I would like,I just drink the better ones, commercial beers have too many Nitrosimines except for the better craft beers. Bear, I am very impressed by your attention to detail for your recipes. I can't wait to try the bacon and salmon recipes but won't smoke salmon quite as dark as you show,won't go past 145 it. but your recipes look extremely good.It seems you are a master of your craft. thnx for all your info.

My comment was supposed to show my Jealousy of WI for having Awesome Northern Pike fishing.

However I believe some fish are more susceptible to parasites, such as "Bottom Feeders.

And Thank You for the Kind Words!!

Bear

 

[Gwanger]

My comment was supposed to show my Jealousy of WI for having Awesome Northern Pike fishing.

However I believe some fish are more susceptible to parasites, such as "Bottom Feeders.

And Thank You for the Kind Words!!

Bear

Bear I looked for the article on parasites when eating pickled northerns. checked five different web pages, all had different recipes for pickling northerns some sounding very good but few mentioned parasites from eating the pickled fish. they did mention getting tapeworms and that freezing the fillets at 0 deg. for one week or by cooking to 140 deg.would kill all parasites.Sorry I could not find the article.I can't believe that they would have taken that info down.I remember fishing with a good friend from Eagle River Wi. we were going thru a short channel between two lakes and saw large groups of yellow perch in the shallows. After catching our limit of perch I noticed that they all looked like someone sprinkled pepper on them.When we cleaned them they all had worms crawling in the meat. my buddy says that the worms will cook out of them.I didn't stick around to find out.

 

[Bearcarver]

Bear I looked for the article on parasites when eating pickled northerns. checked five different web pages, all had different recipes for pickling northerns some sounding very good but few mentioned parasites from eating the pickled fish. they did mention getting tapeworms and that freezing the fillets at 0 deg. for one week or by cooking to 140 deg.would kill all parasites.Sorry I could not find the article.I can't believe that they would have taken that info down.I remember fishing with a good friend from Eagle River Wi. we were going thru a short channel between two lakes and saw large groups of yellow perch in the shallows. After catching our limit of perch I noticed that they all looked like someone sprinkled pepper on them.When we cleaned them they all had worms crawling in the meat. my buddy says that the worms will cook out of them.I didn't stick around to find out.

Here's a short one on freezing parasites out, and a Link to guidelines for the food industry from the Food & Drug Admin:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/science/freezing-fish-killing-parasites.html


I can remember Rabbits we shot that had worms under the skin---Looked Disgusting!!
My Dad said it was because we hadn't had a really good frost that year yet.
I never looked into that, but I wasn't going to argue with him.

Bear

 

[Gwanger]

Here's a short one on freezing parasites out, and a Link to guidelines for the food industry from the Food & Drug Admin:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/science/freezing-fish-killing-parasites.html


I can remember Rabbits we shot that had worms under the skin---Looked Disgusting!!
My Dad said it was because we hadn't had a really good frost that year yet.
I never looked into that, but I wasn't going to argue with him.

Bear

Thnx Bear. It just reconfirms my beliefs on killing parasites b4 pickling, really worth trying even If there is no smoking involved. I was also told don't shoot rabbits till after first frost by grandpa although we ate grandmas pickled rabbit when ever she made it.( couldn't spell hosenphefer.)

 

[Bearcarver]

Thnx Bear. It just reconfirms my beliefs on killing parasites b4 pickling, really worth trying even If there is no smoking involved. I was also told don't shoot rabbits till after first frost by grandpa although we ate grandmas pickled rabbit when ever she made it.( couldn't spell hosenphefer.)

Oh Yeah----"Hasenpfeffer"----I ate that when I was a Kid.

And when I was a little older I learned to play the Card game, also called "Hasenpfeffer"---Much like Pinochle.
That's pretty much Pennsylvania Dutch.

Bear