Time Or Internal Temperature ?

[fsa46]

Smoking some trout and planning on maintaining a temp around 165*.

My questions is, should I go by an internal temperature ( 145* ) or a certain time to finish ?

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Internal temp is your best bet. All food cooks differently even if they are the same thing.

 

[thirdeye]

Internal temp is the best way to prevent drying out the fillets. Since you mentioned a pit temp of 165° I'm assuming you will be curing then smoking? These fillets were smoked until 145° internal. Some people like them a little drier, so 150° would work for that.

This fillet was also cured and smoked to 145° to give you an idea of what the internal looks like.

 

[smokerjim]

i'm with Kevin and thirdeye, go by internal temp,

 

[kruizer]

What they all said.

 

[fsa46]

Internal temp is the best way to prevent drying out the fillets. Since you mentioned a pit temp of 165° I'm assuming you will be curing then smoking? These fillets were smoked until 145° internal. Some people like them a little drier, so 150° would work for that.

This fillet was also cured and smoked to 145° to give you an idea of what the internal looks like.

Looks awesome. Do you recall how long it took to reach the 145* ?

 

[thirdeye]

Looks awesome. Do you recall how long it took to reach the 145* ?

I use a Big Chief box smoker, so at best I can get 180° smoker temp. This might take 2 hours for the fillets to reach 145°. In cooler weather, or if I'm smoking thicker fillets, at the 2.5 hour mark if the fillets are not nearing 145° I move them to a 180° to 200° oven to get them done. Much higher on the oven temp and you risk forcing too much of the albumen out of the fillet. I generally see a pocket here and there, but I just try to keep it to a minimum.