Booms Smoked Fish...

[bang flop]

Well I have been doing smoked salmon for more than a few years now… and there was a thread started just before Christmas about smoking fish. Many members added a lot of good info about smoking fish. While that thread was hot on the press I was in the midst of making a batch of the good stuff. This has inspired me to do up a post on the “how to” by me.

I do a fair amount of fishing and generally put a lot of fish in my freezer, so I don’t care if I use fresh or frozen, or year old fish… it all seems to smoke up well for me.

My favourite to smoke is sockeye… but that can be hard to come by. 2nd fav is chinook, the oils just make it better than coho or chum. I’ll be honest, I have never smoked pinks as they are too much work for such little product in the smoker.

When starting, I pull out about 25 lbs of filets and let them thaw.

The meat:
I cut the meat into approx. 1”x1”x3” (or a little thinner) strips or chunks. I don’t like smoking a whole sides (at least not this way).

Ingredients:


2 kg of Demerara, light brown or dark brown sugar
1.5 cups of pickling or coarse salt
That’s all I use… you can add other stuff as well I’m sure.
NO WATER, WINE, OR SOYA SAUCE.


Brine:


Do not use any kind of metal bowl. Use food safe plastic. I have a 2.5 gallon pail I use.
Mix sugar and salt together
Layer bottom of bowl with sugar/salt (thin layer)
Layer of fish, pack it in tight
layer of sugar/salt
layer of fish
layer of sugar/salt
Continue till you have all your fish in the brine. If you run out of brine before you have all the fish in, save a little of the brine to put on the top.
Store in fridge
After about 2 hrs you will see that the dry brine is now turning liquid.
Mix the brine every 4 to 6 hours or so being sure to lift the sugar/salt sludge from the bottom of the bowl.
The fish will harden/firm up as the sugar/salt work their way into the meat.
I usually brine meat until it is nice and firm (usually 24 to 36 hours, sometimes more depending on what type of fish)

fish fresh in the brine... will turn to liquid.

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fish ready for placement on racks and smoking

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Smoking prep:


Rinse off fish under tap water
Lay fish on paper towel, soaks up excess moisture.
Plug in smoker… get it hot (I use a BIG Chief, simple cheap, effective)
Get chips ready, I use apple or cherry, or a mix. I’ve used hickory and such before with success as well.
Get the racks out for the smoker.
Place the fish as tight as you can on the racks
I only have 5 racks, so I have to really pack the fish in there to get all the fish in the smoker at once.
Try to put the larger pieces on the bottom rack if possible… seems to smoke up nicer.


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[bang flop]

Smoking:


Get a pan of chips in the smoker… don’t put the fish in until you see a little smoke coming out of the smoker.

As stated above, I like cherry and apple, hickory or mesquite work just fine as well.


Once you see the smoke coming out, put your fish in the smoker.
I run 3 pans of chips, back to back to back.

Do not burn your chips all the way down
Usually takes about ½ hr per pan
I basically burn until the chips are black, but still noticeable.
If you pull the pan out and the ships are ashes… you burnt way to long.
Burning chips too long leaves a bad taste on the meat
The racks should be golden yellow, not black when you pull the fish out.


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/andrewpereboom/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151220_154836.jpg (http://s158.photobucket.com/user/andrewpereboom/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151220_154836.jpg.html)



You can leave the fish in the smoker for a few hours to continue to dry

Take the pan/chips out, smoking is done, just need to dry the fish a little more.
A lot of moisture will build up on the walls/lid of the smoker, only heat will get rid of that.


I am impatient… so I pull out the bbq and finish cooking the fish on low heat there

If you are using a Bradley or a good HOT smoker, you likely don’t have to use the bbq trick… I just find it soooo slow dry in a Big Chief style smoker.
I put each rack on the bbq for about 2 min just to make sure everything is good and cooked.



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The fish looks kinda nasty once it comes out of the smoker or off the bbq, but set it aside and the juices/oils will start to come out of the meat and give a delicious glazed look to the fish.
Some people like to sprinkle brown sugar on the meat or coat it with honey… I do not.
One thing I find very tasty on the fish is adding cracked pepper corns… oh… that makes this stuff even better. I don’t know what it is, but it puts this stuff over the top.
I pull the fish off the racks and set put back in cleaned brine bucket.


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/andrewpereboom/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151220_204749.jpg (http://s158.photobucket.com/user/andrewpereboom/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151220_204749.jpg.html)

Packaging:


I am big on presentation so I like to vacuum seal the fish in nicely sized packages.
After neatly loading the bags with fish I load on the cracked pepper corns. Seriously try it….
Then seal them up.
I freeze the product until ready to use.
Because of the high sugar/salt content, the fish thaws out very quick when you need/want to have some.



http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/andrewpereboom/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151221_130750.jpg (http://s158.photobucket.com/user/andrewpereboom/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151221_130750.jpg.html)
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/andrewpereboom/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151221_130733.jpg (http://s158.photobucket.com/user/andrewpereboom/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151221_130733.jpg.html)

Hope that all works out. If you try it, i hope you enjoy it!

Cheers,

[Goose]

Thanks for this great step by step, cant wait to try it!!

[Philcott]

Very similar to the way I have done mine for almost 30 years. One difference is I leave mine in the smoker until required dryness though. Comes out very tasty.

[bang flop]

Very similar to the way I have done mine for almost 30 years. One difference is I leave mine in the smoker until required dryness though. Comes out very tasty.

I'm just not patient enough to leave in the smoker that long. Plus my big chief doesn't get hot enough.

[Riverratz]

Good write up, photo's, etc. Looks great. Good job.

Pretty much identical to the way I've been doing mine for 30 years or so in the Big Chief as well.
Haven't tried the pepper-corns so will give that a go next batch.
I drizzle/baste some "real" maple syrup over the fish for the last hour or so, it does not make it too sweet.
Storing in vacuum packs is also the only way to go, there's something about doing it that way that makes the end product so much better.

You're right about the "over-smoking" thing. 2-3 smoke sessions is plenty.
Many people smoke way too long for hours on end and it ends up tasting like burnt wood.

Have a new Bradley that I'll be using come springtime with a couple of 20 lb. Chum waiting in the freezer for warmer temps.