Smoking Fish techniques?

- you guys from Gecko can leave out the answers like "Takes at least 3 Zig-Zags", "A 4-way hooka full of Boonsfarm Strawberry" etc etc.


yea but even if it comes out just ok they will think it is great

By far the best fish to smoke is an oily fish, such as salmon, marlin, shark, yellowtail, sierra, dorado, etc. Stay away from red snaper, lingcod. I don't know about roosters, common in the SOC.
Freezing will last about 6 months when flash-frozen (dry ice) then in the freezer. Starting the freezing in the freezer only will reduce the durability to about 8 weeks. After that the taste loses some intensity.
Time your fillets to cook for about 6 hours if about an inch thick, and the internal temperature should be about 145 degrees

1) Build one of these on the beach with local materials.



2) Catch fish---yellow croaker is easy and good...

3) Baste w/ soy sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

4) Smoke...we've used Agave leaves, citrus wood, you name it

cold smoke is best and go a longer time. 145 is too hot, cooks the meat instead of curing it.
max it at a low 110 and don't brine - go rubs and a wet one.
let 'er rip for 12 hrs and never a heavy wood.
hickory chips or pecan.
get it to coals and not too much smoke.
a water pan is good too.
i smoke so much my wife thinks i am an indian.
how.

Quote:

Originally posted by Mexitron 1) Build one of these on the beach with local materials. damn, even if it didnt turn out great i'm sure the mushrooms would turn that into an alter - just kidding

I am not a brine fan. I will smoke just about anything that I can, last year 600# of tuna. (Good fishing trip!) The brinkman is a hassle to cold smoke on. To cold smoke the temp should be about 150 to 160 max. and it takes 6 to 8 hours to finish the meat. Some times longer if it's cold outside. If you want to tend the smoker for that long and manage the charcoal have fun. I use a gas smoker and manage the smoke via a smoke box.
Hot smoking will work on most fish and is very easy to do. The smoker should be about 225 to 250. It will take apx. 3 to 4 hours to finish the product, depends thickness of the meat. There are a bunch of dry rubs out on the net check out All Coast andBloody Decks. Dry rubbing the meat will add taste to to product as will mopping it. I mop with thick a maple syrup, brown sugar, pepper, and tapio mix. It's a sweet and sour/hot mop,it goes on after the first hour and is mopped every 20 min after that.
Start playing around with what ever sounds good to you and then change 1 thing at a time until you get what you want as a finished product. Taking notes and keeping the process the same will help you perfect the end product. I did some very good yellow tail that I can't recreate again. Wet smoking will add some flavor and slow the drying process down
We wrap in plastic and vacuum seal the product and bit will hold for about 9 months to a year. It's always best right off the smoker.
I use nut woods and fruit woods or the smoke. Stay away from walnut and other harsh wood.
This is a old way to keep meat from going bad, the smoke and the brine were to help the preserving process, Now we smoke for flavor.

An earlier discussion

Smoking fish or anything else isn't hard to do. Temps.? There're about a million recipes on the www.

yellow tail is about the only thing I smoke since i don't have salmon in baja and good tuna is too good raw.

i always brine first using 50/50 mix of salt (don't use kosher; it's too strong) and brown sugar injust enough water to dissolve it. brine time depends on thickness of fillet; 1-2 hours for less than 1" thick and 3-6 hours for thicker. never overnight unless you are a real salt freak. remove from brine, rinse in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

then low and slow in my brinkman charcol smoker:
1) fill bottom with charcoal (i use mesquite chunks) light and and let coals burn down until ash is formed
2) throw on good handfull or two of mesquite or hickory chips that have been soaked in water for at least 2 hours
3) fill water pan with plain H2O and assemble rest of smoker (water helps keep temperature low and adds moisture)
4) put thickest fillets on bottom rack and others on top rack leaving good air space around them
5) watch temp gauge and keep it below 120 by regulating air intake
6) after about 1 hour, open door add 1 or 2 more chunks of charcoal and throw in another handfull of wood chips
7) repeat step 6 five more times (about 6 hours total) then let charcoal burn out and remove fillets after 8 hors.
8) let fillets dry in air for about 1 hour before vacuum sealing.

WORKS FOR ME EVERY TIME. never dried out and perfectly smoked