smoked trout

[vanman]

I bought myself a new smoker a couple of weeks ago. I would like to know if anybody has a good recipe for smoked trout?
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[Theekillerbee]

I'd be interested in seeing how everyone smokes thier fish. I don't have a smoker, but I've got an uncle that swears by fresh smoked Kokes....ummmm.
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[wiperhunter2]

I have a little chef smoker and the book that came with it has a lot of good recipes for trout and salmon. I guess yours, did not come with a recipe book?

Kokanee are great smoked, you have to brime them first, so I guess that is what you want, a brime recipe? I've got to get to bed for a early fishing trip tomorrow but PM me and when I get home from work I'll send a good brime recipe and instructions on how to brime and smoke trout and kokanee tomorrow night (I'm on swing shift) WH2
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[TubeDude]

[cool]I have smoked a lot of different kinds of fish over the years. Anyone who plays around with it for awhile ends up with 'THE ONE TRUE WAY"...kinda like religion...or fishing in general.

The basic concept of smoking in the olden days was to preserve fish for the long winters. That means that they had to be "cured" against spoilage. That usually meant a lot of salt...more than most people need or like for today's health conscious folks.

An old recipe for brining calls for using Kosher salt or sea salt (no iodine) and stirring salt into the water until it floats an egg. There are more precise recipes but this one has style. Add spices and flavorings to taste...like black pepper, mustard seed, dill, bay leaves and other foo foo if you like. You can also just toss in a small bag of pickling spices to flavor it up.

Brine the fish overnight in the refrigerator and pour off the liquid the next day. Let the fish dry to an air glaze and then smoke to get the preferred degree of smoke infusion and dryness.

Got that? Okay, I don't care about putting up a couple of barrels of smoked fish for my entire extended family to eat for the winter. I do a small batch at a time and usually have it all munched before my buddies come over to eat it all for me. I don't need to worry about a lot of salt, cause it ain't around long enough to spoil and it keeps fine for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator if it lasts that long.

I do the quick and easy...especially with the Little Chief Smokers. I've gone through several of them. They do a fine job. They turn out more of a "hot smoked" product than the old traditional temperature controlled smokehouses, but that's fine with me. I can get a batch of smoked fish by gametime if I start early in the morning.

On all fish except trout, I fillet and skin them. I leave the skin on trout to help hold the fillets together. If you fillet trout and cut out the row of tiny flesh bones along the side, you can let the kids eat it too, without worrying about the bones.

First step is to lay the fillets on a paper towel and pat the top surface dry. Sprinkle on a fair amount of fine sea salt or kosher (no iodine). Next, sprinkle on a generous amount of white granulated sugar. Some brown sugar adds flavor if you want to add or substitute.

If you like spicy, wait until the sugar and salt mixture has been left on the fillets for an hour or so. It draws moisture out of the fish and starts to form a glaze. Now sprinkle on pepper and other spices to your taste. I make a mix of 3 parts black pepper, and 1 part each of red pepper, oregano, cumin, and garlic powder. If you like hotter, add more red pepper.

Spray your smoker grid trays with non-stick spray and arrange the fillets loosely across the wires. Put a pan of moistened chips in the smoker and make sure the burner is working. Sometimes you have to reposition the connections to get it started. Once you have heat and smoke, put the fish in and let er rip.

There are several different wood chips available that will work in your smoker. Some people like apple. Others like mesquite. I prefer the latter for smoking red meats and turkey, but hickory is kinda traditional for fish...at least to my tastes. Experiment to find what you prefer.

The length of time you leave the fish in the smoker will depend on how thick the fillets are and what the "ambient temperature" is around the smoker. In the heat of summer, you will smoke at a higher temperature and the fish will be done faster. During the winter, you can bring the smoker inside and set it up in the fireplace...unless you meet with spousal resistance.

I change the smoking chip pan about once an hour for the first three hours. After that time, the fish has probably picked up about as much flavor as it is going to, and additional chips are wasted. But, the heat continues the cooking and drying process. Check the fish after about three hours. You may want to switch the top rack with the bottom rack to even out the results. Or, you can just put the thicker fillets on the bottom rack to begin with.

When I do really thick fillets, like salmon or catfish, I sometimes take the mostly cooked fish out of the smoker and finish the cooking and drying in the oven...slow baking at about 175 until I get the consistency I want. You can turn out a pretty good smoked catfish jerky with this system. Goes great with cheese and crackers at gametime.

Whew! As usual, I got kinda carried away. But fishing and food are two passions that go together. Hope there was something useful in all that.

TubeDude
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[southernman]

thats it, im going out and buying a smoker this weekend, thanks tube dude . . .

sm

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ps i was wondering if you've ever read any kerouac or alot of hemingway, you resemble them when describing food! yeah!
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[vanman]

Wheww!!! I really appreciate the info TubeDude!! I have tried a couple experiments by myself, and I can't get one to work for me. I will print out your post and try it this weekend. Thanks again
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Thanks, if that was meant as a compliment. I probably resemble Hemingway more in girth than in prose. As I become more passionate about the food part of writing, Im liable to work my way up to Pavarotti...in size.

Actually, I have been playing with seafood recipes since my early days as a deckhand on sportsfishers and partner on commercial boats in my younger years. I learned the subtle differences in fish flesh and how to get the most out of it without overcooking or owerpowering it. I ended up being the single dad of three fish-loving kids, so I also had to be good at the fillet board as well as at the stove. My kids still brag that they never got a bone in any fish that dad filleted.

Once upon a time, long long ago, in the years before I became "TubeDude", I actually penned a book about Utah fishies..."Fetchin' and Fixin' The Fishes of Utah". It was a response to a lot of Utah troutaholics just discovering the warm water species in the state and wanting help on how to harvest and prepare them. I had been putting on some freebie seminars, for one of the local tackletoriums, and began by printing photocopies of some of the recipes I served, and it got out of hand.

I'd like to say that the book was an overwhelming success. I'd like to. But, it was hardly even a whelming success. Fishermen don't buy what they can get for free...or what they think they already know. The book did sell out of a small printing and then the publisher went into politics and sold off the presses. I have about three copies left, and I suppose the rest have long since been burned after failing to sell at garage sales.


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[southernman]

too cool, yes it was a compliment!

hahah

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sm
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Man, I almost missed out on the best setup a comedian could ask for:

"THE HARDEST PART OF SMOKING TROUT IS FIGURING OUT WHICH END TO LIGHT"

(RIM SHOT...BOOS...TOMATOES AND OTHER PRODUCE PELTING COMEDIAN)

TubeDude
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[southernman]

ahahahah i like that . ..

sm
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[muskyhunter]

My hardest part about the trout smoking was stuffing it all into the pipe or rolling it up in a paper!![][][]"BIG FISH RULE"M.H.
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[neveronsunday]

[#ff0000]The bestest fish smoker I have ever seen was made from an old metal lined refrigerator. I enjoy those Porcupine Kokes steamed and poached in lemon and butter but I love them brined and smoked! It's a bit like Salmon jerky. Check out this article from Ohio State University on home smoked fish. It's short, sweet and has all the info you need. [/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][url "http://www.sg.ohio-state.edu/pdfs/FS-032.pdf"]http://www.sg.ohio-state.edu/pdfs/FS-032.pdf[/url][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][/#ff0000]
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