About Smoking Fish

[Mr. NiceGuy]

I'm cleaning my deep freezer to make room for more fresh fish.

I have large yellowtail fillets, yellowtail collars and some bluefin tuna that are all sealed and good condition, about 5 months old for the yellowtail and a little longer for the bluefin.

I was thinking that a good thing to do would be to throw it all in my smoker to have available to go with wine, salads and light meals without the fuss of defrosting and cooking so much.


In this case of preparing frozen fish from storage, how important is it to brine the fish before smoking? I know many people automatically brine, but why? The fish is already awesome naturally.

My intent is to cook the fish and keep it moist with a smokey fresh flavor. I am not trying to preserve it by drying it out like jerky, although that thought has crossed my mind too.


What are some thoughts on the best ways to maximize flavor and pleasure from precious fish that has accumulated in the bottoms of our deep freezers?

[Mr. NiceGuy]

A friend with a fishing house in Bahia Los Angeles was drying fish in a home made cold smoker rig continually because of his shortage of refrigerator space.

In his more primitive circumstances, he covered small slices of yellowtail with Montreal Steak Seasoning from Costco, then smoked them until they were leathery like jerky. Those went into generous single portion zip loc bags for lunch on his boat. I admit, it was pretty amazing to snack on these spicy pieces of dried yellowtail with an ice chest of cold beer while fishing.

I don't know if he was using brine first or not.

[got2fishsd]

Smoked fish

1/1/1
1 gal of water
1 c sugar (brown or white)
1 c salt non iodionized

Add ice to water to get COLD prior to adding fish

Brine for 24 hours in a COLD fridge 34 degrees (can cut open a piece and lick center needs to be salty)

Rinse under sink

Let sit for 3-4 hours to form pelic

Smoke at 120 with no smoke for first hour. Increase temp 10 degree every hour and as much smoke as possible. Smoke needs to vent so you don't get stale smoke.


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[Mr. NiceGuy]

I think I understand the purpose of brine better now. It retains moisture and keeps the fish plump and succulent.

As I was preparing fillets to soak in a simple brine overnight for my smoker tomorrow, I tried a "quick brine" on my yellowtail collars for the grill. I lightly rinsed off the salt and cooked them skin side down without flipping in my covered table top Weber grill on medium. It was more of a bake than a grill.

I pulled them off and let them rest for a few minutes under a loose tent of aluminum foil.

The meat slid off the cartilage of the collar perfectly cooked, moist, and with good texture. It required no additional seasoning. The brine I rinsed off provided just the right amount of salt to bring out the wonderful natural flavor of hamachi kama.

The rich flavor of yellowtail washed down nicely with slightly chilled dry red wine.


Old Dog:New Tricks

Now I feel hungry for chocolate chip cookies


PS, at no additional charge: For those who like exploratory cooking, here is a similar "quick brine" technique for salmon that demonstrates the purpose of brine:
http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2014/...ut-i-want.html

[kirkdavis]

The salt in the brine also helps to preserve the fish. You never want to freeze smoked fish, and the brine will lengthen the refrigerator life usually out to a few weeks or more.

[octico]

I keep it simple, salt and nothing else. I always use apple wood chips.

[Chuck D]

I see no problem freezing smoked fish to lengthen preservation, done it for many years now.

Originally Posted by kirkdavis

The salt in the brine also helps to preserve the fish. You never want to freeze smoked fish, and the brine will lengthen the refrigerator life usually out to a few weeks or more.

[Geno Machino]

Just ordered a (Dyna-Glo DGO1176BDC-D) off set smoker off amazon. Charcoal/wood chip burning, can smoke up to 100 pounds at a time. Now, if I can just catch a fish - I'll be in business .

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by Geno Machino

Just ordered a (Dyna-Glo DGO1176BDC-D) off set smoker off amazon. Charcoal/wood chip burning, can smoke up to 100 pounds at a time. Now, if I can just catch a fish - I'll be in business .

I want to taste what you can cook with that. Looks like a nice configuration for a good price.

[Geno Machino]

I think it will take a couple of batches to get it down, hopefully I'll catch enough fish this summer to put it to good use.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by Geno Machino

hopefully I'll catch enough fish this summer to put it to good use.

I've been enjoying following your posts Geno. There is no doubt in my mind that your new smoker will be getting plenty of use.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by got2fishsd

Smoked fish

1/1/1
1 gal of water
1 c sugar (brown or white)
1 c salt non iodionized

Add ice to water to get COLD prior to adding fish

Brine for 24 hours in a COLD fridge 34 degrees (can cut open a piece and lick center needs to be salty)

Rinse under sink

Let sit for 3-4 hours to form pelic

Smoke at 120 with no smoke for first hour. Increase temp 10 degree every hour and as much smoke as possible. Smoke needs to vent so you don't get stale smoke.


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RESULTS OF LAST NIGHTS BRINE:

The bluefin tuna absorbed more salt than the yellowtail. Chunks were smaller, which may be a factor.

Texture was good. 2 hours was cooked nicely, 3 hours made the fish semi-dry. Both came out too salty for my taste. They are acceptable, but marginal.

My refrigerator is set for very cold so my beer is cold. The fish soaked in brine from 5pm to 8am this morning, then I removed from the brine and soaked in a bowl of ice water for about 30-40 minutes to leach the brine off the surface.

For my next attempt, I will make my brine much more mild. I also wonder if all this brine-soaking also soaks away the natural juices and flavor of the fish?

Like the video I posted above for the salmon, I might try a brine "dip" for a few minutes, pat dry without a rinse, then let the fish rest in my refrigerator overnight.

When I successfully smoked barracuda before, I simply cut the barracuda in thirds and smoked it until fully cooked without brine. The meat slid off the bones easily and the flavor was perfect. I shredded the meat into ziploc bags and used it as a cooking ingredient for smoked fish salads, pasta, sandwiches, etc.

Old Dog:Still Learning

[Geno Machino]

I like a sugar cured flavor:
4 to 1 brown sugar to salt
Let set over night
Paparicka on top and then smoke
Skin on
Goood

[bwana]

Salt and reaching a proper internal temp are important to prevent food poisoning bacteria in your smoked fish.

There are a lot of great prior discussions on BWE and other local sites on this subject.

Here are just a couple of the many articles of fish smoking safety:

http://seafood.oregonstate.edu/.pdf%...moked-Fish.pdf

http://foodsafety.wisc.edu/assets/pd...gyourcatch.pdf

I have smoked fish for decades and have never gotten anyone sick by using brine and proper smoking temps.