Joe recently did a large batch of smoked fish for our last Green River party and we decided to document the process for the blog. So here you go. This is very picture intensive and not everyone will be interested in Smoked Fish. But you might just be interested in the process of smoking something.
Graff recipe for
Smoked Fish - with additional notes from Joe.
(works well with Lake Trout or Rainbows, even Halibut)Step one, defrost your fish!
Soak fish fillets or chunks in the following brine solution for 8 hours
(or overnight).
- 1 ½ quart of water
- ½ - ¾ cup of salt (dissolve salt into water until an egg barely begins to float)
- aiming for 80° salinity if you have a salinometer
- ¾ - 1 cup of brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon of allspice
- ½ teaspoon of ginger
Rinse fish briefly under cold water. (If you don’t rinse then fish may be too salty, if you rinse too much then the fish won’t be salty enough. Is that specific enough?) At this point, Joe likes to use a tweezers and pull the bones so no one has to deal with the bones when eating the fish.
Notes from Joe: Bones: Usually it is easiest to remove the pinbones from the filet after smoking, but this works best with larger filets (> 3 lb fish). The pinbones on the smaller fish are hard to find beneath the crispy pellicle so I try to remove them ahead of time (before brining) using a strong set of tweezers. The smallest bones usually don’t create any problems, but I still try to get most of the bones out.
Lay on cooling rack to air dry and sprinkle pepper-lemon seasoning on filets. Air dry for about 45 minutes before smoking. This forms the desired pellicle (crystallized varnish) on the surface of the fish, helping preserve the finished product.
To make the smoke, Joe uses a combination of apple wood chips and shredded cherry wood from our trees.
He then soaks the wood in water.
OPTIONAL: Joe likes to sprinkle some brown sugar on the filets just before smoking.
Smoke with apple wood and/or cherry wood chips, below 200o F for 2.5 – 4 hours (depending on thickness of fish). Pre-soak the wood chips in water for an hour before smoking. Usually, the drier the finished fish, the better it tastes. BUT don’t go too dry.
Notes from Joe: With the smaller fish (< 3 lbs.) I usually get from the Flaming
Gorge, I struggle to get enough smoke flavor in the fish before it dries
out. With this said, for smaller fish, keep your brine a
little low of salt (1/2 cup instead of ¾) so that it takes longer to smoke the
water content out of the fish, allowing it to stay on the smoke longer. I also place a pan of water between the heat
and the fish in order to slow the drying process, again allowing more time in
the smoke. I use an electric smoker so
that I have better temperature control.
The challenge of smoking at a low temperature is to ensure that you
produce enough heat to create smoke, yet do not create too much heat thus
cooking the fish.
The fish was amazing and it went fast. We only had the below lonely fillets left at the end of the party. Our favorite thing to do with leftover smoked fish is make dip!
This is one of those annoying instances where I say, "Well, I don't really have a recipe." It's always slightly different, but these are the basic smoked fish dip additions.
- I make a base out of cream cheese and plain greek yogurt. You could use sour cream in place of the yogurt, or even mayo.
- I add the shredded fish, a handful of fresh chopped parsley, a couple finely chopped green onions, fresh ground pepper and salt to taste.
- Mix thoroughly and chill to blend the flavors. If you like a creamier dip, feel free to use your food processor to mix.
Serve with your favorite crackers or carrots and celery and think about how long it might be before you can make more smoked fish dip. "Hey honey, are you going fishing anytime soon?"
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