Outdoor Cooking: Smoked Fish 07 by Recipe Cottage

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	Smoked Fish 07

		Smoking Salmon and Trout - Indian or Hard Smoked Low-fat fish make the longest keeping hard smoked fish as it is the fat that causes rancidity. Very fat hard smoked fish should be frozen or salted until just before eating. Medium fat fish will last a week unrefrigerated before starting to go slightly rancid. And lean fish will keep indefinitely unrefrigerated. Hard smoked fish can be made from fresh, frozen or hard salted fish [instructions for hard salting follow in a later chapter]. Hard salted fish should be freshened before smoking. Depending on the hardness of the salting, your taste and the thickness of the pieces to be smoked this may take 24 to 48 hours with water changes every 3 to 6 hours. There should be no salty taste left as the drying will concentrate any saltiness remaining. Other products retain 50 to 75% of their original moisture but hard smoked fish only 6%. Fresh fish and thawed frozen fish should be very lightly brined if at all. Brining draws out moisture and cuts drying time but salt also speeds fat rancidity in the finished product. Make a 90 deg sal brine and soak pieces no more than: BRINING TIMES : Thickness Time : 1/4" 2 min : 1/2" 4 min : 3/4" 7 min : 1" 10 min : 1 1/2" 15 min : 2" 20 min Smoking directions: Smoke for only a portion of the total drying period according to taste. Dry at 85 deg F for 30 hrs with a forced draft smoker and up to 3 weeks with a natural draft depending on the weather or until the fish is completely dry and hard. Smoking Salmon and Trout - Smoking Small Trout Unboned: Make an 80 deg sal brine with 8.5 oz salt per quart water, score skin and brine 1 hr. Spit them through the eyes with a heavy wire [a welding rod works well here]and hold the belly open with small match stick sized sticks. Dry at 90 deg F for 30 min [forced draft] or 1 hr or more [natural draft]. Then smoke at 160 deg F for 1 1/2 hrs [forced] or 3 hrs or more [natural]. Boned: Make an 80 deg sal brine and brine 8 min stirring often. Depending on the shape desired and the boning method used, spit through the eyes and prop open with match stick sized wood, or hang over a dowel, or rolled and skewered. Drying and smoking temps and times are the same as for unboned. Smoking Salmon and Trout - Pickle Smoked Fish Pickle smoked: fish are pickled before smoking. This is a good way to enhance the taste of lean fish that do not otherwise smoke well. Prepare and defat skinless fillets: To do this, when you fillet, leave plenty of meat on the backbone where the meat is especially fat. Cut off the belly portion. Skin the fillet leaving about 1/8" meat on the skin. Make cuts on either side of the lateral line, lift it out and discard it. Divide the fillet into pieces of different thickness. The pickling procedure is similar to corning meats. The flavored sugar-salt brine is weaker than normally used and the fish brined longer to achieve a cured taste. prepare brine in the following proportions: 4 tb mixed pickling spice, 3 cups salt and 2 cups brown sugar per 4 qts water. Keep the brine and fish below 45 deg F at all times. Use a salinometer and maintain salinity at 60 deg minimum at all times adding more salt periodically if needed. Don't overpickle; remove the thinner pieces as they become cured. PICKLING TIMES :Fillet thickness Fat Fish Lean Fish : 1/2" 30 hrs 20 hrs : 3/4" 40 hrs 30 hrs : 1" 2 1/2 days 40 hrs : 1 1/4" 3 days 2 days : 1 1/2" 3 1/2 days 2 1/2 days : 1 3/4" 4 days 3 days : 2" 5 days 3 1/2 days : 2 1/2" 6 days 4 1/4 days : 3" 7 days 5 days Overhaul [stir and move around] the pieces daily to ensure even pickling. When ready rinse off the pieces and let water drain off. Cold smoke at medium density 7 to 10 hours depending on thickness or 30 to 48 hours natural draft depending on thickness and weather. Continue until the flesh is firm enough for slicing. Cool the finished product almost onto freezing before wrapping to prevent sweating and spoilage. Freeze the surplus. Serve as for Lox and Scotch smoked.