Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

I like to smoke a fish or two from time to time but do not have a smoker....

Problem easily solved with fish, as no matter how slow you try to work the food, fish cooks relatively fast....

Start by prepping your fish.

Ah, the question, to brine or not to brine.....

Without getting to into the chemistry of osmosis and what brining adds to meats and fish .... Let's agree that for what we are doing here, the SMOKING is to add flavor NOT to preserve the fish. So from that perspective I chose to not brine as I felt in this application it was an uneccesary step that would result in a drier product than necessary upon completion. For lean meats I highly recommend brining...

OK - to season....( I expect Bolo to add something here as I am NOT the expert smoke master....)

I choose to make my own seasoning as I can add more of what I like and take away some of what I do not. If this is not something you are comfortable with, there are many great commercially available dry rubs out there...or just use s and p ...

My rub has

Garlic powder
Good quality ( unground ) Red paprika
dash of Cinnamon
Black Pepper
Dash of Cayenne Pepper
a few whole mustard seeds
Ground Chili's ( I like Ancho's as they have a really great chili flavor, but no heat....I can control the heat W the Cayenne if I choose to go hot..It is also what just I had layin around )
a pinch Kosher Salt

Basically I get the ratios I like and put it all into a cofee grinder to make a powder... making the mix. Close to = parts is a good starting point to begin with....

Rub your rub into the fish to be smoked...



Next while that is macerating...prep your smoke tin. I have done this for years literally by making a pouch of aluminum foil....this last trip to the BBQ store I sprung for a stainless steel box.....so far I like it alot and will buy a few more so I can stagger my smoke out put for longet smoking times for meat....

OK, next choice - Soak or unsoaked woodchips....

For this I want quick, intense smoke, not slow long lasting smoke, so I opted to NOT soak.....Again, fish will be done relatively quickly no matter what you do, so intense over long-lasting wins here.



I put the "tinder box" in the middle of the grill, blast the heat , close the lid and wait to see a steady smoke trail begin....



Once that happens, I shut all but the last burner off and move the box over the last remaining burner in order to keep the smoke flow burnin....



Now....when placing the filets under the top ofthe grill, I usually stack a few paver blocks on top of the grates to raise the fish off the direct heat and also keep it up high 'in the smoke' that collects near the lid top when closed.



Also to slow things down a tad, when I close the lid, I make sure to put another paver in the way of the closing lid - not letting it close all the way....Play with your own setup to determine how much of a gap to leave open based on temp....having a grill with a working thermometer really helps here !! 'Caveman' temperature control at it's finest.
Do not laugh as it works pretty well. My King smoked at 225 F. for the duration.....

So when is is done? When the albumin begins to leak out, you are 90 % there, so based on how thick my cuts are I either A - remove and let carry-over cooking take it home or B - just give it another 3-5 mins...



What to put in the Dip ?

Some like cream cheeese based dips...I do too, but for spin / crab / artichoke dips...for King - it is a mayo based dip for me....

Mise en place for the dip....



I blend it all with a fork, adjusting flavor and moisture as I go.

Then since I like it smooth, I will usually tranfser it to the Kitchen-aid for a couple 2-3 twirls of the whip to get it a lil airy...
Viola'



Here it is passing the taste test....



And now - the happy ending




Enjoy ! [/i][/u]

Great post Tony. Cant wait to try this at home. Last batch of smoked fish didnt work out so well for me so this is a good place to start.

mikeypbg wrote:Great post Tony. Cant wait to try this at home. Last batch of smoked fish didnt work out so well for me so this is a good place to start.

Thanks Mike !

Just let me know when you are going to try it, I can walk you through, but ya, this gives you all the basics to get a good smoke - on. For meats and longer cooking items, I would do it differently, but for fish, there are reasons why this works good.

YUMMY HEY ANTHONY GOOD JOB MAN LOOKS AWESOME...

stormrunner wrote:YUMMY HEY ANTHONY GOOD JOB MAN LOOKS AWESOME...

Lemme know when you next get a few, we'll have a smokeout / cookout !

I tried smokin fish once..Do you realize how hard it is to keep 'em lit ???

Dadfish wrote:I tried smokin fish once..Do you realize how hard it is to keep 'em lit ???

Tougher to roll tightly IMHO....

PaulieBoy wrote:we should pick a day and bring the ingredients and the grill out to deerfield, close off the Tee and cook em' as we catch em'!!!

Imagine that !! ROFLMAO !!!

We could sell the services....hahaha

YO mutherf'ker, you are always welcome to use my pit. Bring over a few drinks and we watch Goodfellas while the fish is cooking.

bolo wrote:YO mutherf'ker, you are always welcome to use my pit. Bring over a few drinks and we watch Goodfellas while the fish is cooking.

Thanks, bro !

We would have to re-enact the net ban to have enough fish to smoke to make it worth firing that friggin beast up with ....lol

You MUST bring that to the next cookout !

Where would we park that behemoth?

No sir, the pit does not leave the house. I do all my cooking at home and take the food to location.

hey dude, thanks

this is a really informative post....

I was going to try to smoke fish with an indirect method, ( like I use for ribs), but it probably would be too dry like you mentioned. I think your technique is better for fish. thanks again