Smoked fish, need some guideance. Basic cod fillets.

[mattw]

I have smoked foods on various grills, smokers and open pits for years. We actually got a nice pellet smoker around Christmas time and have been doing the staples since, It makes amazing pulled pork! It has decent temperature control and a nice size smoking chamber.

Several years ago we were in the UP and my daughter loved the smoked fish up there and she and I will be trying very basic smoked fish this weekend. We are starting simple with cod fillets, not frozen and they look, feel and smell good. I have no idea what to do with them, other than I want to warm smoke them around 200-225. I know how to tell when it is done, but I do not know what to put on them. I have been searching the net and have ideas, but I know that our vast body of knowledge has folks that do this and do it well...

So, input please?

Thanks Matt

[gbrown]

I have smoked foods on various grills, smokers and open pits for years. We actually got a nice pellet smoker around Christmas time and have been doing the staples since, It makes amazing pulled pork! It has decent temperature control and a nice size smoking chamber.

Several years ago we were in the UP and my daughter loved the smoked fish up there and she and I will be trying very basic smoked fish this weekend. We are starting simple with cod fillets, not frozen and they look, feel and smell good. I have no idea what to do with them, other than I want to warm smoke them around 200-225. I know how to tell when it is done, but I do not know what to put on them. I have been searching the net and have ideas, but I know that our vast body of knowledge has folks that do this and do it well...

So, input please?

Thanks Matt

I've never done it, myself, so I'm not any repository of experience or knowledge, but here are a couple of websites that might help you.
There are probably a lot of people on this site that have done it all their life.

https://www.charbroil.com/learn/smok...igital-smoker/
https://1source.basspro.com/index.ph...e-easy-recipes

[metricmonkeywrench]

Found this to be a helpful guide when I first got my smoker.

Link

[georgerkahn]

I have smoked salmon and lake trout/arctic char for years, using a quite simple recipe. I use a gallon glass pickle jar, in which I put in 1 1/2 cups of kosher salt (from supermarket), and 2 cups of brown sugar. After I mix the two dry ingredients, I fill the jar about 2/3rds filled with cold tap water, and mix, mix, and mix some more -- tough to dissolve all the salt . Then, I add the rinsed cut fresh fish, put Saran Wrap on top of jar, and refrigerate for more than a day. I then take it out, and rinse under fresh water to remove surface salt.
Then I lay fish out, side by side, on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet or two and -- important step, so I have been told -- let it DRY. A sunny day adds. I don't recall the term -- something like, "pellicle"? -- but once dry, a film/coating forms -- the "p" word mentioned. I then put it in my Luhr Jensen electric smoker -- using a pan of dampened apple-wood chips. I "home-make" the apple by taking a pruned branch or two, and simply make repetitive passes with the ends over the spinning cutters of my Rockwell 4" Jointer. I only need smoke for two to four hours -- depends upon size/thickness of pieces -- but, imho, I can view this as one "of the foods they serve in Heaven"! A buddy does the same, but adds some spices to the brine solution -- something I've not found necessary.
BEST!
geo

[SWANEEDB]

I have smoked salmon and lake trout/arctic char for years, using a quite simple recipe. I use a gallon glass pickle jar, in which I put in 1 1/2 cups of kosher salt (from supermarket), and 2 cups of brown sugar. After I mix the two dry ingredients, I fill the jar about 2/3rds filled with cold tap water, and mix, mix, and mix some more -- tough to dissolve all the salt . Then, I add the rinsed cut fresh fish, put Saran Wrap on top of jar, and refrigerate for more than a day. I then take it out, and rinse under fresh water to remove surface salt.
Then I lay fish out, side by side, on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet or two and -- important step, so I have been told -- let it DRY. A sunny day adds. I don't recall the term -- something like, "pellicle"? -- but once dry, a film/coating forms -- the "p" word mentioned. I then put it in my Luhr Jensen electric smoker -- using a pan of dampened apple-wood chips. I "home-make" the apple by taking a pruned branch or two, and simply make repetitive passes with the ends over the spinning cutters of my Rockwell 4" Jointer. I only need smoke for two to four hours -- depends upon size/thickness of pieces -- but, imho, I can view this as one "of the foods they serve in Heaven"! A buddy does the same, but adds some spices to the brine solution -- something I've not found necessary.
BEST!
geo

OK Geo, when you do this again-----sure would be nice if you thought of Gus------------------an me too, got my mouth watering now.

[MT Gianni]

I brine in a zip lock gallon bag. If I am concerned I double the bag by putting it inside another one. Brine for 24 hours, dry and smoke. I add garlic powder to my brine and as my wife is not a fan of salt rinse well.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Looking forward to your results! Be sure to post pics! I've smoked a little bit of fish on my Weber over the past few years, store bought salmon and a bow fished carp. Both turned out great the first time. Then I got in a hurry with my last batch of salmon and over salted it a bit. Any rough fish works great, carp, bullhead, red horse, buffalo, you name it. Don't limit yourself to the premium stuff!

[MaryB]

I brine and smoke, at 275 for hot smoking. Doesn't take very long to cook a filet...

I add a piece of flex dryer vent that runs 6' to cool the smoke, that attaches to a cooler I stood on edge and added racks to inside. Cold smoker for long term fish storage

[gbrown]

Question for you that have done some fish smoking--the fact that the fish is an oily type, like salmon or dry type, like trout make a difference? Do you do anything different?

[georgerkahn]

gbrown -- When I first (roadside "garage sale" impulse purchase - three dollars) "stole" my Luhr Jensen electric smoker -- yes, about fifty years ago -- I went "smoke anything and everything which fit in it" crazy. Some items came out great... others, "so so". The one thing I recall was an inverse proportion to the moistness of to-be-smoked item and it's result. To wit, albeit I craved smoked cheeses, most were a dismal failure -- kind of like smoky shoe leather. On the other hand, beef organs (e.g., tongue) were "to kill for". It dawned on me the reason sausage smokes so well is do to its high fat content. (I may be wrong; not the first time ) Regardless, my "rule" from experience is, the moister that which you wish to smoke is, the better the results. Also, a really big failure I noted, too, is anything (including my fresh-caught fish) which has been frozen -- even for a short period -- kind of tastes OK, but -- perhaps the freezing does something to the meat's cells -- ends up really kind of "mushy". Hard for me to put into words, other than heeding my recommendation you NOT smoke previously frozen fish. One quick/easy delicasy is to get some side pork and smoke that -- better (imho) than bacon...
Hope this helps.
geo

[cwlongshot]

I make smoke salmon a few times a year.

I like to use a dry brining, 1 to 4 with salt and sugar, so 1 cup of salt and 4 cups of sugar. I brine that for 24 hours covering all sides of the fish in a glass pan. sometimes I’ll add real maple syrup on top of that.

After at least 24 hrs, Remove rinse/flush off in cold, cold water and pat dry, do not to soak your fish!

Then set on a wire rack in the bottom refrigerator for another at least six hours . It needs to be tacky.

Warm up your smoker to about 200°. I like to use an Apple wood, put it in with a thermometer for 160° pull it out when it reaches it.

every ounce I make disappears, it’s delicious !



CW

[Silvercreek Farmer]

That looks incredible, CW!

[MaryB]

I used to smoke a 4-5 pound catfish for sheepshead(card) games(We had a weekly game, 6-8 people, rotated houses), cut head off, gut, skin, brine smoke on the bones resting on a foil boat. Everyone loved it and chowed it down with crackers.

[leebuilder]

We would smoke cod and haddock.
Soak in salt brine for not more than an hour, 45 min was optimal l. Soak time varies due to taste, and thickness of fish.
We never smoked in anything other than in a smoke house or a modified fridge or filing cabinet.
All fish was smoked as cool as possible if it cooks the smoke wont go through the fish, so cool is the way to go. Fillets were moved from the bottom to top to keep the from cooking. Sometimes when the humidity was high it would take longer.

[owejia]

Smoked catfish fillets once, no brining just sprinkle with salt and black pepper, would use lemon pepper now, instead of black pepper. This was several years ago, while visiting wife relatives in Texas, still remember how good they were.

[richhodg66]

I used to be a very avid bowfisherman, shot a few carp every day during the warm months (I lived on a lake with a lot of carp). I bought a cheap smoker from Wal Mart that uses charcoal for heat and I used various types of wood. Seems like I just dissolved as much salt and brown sugar as I could in some water for brine, but it turned out good, considering I really didn't know what I wa doing.

It kept a good while in the refrigerator and my boys, who were small at the time loved the stuff.

I need to get back to bowfishing, it really was an obsessive hobby. Combination of hunting and fishing what could be better?

[mattw]

It came out well. Needed to be drier.

[gbrown]

Who can question success? Just need to keep at it to perfect it! Keep ya busy and fill your belly!

[mattw]

The taste was wonderful. Cayenne, paprika, salt, garlic, onion powder and orange juice.