Northwest Fishing Reports

I have been reading post after post of little chief recipes and they sound amazing but being relatively new to smoking I don’t really want to just go with it. what temp and how long, what flavor puck, how thick are you fillets, skin on or off? any and all advice would be greatly appreciated, (I don’t like the recipes that Bradley provides) I have enough fish to fill the smoker (4 racks)

I keep it simple.

for a full fish, say maybe 5 to 8 lbs before cleaning.. I take 1 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of salt. mix that, then dump it all into gallon bag with the fish. let sit over night.. smoke the next day for about 8 hours at 165 to 175 with some hickory..

my customers always come back for more!

would i keep the smoke on them for the comnplete 8, or should i break up the smoke a little

i'm sure soon you will have many more commenters.. I am all about simple recipes and easy cookin and each smoker is different in how they operate, very similar but different if that makes sense..

Bodofish has some good smokin tips i bet!

for the smoke i usually keep a little smoke rolling through, not a ton the whole time, it don't take much, but only need to fill the tray maybe twice through out the 8 hours.. sometimes 3.. depends on how open i have the vent.. its never exactly the same timing, wood etc.. i just go with the roll.... I have a masterbuilt Digital smoker..

I do the same as oneshot. 3-1 brown sugar and salt. But i add some ancho chili powder to mine for a little spicy sweet action. make sure that all of the fish is covered with the mix to get an even cure. I do mine layered in a bucket.

oneshot wrote:i'm sure soon you will have many more commenters.. I am all about simple recipes and easy cookin and each smoker is different in how they operate, very similar but different if that makes sense..

Bodofish has some good smokin tips i bet!

for the smoke i usually keep a little smoke rolling through, not a ton the whole time, it don't take much, but only need to fill the tray maybe twice through out the 8 hours.. sometimes 3.. depends on how open i have the vent.. its never exactly the same timing, wood etc.. i just go with the roll.... I have a masterbuilt Digital smoker..

Man thats a Sweet smoker! i have a very old very ugly perfectly cured little chief . Have you used the petterson pucks? They work fairly well and a lot neater then wood chips. Just double stack em for a couple hours of smoke.

Well for easy, I use a wet brine as that's what we normally used at the smoke house. Standard brine is 1/4 cup pickling salt to a quart of water and add whatever spices you like (spices work better if you boil them a bit to release the aromatic oils, don't forget to chill). Brine for 8 to 12 hours rinse will and rack and into the fridge for another 12 to 24 to form the pellicle. For my standard brine I'll add 1/2 cup of sugar per quart and then when drying sprinkle with raw sugar, that's why the long dry time.

As for the smoking, a few standard items to keep in mind. It will take a lot less smoke to flavor than you think, over smoking will give an acrid taste. In the big chief I use only two pans of chips for the whole process. As the meat comes up to temp it will stop absorbing the smoke flavor, general rule is about 130 to 140. So a cold smoke is going to be 100 to 125 till it looks right. Hot smoke is 165 to 225, cook just until the protein coagulates (the juice turns white).

So if you have a new smoker and you want to get going, I'd start with small batches, maybe a fish at a time till you have it down. Even the fancy digital electrics have their quirks you need to figure out.

I don't cook by recipe or directions, I cook meat the proper way, by eye, temp, and taste, not time, schedule or the book.

sounds good, i have lots of time and lots of friends to poisen along the way.

can you smoke any pork or red meat along with the fish? half the house doesnt like fish.

drysuperfly52 wrote:sounds good, i have lots of time and lots of friends to poisen along the way.

can you smoke any pork or red meat along with the fish? half the house doesnt like fish.

Probably not something I would do as good Mfg practices (food handling) say no. We used to smoke just about anything when the smoker was not full of fish. The best was cold smoking turkeys brined in apple juice. We would smoke for 6 hours at <100 (no heat to the box) then pop the birds right into the deep freeze. Then thaw and oven bake, stuffed just like you would any other bird. All I'm going to say died and gone to heaven!!!!

PS Not liking fish is well......

thats a great idea for the upcoming turdky day, i agree not liking fish is just .........

chrome_chasin wrote:

oneshot wrote:i'm sure soon you will have many more commenters.. I am all about simple recipes and easy cookin and each smoker is different in how they operate, very similar but different if that makes sense..

Bodofish has some good smokin tips i bet!

for the smoke i usually keep a little smoke rolling through, not a ton the whole time, it don't take much, but only need to fill the tray maybe twice through out the 8 hours.. sometimes 3.. depends on how open i have the vent.. its never exactly the same timing, wood etc.. i just go with the roll.... I have a masterbuilt Digital smoker..

Man thats a Sweet smoker! i have a very old very ugly perfectly cured little chief . Have you used the petterson pucks? They work fairly well and a lot neater then wood chips. Just double stack em for a couple hours of smoke.

I knew Bodofish had good tips..!!!!


as for my smoker, last yr was my 1st season really getting into smoking fish after ruining fish in the big chief previous yrs.. being able to monitor heat and time was key for a slacker like me!.. i can set heat and timer and leave the house all day pretty much.. come back to perfecty smoked fish every time! seriously.. a HUGE BONUS!!! i will never try it with out a constant heat source monitoring system again!! timer? i have a watch, errr.. a cell phone..

I did 1 webpage for a friend, totaling about 3 hours work and the smoker was delivered brand new to my door step right in middle of the season last yr.. good timing!

trial and error and friends to poison along the way is the best process!!

I use both wet and dry curing. I prefer wet and substitute half the water with white wine. The rule of thumb on a wet cure is the fish should float. Then you iknow theres enough salt. If its a brand new smoker you need to cure your smoking area. Run a couple pans of pucks or wood chips and cure the metal in the smoker. Bodo and Oneshot got the same brines I use. As I said in the past for me the simpler the better. I want a taste of a smokey salmon. Not smokey salt/sugar

I use dry brine. Mine is similar to the following site. I reduce the salt to 3/4 cup to 4 cup brown sugar.

http://www.salmonuniversity.com/rs_htss01_index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My biggest mistake about smoking fish for the first time... removing the pen bones. I normally leave them in when grilling. Yes I am lazy. But when giving smoked salmon out to friends and family, well they loved the fish, hated me for the bones

I would agree with most of the advice you've already been given, but I would put my 2 cents in regarding the wood. Some people seem to like hickory or mesquite, but I prefer a much lighter wood for smoking salmon like apple or pear mixed with a little oak. Usually I go through 3-4 pucks per load of fish. I cut the pucks in half and put half a puck of apple and half a puck of oak or pear in the tray. I also usually stop adding wood about 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way through the session as to not over smoke the fish. As you get the hang of it I sometimes use a light soy sauce or molasses added to my brines, sometimes with chili flakes, whole peppercorns, or some hot sauce mixed in to give it some zing.

...

well i had a great saturday working with my smoker, i got up at 3:30am on sat morning and smoked some pork butt, and boneless beef chuck, after 8 hours of sitting in the smoker i wrapped them up and put them in the cooler for the next couple hours, i then procede to drop then temp on the smoker and started with the salmon, i switched the smoke from oak to apple and dropped the temp to 190, a couple hours later. i think we had the greatest meal ever!

pulled pork
pulled beef
2 smoked coho fillets
my moms castiron corn bread
homemade mac and cheese
cole slaw
potato salad.

and a buddy showed up with a couple growlers of great beer.

thanks for all the tips everyone!

Nicely done!!!! Sounds like a tasty repast!

Bodofish wrote:Well for easy, I use a wet brine as that's what we normally used at the smoke house. Standard brine is 1/4 cup pickling salt to a quart of water and add whatever spices you like (spices work better if you boil them a bit to release the aromatic oils, don't forget to chill). Brine for 8 to 12 hours rinse will and rack and into the fridge for another 12 to 24 to form the pellicle. For my standard brine I'll add 1/2 cup of sugar per quart and then when drying sprinkle with raw sugar, that's why the long dry time.

As for the smoking, a few standard items to keep in mind. It will take a lot less smoke to flavor than you think, over smoking will give an acrid taste. In the big chief I use only two pans of chips for the whole process. As the meat comes up to temp it will stop absorbing the smoke flavor, general rule is about 130 to 140. So a cold smoke is going to be 100 to 125 till it looks right. Hot smoke is 165 to 225, cook just until the protein coagulates (the juice turns white).

So if you have a new smoker and you want to get going, I'd start with small batches, maybe a fish at a time till you have it down. Even the fancy digital electrics have their quirks you need to figure out.

I don't cook by recipe or directions, I cook meat the proper way, by eye, temp, and taste, not time, schedule or the book.

Talk a little bit about salt. I read all the posts above and recall reading, Kosher, pickling, or non iodized salt for smoking brine's. But no mention of Sea salt. Is Sea salt okay? How about non Iodized table salt? I have had a few batches of smoked salmon come out with a metallic taste. But that seemed to stop when I switched from non iodized to sea salt.

How long does a batch of fish take in your Big Chief smoker, using the cooking instructions above?

During the pellicle stage, a raw sugar (chunky,) is sprinkled on top?

Why is it, if the fish is left in the fridge for 36 hours to form pellicle. When the fish is done smoking, there is a rubbery texture? I am not talking from smoking to long, smoking just long enough so the fish supports itself when picked up and held by the thumb, pointer, and middle fingers. Pressing on the surface of the fish, with one finger, yields a soft but cooked texture. As apposed to a firm, overdone, dry texture.

MotoBoat wrote:

Bodofish wrote:Well for easy, I use a wet brine as that's what we normally used at the smoke house. Standard brine is 1/4 cup pickling salt to a quart of water and add whatever spices you like (spices work better if you boil them a bit to release the aromatic oils, don't forget to chill). Brine for 8 to 12 hours rinse will and rack and into the fridge for another 12 to 24 to form the pellicle. For my standard brine I'll add 1/2 cup of sugar per quart and then when drying sprinkle with raw sugar, that's why the long dry time.

As for the smoking, a few standard items to keep in mind. It will take a lot less smoke to flavor than you think, over smoking will give an acrid taste. In the big chief I use only two pans of chips for the whole process. As the meat comes up to temp it will stop absorbing the smoke flavor, general rule is about 130 to 140. So a cold smoke is going to be 100 to 125 till it looks right. Hot smoke is 165 to 225, cook just until the protein coagulates (the juice turns white).

So if you have a new smoker and you want to get going, I'd start with small batches, maybe a fish at a time till you have it down. Even the fancy digital electrics have their quirks you need to figure out.

I don't cook by recipe or directions, I cook meat the proper way, by eye, temp, and taste, not time, schedule or the book.

Talk a little bit about salt. I read all the posts above and recall reading, Kosher, pickling, or non iodized salt for smoking brine's. But no mention of Sea salt. Is Sea salt okay? How about non Iodized table salt? I have had a few batches of smoked salmon come out with a metallic taste. But that seemed to stop when I switched from non iodized to sea salt.

As long as there is no Iodine in the salt it's fine. I don't use Sea Salt because I don't know what the trace elements are.

How long does a batch of fish take in your Big Chief smoker, using the cooking instructions above?

As long as it takes. Every time is different, please see red text above.

During the pellicle stage, a raw sugar (chunky,) is sprinkled on top?

Yes

Why is it, if the fish is left in the fridge for 36 hours to form pellicle. When the fish is done smoking, there is a rubbery texture? I am not talking from smoking to long, smoking just long enough so the fish supports itself when picked up and held by the thumb, pointer, and middle fingers. Pressing on the surface of the fish, with one finger, yields a soft but cooked texture. As apposed to a firm, overdone, dry texture.

Smoking is a way of preserving the meat, the pellicle natural seal on the meat. If you want smokey cooked fish, put it on the BBQ. Not really sure what you're getting at.