Anyone Smoke Their Own Meat?

[SoulfulRecover]

Specifically fish? I am looking to take over my mother in laws smoker and wanted to give smoking fish a try. From what I have gathered so far, smoker temp at 150 for 2 hours then increase up to 200 for 2 hours to get the internal temp of the fish to 165. I have unlimited amount of Pecan Wood which I think would be nice for fish since its not a strong wood like Mesquite. I was hoping to get some trout but ill end up with whatever is on sale with this being my first time. I am having a hard time with the brine solution though. Suggestions are all over the place and I dont want to have the fish overly salty. If anyone has some advice, I would love to hear it

 

[Braineack]

DSC_9714-74 by The Braineack, on Flickr

DSC_9713-73 by The Braineack, on Flickr

 

[xzyragon]

Absolutely! My parents have a smoker bbq thing and I use it every time I visit their place. Smoked salmon, smoked hickory chicken, and my personal favorite is smoked jerky. Takes all day to make, but home-made jerky makes for so many different flavor / spicy variations.

Just gotta work on getting some shots of it in action...
IMG_3466 by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr

 

[Derrel]

I am an expert fish smoker....I LOVE to smoke fish, mostly steelhead, but also salmon, as well as beef jerky and smoked pork. Mesquite might seem like a harsh wood for smoking fish, but it actually turns out superbly well. A lot of myths surround wood for smoking. Actual blind taste tests have proven that woods like douglas fir and western cedar are actually almost indistinguishable from classic smoking woods like cherry, apple, maple, alder. Mesquite wood is actually perfectly fine for smoking fish. I have smoked many salmon and steelhead with mesquite chips, and people love it.

Brine. Less can be pretty simple, yet delicious. One part sea salt to 20 parts water is good for average fish. Oilier fish, like spring run chinook or sumer run steelhead is better at about 1 part salt to 16 parts water. I go by parts because the quantity of fish can vary so, so much. One part each of granulated sea salt, one part white sugar, one part brown sugar, and then 20 parts of cold water makes a good basic brine. You can augment the brine with any of fifty substances. One part honey is a NICE addition to a brine. So is a small amount of garlic powder, allspice, sage, cumin, Worchestershire sauce, and on and on, ad nauseum.

If you have two, 25-pound chinook cut up "one part" is eight full ounces of salt. If you have five small trout, "one part" of salt can be 3/4 of an ounce.

Brine the fish 12 hours for thin fish like trout, 24 hours for thicker fish like salmon. If your smoker is HOT, brine larger pieces. If your smoker is cool, or cold, brine smaller pieces. After brining, rinse the fish, rack it, then sprinkle on granulated garlic and ground black pepper on each piece, and LET IT WARM UP TO AIR TEMPERATURE BEFORE introducing heat to it! THIS IS THE CRITICAL ASPECT!!!!!!! As the fish warms up, a clear glaze called the pellicle, will form on the outside of each piece of fish. Introduce heat slowly, with the lid open for an hour or so, then close the smoker. If white gooey liquid oozes out of the fish, you have lost the soluble proteins in the fish, and it will be dry and flavorless, and it will have happened because heat was introduced to cold fish too rapidly.

How long to smoke depends on the amount of fish in the smoker, ambient air temp, and the heat of the smoker's fire or heat source (electric/gas/coals,etc). How long to smoke also depends on the degree of hardness/moisture you want in the fish. There is hard-smoked and soft-smoked fish, as well as in-between.

 

[Vince.1551]

I freaking love smoke meat. I don't have the luxury of space here to do that and the price of what it sells in restaurants and supermarkets is crazy


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[runnah]

I did a bunch this summer. Never tried fish. I am hesitant because the prep work is so much for such a short smoke.

 

[weepete]

I've got my own smoker out in my back garden and I've done a few cuts of meat and chicken but never fish. It can be difficult to get good cuts of meat to smoke in the UK but more and more people are doing it now. I wish I could find a local butcher that could cut me a Boston butt over here but I've not found one yet.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

so much great info! thanks! Main reason for the Pecan wood is that I have an unlimited amount for free (my dads property is nothing but pecan) and I just got back from picking up a bunch. Just need to cut it now.

Ive been asking around and someone said that after you soak in the brine, you pat dry it and

Put it on a drying rack in your fridge uncovered for at least 4 to 6 hours [TBODY] [/TBODY]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

how do you feel about this advice? Should I try that, then pull it from the fridge and bring it up to room temp?





rained this morning so ill have to let it dry but it should be ok

 

[Designer]

The bark is going to adversely affect the flavor. Can you get wood without bark on it?

You can also purchase wood chips already barked, split, and chipped.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

The bark is going to adversely affect the flavor. Can you get wood without bark on it?

You can also purchase wood chips already barked, split, and chipped.

I did not know this. In what way does it cause a problem? impurities?

Im running to the store this evening so Ill take a look around and see what they have or check out home depot/lowes and see what they have

 

[Designer]

Bark imparts a bitter taste. I've seen bags of wood chips in Menard's. Hickory, apple, alder, etc. lots of varieties.

 

[Gary A.]

I've been toying with the idea of getting a smoker. I've been grilling my fish on planks. I soak the planks in wine or citrus or just plain water.

 

[Derrel]

Letting the pellicle form in the fridge typically with a frost-free fridge seems to suck moisture out of the fish, and I do not recommend that. After bringing, rinse the fish two or three times in cool water. If the fish has been wayyyyy over-brined (a touch-test that reveals really hard, resistant fish indicates over-brined). If fish has been over-brined, it can be freshened by several 10-minute soaks in new, fresh rinse water for about an hour. But normally, no, just rinse the fish. "Fling" the water off it, and rack it, and let normal air-temperature air form the pellicle. Patting the fish dry is really an unneeded step, but do it if ytuo want to: I PREFER the fish slightly damp, so that the granulated garlic and pepper have something to STICK to as the pellicle forms.

Again the most-critical step in preparing fish for smoking is to accept the fact that the fish MUST be brought up to ambient temperature BEFORE introducing heat to it, or the liquid, soluble proteins within the fish will ooze out immediately, and the taste, nutritional value, and moisture will all be lowered significantly. Allowing the pellicle to form in a fridge costs you at least two hours of time, or more. Again, the fish MUST be at least at the air temp before putting any significant HEAT to it.

SMOKE does much of the work. You can smoke fish with no heat at all: that is true smoking. Applying smoke and heat is technically, kippering, not "smoking". Most North Americans prefer/practice kippering, not smoking; smoking meat or fish involves piping in nothing but cold smoke, from a heat source that is SEPARATED from the fish or meat. Still, we use the word "smoking" to describe this process that really is called kippering...

I smoke fish normally from eight to 17 hours...usually 20 pounds or more at a time. In 100-degree August temperatures, a small fish like a 7-steelhead will take maybe 4 hours total. When I was a kid, we used to use wrist-sized vine maple limbs cut into 8 inch lengths and burned in a 5-gallon metal bucket inside a wooden smokehouse the size of an average garden shed, with the racks about 4 feet to 6 feet away from the fire bucket; a small smoker holds the heat much closer to the fish; rapidly applying high heat to cold fish is the real killer that ruins fish! THAT is what you want to avoid at ALL COSTS!!!!

 

[Gary A.]

Derrel, I think we all need to come over to your place, (repeatedly) so we can taste what you've been talkin' about. I'll bring the vino.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

thank you again for all the clarification. Very helpful as always.

Ill keep this up to date as things progress and Ill make sure to ask questions as they come up.