Smoked Fish Recipes

I'll kick off the new forum with a thread for smoking fish.

Here's the recipe I use all the time on Salmon and Steelhead. it's a dry brine that gets big from all who use or taste it:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
•1 1/2 cups brown sugar
•1/3 cup salt (usually Kosher salt)
•2 tbsp garlic powder
•2 tbsp onion powder
•2 tbsp pepper
Cut fish into no bigger than 6"x4" ..I like "Candy bar" cuts of about 2-3 inches wide.

Mix all ingredients into bowl. Place fish into mix coating all sides. Place fish skin side down in a 2nd glass bowl (the bigger the better).... Layering the fish till done. The fish will start to emulsify so don’t fill to the top. Cover with plastic wrap and put in frig for 2 days rotating fish from top to bottom after 1 day. This is a 2 day brine using a smaller salt/sugar ratio to allow the fish to get sweeter and still emulsify adequately.

After 2 days rinse the fish slightly and shake off water put on smoker rack. Let sit for 1/2hr. Preheat smoker then place fish in for 6 to 8+ hr depending on thickness using Alder, Hickory or your preferred smoking chips. Fish should look caramel in color when done.

Enjoy!


Add your recipes below....

Tried a lot of different recipes and this one comes out the best for how I smoke my fish. Your results may vary, as not all smokers are created equally.

This recipe is compliments of The Autry Family via Stlhdr1.

This is enough dry brine to do 2 salmon.

Ingredients:

3 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic salt
1/4 cup course pepper
1/8 cup chile powder
2 TBSP cayenne powder

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Heavily coat the fish chunks in the mixture and layer in a non-metallic bowl. Cover the bowl and let sit in the fridge for 24 hours.

Once brined, wash each piece of fish with cold water to remove off all the brine. Place on the smoker rack and pat dry. Grind fresh pepper over the fish.

Allow your fish to dry and form the pellicle. Smoke the fish according to your preferences.

Add Rattlesnake Dust to ANY smoked fish recipes n put some spice in your life, We add it to every batch...
http://www.texasselectseasonings.com/ProductInfoFieryHot.htm

After 30 some years of wet brining my smoked salmon using various ingrediants, I found a number of dry brines and decided to try one. I like the results and the extra sweetness of this recipe. Some people call this salmon candy, squaw candy, Indian candy etc but basically its just smoked salmon with a sweet glaze. Not to far removed from what I have been doing other than the fact that the brining process seems to firm up the salmon much better.

Filet salmon remove fat and cut ino 1" to 1 1/2" strips.
Make dry brine using 2 lbs dark brown sugar and 7/8 cup kosher salt mix well.
layer fish strips and cover each layer with heavy coating of dry brine in elongated plastic tupperware or rubbermade container with lid.
refridgerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
rinse pieces and allow to air dry on racks with spam spray 3 or 4 hours.
smoke fish for an hour or two using alder chips.
Brush on Glaze (honey deluted with just enough water or your favorite wine to be able to put on with a basting brush.) or use store bought teryaki glaze, you can experiment using various tyes of sweet glazes found in store.
smoke for 2 to six hours more or until pieces are done. depending on smoker, (some smokers especially if its cold outside could take up tp 12 hours.) check every 3 hours till they are done.
If left to long you will have a fish jerky which is good too. I like mine firm on the outside and just a little moist on the inside.

1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cut Seasoning salt
1 cup brown sugar

Coat and let sit in the fridge for 2 hours. Rinse lightly and dry on racks, Coat in coarse black pepper or Garlic powder etc. Start with 2 pans of smoke and then leave in for 12 hours (depending on outside temp)

no water? do you just rub them down?

It's all about the salt. No matter if you use a weak brine for 24 hours or a salt/sugar dry brine for three hours. Once you know how long to brine with your choosen recipe to suit your taste, you are golden. I dry brine in 3 parts slat to one part sugar. Three hours for fresh fish two hours for frozen. Suits me.

My go to is Mortons salt/sugar cure. Coat fish for 30-60 min with cure, 30 minutes if you like less salty fish & 60 minutes if you like salter fish, rinse off remaining cure with water, air dry until tacky, and smoke away.

thanks Dave,

Going to try the dry brine next go around.

2lbs Dark brown sugar
1/2 c Kosher salt
2tbs Garlic powder
Mix well layer fish,brine,fish brine etc. Brine for 24-36 hours.Rinse lightly...air dry for 2 hours smoke with cherry or alder. Good luck,
SZ

anyone ever try sea salt? I did a rock salt brine one time when I didn't have the kosher, just made it a wet brine and salted to taste before adding any fish or sugar. it worked... didn't notice a difference in flavor.

I tried Dave's recipe on Sunday and my wife said it was the best smoked salmon that she has ever had. I tried it and had to agree. So thanks for posting it Dave.

Thank you. It took me years to get it through my head the fancy recipes never seem to make salmon any better than my dads old recipe. It always gets rave reviews

I developed this Dry Brine, it leaves all my friends (who I gift with the bounty of each batch) asking for more. Hope you enjoy it as well.

S.

Dry Rubbed Smoked Salmon

Mix together:

1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Cajun Seasoning (I use Tony Chacere’s)
½ tsp Cumin
1/3 c salt (non-iodized)
2/3 c sugar
2/3 c brown sugar
2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

Note. This quantity will do about 7 lbs of Salmon.

Cut up salmon fillets (with skin attached) into about 2-2 1/2 inch wide pieces. Coat the salmon pieces with the rub and place in a glass or plastic container.

Cover or seal the container and refrigerate for 12-15 hours. Check occasionally and adjust the contents so that the pieces are getting equal access to the brine mixture. Remove from the dish and rinse each piece thoroughly.

Lay the fish on paper towels to dry for about 45 minutes, then place on an oiled smoker rack for another 30 minutes.

Sprinkle each piece lightly with a mixture of white and brown sugar.

Place in smoker till done to your preferred moisture content (I prefer mine moist on the inside and caramel colored on the outside). I usually use just two pans of Alder smoking chips.

This is my( Bob R) recipe for cold smoked salmon as promised. I use a gallon and a 1/4 , maybe a gallon and a half of water for a big chief load, I can fit 3 good sized kings or silvers or chum(10 to 15 lbs.each) on 5 racks but this is a variable for amount of fish as I skin, bone, and chunk fish prior to brining, it's less fish or more depending on size of fish and method of butchery.I use this same recipe on trout but leave the skin on unless they are more then 3 lbs.If skin is left on or off I use a tight slanted "V" cut for pin bones. if skin is left on (but scale fish first, important!).I carefully remove large areas of grey fat under skin as well.

I chunk fish as follows, after filleting , boning and skinning I cut tail roughly at end of ribs, separate belly from bottom to about 1/3 of way up fish,cut thickest part of back into a 2 or 3 inches wide by remaining length of side of fish. , this is where a lot of grey fat is, it can be trimmed at this point.Now you have 4 pieces per side, tail, belly, middle strip, and top strip. My slanted cut for pin bones separates the top strip.Cut into size to fit rack.
1/2 cup sea salt or canning salt, 1/2 cup raw type honey (NOT clover type honey processed and heated) in a blender, it takes a three blender loads of water, I mix salt in first blender, honey and spices in second, and make up remaining water as blenders hold a 1/2 gallon at most and it's messy to fill them all the way up..I use minced garlic 1/2 cup, soy sauce 1/8 or so cup, a little toasted sesame oil (1 tablespoon, it's strong)1/4 or more cup coarse ground black pepper and that's it. I put it in a cool place (I use a medium cooler for brining) for 6 1/2 to 7 hours. I don't rinse brine off (a benefit of skinning fish), rack trying to fit strips up and down on racks vs. lengthwise so they won't fall through. I oil racks with veg. oil lightly to make flipping easier after 24 hours or so in the smoker.I sprinkle a little pepper on each piece after placing them on a rack prior to insertion in rack holder to personal taste. I dry prior to smoking in a cool place to form a pellicle on surface of fish(fish will slightly cling to finger after 5 to 7 hours of drying).

After 6 hours of smoking I rotate racks from top to bottom to evenly heat, I take each rack and tip it to drain water which will come off for 1st 24 hours or so. after 24 hours or when most obvious water has come off I take fresh oiled racks( buy a 2nd set of racks, it's worth it), placing rack of fish to be flipped on surface of rack holder, place 2nd rack on top and holding them together flip 180 degrees. Repeat with remaing racks, every 2 loads of chips do one 6 hour cycle without chips, at 40 hours you should only need 1 or maybe loads of chips to finish, too much will make it bitter. I use three kinds of chips from big chief, apple, alder, and cherry, misquite and hickory are pretty strong for fish. Flipping keeps oils distributed throuout the fish and top and bottom are done equally. I use a thin sharp knife to help separate fillets from rack when flipping, avoiding covering center rod part of rack with fish, Makes it easier to free fish,this helps with proper aireation (im-portant, do NOT crowd pieces together) and makes cleaning racks a lot easier, this section rusts fast from salt unless soaked right after use, cleaning racks promptly with hot soapy water and a stainless steel brush will give years of life.It should take 40 to 60 hours depeding on thickness of fish, weather, and internal temp. of smoker. I use voltage regulators (reostats that cover from 70 to 110 volts a.c.) and your temperture on rack holders shoud never be too hot to touch your lips to ( 105 to 110 degrees inside).

I only use really firm, fresh (when poss., we do freeze trout or salmon and save them up for large loads)fish, I've used frozen but there is a noticable diff. This is extremly labor intensive but no waste from skin and no bones plus long shelf life makes it worth it.It will last 6 months to a year vacuum sealed under refrigeration, freezing will affect texture as cell walls are broken down and water remaining in fish crystalizes.It will mail very well overnighted and recomend early week mailing to insure prompt delivery. Any questions ask away. Good Luck, enjoy,

Bob R

Some paragraphs, please.

Done!
Bob R

Bob r also makes awesome smoke fish dip! He's the man!

I use Johnny Coho's dry brine recipe. Doing a batch right now.
recipe

For those that use an electric element smoker with a thermostat, what temperatures and time schedules do you use?

I have the cookshack smoker. Desgined for the cow crowd - award winning for the cow and poultry crow - but will work for fish.

I can only use dry wood chunks, in a pan with holes, that slides over an element controlled by a thermostat.

IE, I turn the digital control to 140 and away it goes. I can turn up/down the temp as needed.

Way to exact for fish...but I'd like to know if any of you out there use a thermostat controlled system and what your smoking temp and schedule is.

I've done 140 for a long time.

Started at 140, bumped to 150....160...up to 190.

I've even started at 190.

JF C Paker that's an awesome smoker !
Made in 'Merica.
That thing set you back some coin if you bought new.


Gotta keep those temps down for fish, though.
Think Low and Slow....you don't want to generate that fugly white curd (albumin).

Here's an article with a temp regimen that is about as fast as you could properly smoke salmon.
http://honest-food.net/2012/08/12/how-to-smoke-salmon-recipe/
My fish smokes seem to go much longer at lower temps in my modified Big Chief type smoker.

A "dry" brine is something to try if you haven't yet.
Here's a basic dry brine recipe...
http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=64066

Recommend you take out the seasoned salts though.
For example, Garlic Salt...change to Granulated Garlic or Garlic Powder.
Keep your salt as one component so you can easily regulate it.


Lets have some pics of your next smoke !

Thanks DD. I've had the CookShack for a few years now, but yes, it's expensive stainless steel box.

I'll give the 100 for 2, 120 fo2 and 140 for 4 and see what happens.

Too late on the garlic salt. It's only a 1/4 cup, so it's probably OK. I use kosher salt.

I'll post some result photos.

The best dry brine is a simple one. 4/1 dark brown sugar to kosher salt. If you like garlic, which I do, add fresh pressed garlic to the brining fish. Black pepper on the finished product. The honey glaze thing is good, but makes sticky fish.

.

I put mine in front a fan for a couple hours. Dry brine . Seems to be enough as the last batch I did was screamin. You just need to get it tacky.

Here’s my recipe. Yields a great product every time.

Brine:

3 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Cup White sugar
1/2 Cup Garlic Salt
3 tablespoons of Coarse black pepper
Kosher Salt

Process:

-moderate dusting of kosher salt on each piece of fish
-liberally apply brine covering every inch of fish
-refrigerate for 24 hours
-flip pieces of fish meat side down into the juice in the pan
-refrigerate for another 48 hours
-rinse off fish in water, place on drying rack, gently pat dry with payer towel
-air dry for at least 4 hours 6-10 ideal
-place in smoker and smoke for 3-6 hours at 120-140 degrees
-add a handful of alderwood chips soaked in apple juice every 30 minutes while smoking

Watch closely that you don’t get the temperature too hot. You will lose the flavor. Better to have it slightly undercooked than overcooked.

Enjoy.