Smoking Fish

[IWANNABROCK]

I tried smoking a bream once, gee it was hard to light!

[slinkymalinky]

Hi Roberta,

Only just ran across your post.... I smoke fish pretty regularly too (and chicken, beef and other odds and ends when the mood takes me). When I lived in Tassie as a teenager and spent a lot of time trout fishing I went to the trouble of building a proper smoke house. When we built the house we're in now I had some bricks left over and built the mother of all BBQs including a wood fire section designed to have smoking racks and a door installed... neither of which I've ever gotten around to). Instead I've found I'm perfectly happy with the portable metho burner smoker.

My own little contribution to the 'tips of the trade' part of discussions is that while I too use the brown sugar and salt trick (often spiced up with a drizzle of sherry, whiskey or rum) I absolutely LOVE using Ketsup Manis (Indonesian Soy Sauce). It has the salty sweet balance already along with a really unique flavour. I just rub it liberally into the flesh side of fillets before they go into the box.

I'll have to try the Ti Tree.... I knew that Kiwis love to use Manuka and I knew that it is a form of Ti Tree although for some dumb reason never connected the 2 facts in my head (the closest variety we have in Australia to being identical to Manuka is the Jellybush.... one of the weird little factoids that for some reason inhabit my brain.... I once had some business dealings with The Medicinal Honey Company who make the Australian version of Manuka Honey.... and yes Kiwi Dan, I know there is no such thing as a 'version' of Manuka Honey). I'm sure any Ti Tree is worth a try.

Cheers, Slinky

PS If I ever see any Hickory chips in my wanderings I'll buy up a pile and get some to you too.

[arpie]

Terrific Slinky!!! Love the Hickory!!! Thanks for that :)

Have you got any photos of your Tassie or current setup? I'd love to see it. I checked out building a cold smoke house some 20 years ago in NZ - a bloke on the estuary near us had one & it looked terrific! He had coated the whole thing in cement & stuck sea shells all over it, so it really was distinctive as well! I think he used some lengths of '1/2' drainpipes to make the conduit from the smoke pit to the smoke house. But you still have to cook the fish after cold smoking, don't you? Like Haddock?

I love Kecap Manis on my fried rice & risottos & stuff! Yum!! Much nicer than regular soy. Must try that on my next fish smoke, as it is already sweet. Thanks for the tip! We are forever learning ..... the day you stop learning, you are dead (or may as well be!)

Were you using the cold smoking for the chicken & beef etc or a Webber type setup? Would love to try that! I've sometimes half cooked the chicken breast & put it in the smoker to just impart the flavour at the end as it would just take too long on my little setup!

When's the BBQ??? WHere abouts (EXACTLY) did you say you lived :)

Cheerio

Roberta

Edited March 31, 2008 by Roberta

[slinkymalinky]

Hi Roberta,

I've attached a pic of the 'supposed to be my smoker' part of the BBQ... you can see why I was thinking that. All it needs is a door and some steel bars inside to hang the fish from. Just get a good bed of coals using appropriate wood, then put a tray of some nice mesquite chips or something on the BBQ grill, close the door and yummy.

Alas, the results from my little portable have made me too lazy so we only use it as a BBQ.... the rest of the set up includes lots of tiled bench space, a BBQ plumbed to natural gas set into the brickwork, a plumbed in sink and a cupboard that in another theory was built to house a bar fridge (complete with access allowed foor wiring it in) but I also reneged on that idea once I realised that the bar fridge probably wouldn't like getting cold and damp in an outside cupboard.

The cold smoker I don't have photos of but was made very simply using a galvanised pipe of about 2m that I dug in underground from a fire pit to a smoking box about 600x600x1800 made simply from marine ply (oh the simple days of being a student and using whatever was to hand instead of blowing all my money on new stuff all the time )

I'd leave the fish inside for a long time (up to 3 days, which took a bit of work with the fire) and I never cooked it before eating it... not sure with 'meat' other than trout but it was delicious.

Cheers, Slinky

[arpie]

Wow Slinky! Now THAT is a BBQ!

Hi guys

here is a pic of my latest method of smoking blackfish - very easy. Just cut off head & gut section & put the whole fish in the smoker. I have trimmed the tails off, as they were too long for the smoker!!

It'll take about 20mins each side (turn them over after 20 mins & continue smoking.) This is a more subtle smoke flavour, as the skin protects the flesh & it is usually very moist & tender too. I test with a skewer into the thickest part of the fish (shoulder) to confirm it has been cooked thru. Peel the skin off & eat off the bone or

You can take the flesh off the fish (take great care to remove all bones) & make it into a Smoked fish Pie

To make the pie, just make a really thick cheese sauce ( I add a bit of curry paste or mustard for extra flavour & colour) & then add 2 chopped, cooked onions (I microwave them first on high for 5 mins) & peas (I use reconstituted dried peas - cover with hot water for 5 mins then microwave for 4-5 mins on med-high) then mix in the shredded fish flesh. Put it in a shallow baking dish, cover with mashed potato & pop in the oven with a bit of grated cheese on top, to melt & brown for about 1hr depending on how cold it got before putting it into a moderate oven. (about 150 degrees celsius.)

It also freezes really well - so I tend to make a big serve & freeze 2 & eat one! 6 fish will give you one solid feed & 3 to freeze! I use those Alfoil dishes that have cardboard lids (silver on the side that goes against the food.) They do take a long time to thaw (being so full of goodness!) so you would need to leave them out in the morning if you want to cook them in the evening. (I put anything to thaw in the microwave so flies can't find it ...... and you don't accidentally turn the oven on if left there, as I have done before ) Moderate oven for about 1hr to reheat (make sure you take the lid off & have it on a metal tray covered in alfoil, in case of overflow!

Serve with nice big green salad.

YUM!

Roberta

Edited June 3, 2010 by Roberta

[Dreamtime]

Roberta, I think you and Slinky should open a restaurant, or at least a smoke haus.

I have always been interested in smoking my own but have never really got around to doing it as I thought it was all too hard.

I am always on the lookout for smoked fish or beef but there is nothing available here. You can only get sun dried fish or clamshells.

When I was in PNG there was a guy there who smoked beef and put it in a heat sealed plastic bag for resale. It was great to have a chew on it with an ale or two. He had two variations - chillie and mild. He called his product Jungle Jerky.

Maybe you and Slinky could corner the market on a great little nibbly

Food for thought.

[Farma]

Hi Fellow fisho's

I have a "Cough" Keg and was wondering if it would be ok to smoke some trout in.

It has a good seal and I have some baskets for it. just wondering if it would be to big or not.

What wood will work best?

Thanks.

[arpie]

Hi Farma

I am not sure what a 'cough' keg is ...... any chance of putting up a pic? I have seen lots of Metal Beer kegs turned into terrific BBQ/smokers (slit in half length ways for the most efficient surface area.)

When you say it has a good seal - that is not essential, as a smoker actually needs to 'breathe' a bit for the best smoking to occur ...... also make sure the 'seal' is not rubber?

Ti tree is good for smoking - or just buy a bag of chips & use them. You only need to use a bit less than an handful most times, so a 1kg bag lasts for ages. You can use most timbers (lots of people use the branches from pruned fruit trees, too!) Just make sure you never use any treated timbers or pine trees (or similar very resin type sap trees.)

I have used some of the smaller leafed gum trees before! It worked. Some of the bigger leaves may to be too strong.

Cheers

Roberta

[Basil D]

I had a bad experience with some of the 'pellets' from Bunnings.. desperate for wood I headed to Bunnings thinking they must have smoking chips or sawdust.. they had hickory chunks (which were no good for my smoker although I probably could have shaved them down somehow) and these 'flavoured' pellets..

I found the pellets to be $%#house although we were smoking a striped tuna which probably wasnt the brightest idea in the first place... Meat was ok but the cat ended up with an exotic dinner .. Even she wasnt too impressed!

yep hapend to me as well, taste crap

[Benzeenees]

Just finished smoking some barracouta (only the tail end) using Roberta's instructions. Tasted very good but even the tails are full of long bones. I think I'll remove the bones and make either a kedgeree (with boiled eggs and rice) or a fish pie (boiled eggs, white sauce with mashed potato on top). But the coutas are bait from now on. I'd really like to try tailor. 40 years ago you could buy smoked tailor in NSW and it was one of the best smoked fish I have ever tasted. Nearly as good as the smoked albacore we bought in Geraldton!

Edited September 10, 2011 by Benzeenees