Smoking northern pike

[pmmpete]

I'm spearing northern pike faster than I can eat it and/or give it away, and want to try smoking some.  Does anybody have a brine recipe which works well with pike, or does anybody have any general recommendations about brine recipes for lean fish like pike?

[devo]

I believe Kirby (pickman_95) said he tried but it was the worst fish he ever smoked. You might want to PM him for some advice.

[ragweed]

Never smoked any but my Dad used to pickle Northern Pike.  I think he probably used what they used for cucumber pickles.  Anyway, they were very good and, of course, no bones  :)

[devo]

Never smoked any but my Dad used to pickle Northern Pike.  I think he probably used what they used for cucumber pickles.  Anyway, they were very good and, of course, no bones  :)

Yup we can a lot of them up here in Ontario, come out just like canned salmon when done right.

[ExpatCanadian]

I tried some a couple of summer ago, fresh out of Lac Des Isles in Northern Saskatchewan....  brined it for a couple hours first with a fairly basic salt/sugar brine.  Then hot smoked with the Bradley propane smoker.  Honestly..  it was a waste of good fish  :-\ Turned it fairly rubbery...  not nice at all.

Not saying it can't be done...  but would definitely take some experimentation to get it right.

[pmmpete]

This time, I went with a sure thing and pickled a batch of pike Y-bones , and some fillets from small pike.  Next time, despite all the bad reports about smoked pike, I'm going to try smoking some fillets. 



As I said at the beginning of this thread, I'm whacking pike faster than I can eat them myself, so I need to get creative.  Here I am with five of the eleven I speared last week, one of them 35 inches and 13 pounds.

[devo]

Looks like fun Pete. As a game fish pike are not allowed in my boat. I prefer walleye myself but that's just me. The spear fishing part does look like fun though

[eldub]

I like fishing and eating pike.

Try a batch of poor man's lobster some day. Freeze the pike and then boil until heated through. Place the small hunks of cooked fish in a bowl of melted butter and enjoy.

[ragweed]

Brought back a bunch of Pike from Devil's Lake, ND, so I thought I'd experiment.  Used Kummok's recipe altered a little.  Fish was skinless, cut back on the brown sugar 'cause I used a honey teriyaki marinade, not as much cayenne.  Brined 12 hrs.  Took 30 hrs in my frig to get a pellicle.  Smoked 1 hr @ 115 F, then bumped to 140 F with another hour of smoke.  Used Alder pucks.  Another hour @ 140 F.  Finished @ 173 F for an hour.

After the brine:


Smokin':


After the smoke/cook.  I cut back on Kummok's time because the filets were thin, no skin and less oily than salmon.



I thought it tasted good, slightly sweet, not too dry, not rubbery.  A little salty for me so next time, I'll cut back on the brine time.  I'll definitely do again!!

[Matth]

I ended up with pike jerky....unintentionally.

Mine started out much like regweed's, skinned boneless fillets of northern pike.  I brined in Hi-Mountain's trout brine.  Went first hour with no smoke.  Alternated hickory and apple for smoke.  I checked the temp of the fillets after 2 hours and they were at 120.  My smoker was holding a steady 200 so I thought all was going fine.  I come back after our three to stop the smoke and find the temp at 250.  I open the door and my smoked northern was jerky, and it was done!  No need for crackers to put my smoked fish on. 

Lesson learned:  get a temp controller (see post under the black bradley smoker)

BTW, the jerky tasted great.  I love screw ups you can eat.  Going to have to try to intentionally repeat this some time.