Smoky Smelt.... Not So Good!

[earlyman55]

Hi Gang -

Maybe I did something wrong. I followed the smelt recipe here on the board. Mixed the brine according to the recipe. I brined for 8 hours. I didn't rinse off the fish after the brining process (the recipe didn't say to, but I think I should have). Left fish in 35 degree garage for 24 hours, then smoked according to the recipe. The fish came out of the smoker moist, but VERY salty, tough and quite fishy tasting (I like fishy fish, but the combination of salty, tough and fishy was a bit too much for me). The dogs seemd to enjoy the smelt, though.

Any ideas, suggestions would lessen the feeling I had when I dumped  2 pounds of them into the trash.

[Smoking Duck]

I think rinsing would definitely have helped.  I'd make sure to do that next time.

I guess the best thing to take away from that is that the dogs enjoyed them and now look up to you even more  ;D

Seems I make the dog a lot happier than I do my wife (especially when it comes to smoking experiments)  ;D

[tsquared]

Hey earlyman--my apologies--that's my recipe and I didn't say to rinse off the brine. I will tell Oldman to make the change on the recipe board.
T2