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?
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.
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 :)
Quote from: ragweed on June 18, 2013, 05:20:05 PM
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.
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.
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.
(http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i444/pmmpete/P6210762a_zps41c80001.jpg) (http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/pmmpete/media/P6210762a_zps41c80001.jpg.html)
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.
(http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i444/pmmpete/P6050552a_zpse0e87c3e.jpg) (http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/pmmpete/media/P6050552a_zpse0e87c3e.jpg.html)
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
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.
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:
(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y510/Banset1/3963fda3-305b-4fbc-b0e3-a2236498ee83_zps99eaff0f.jpg) (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Banset1/media/3963fda3-305b-4fbc-b0e3-a2236498ee83_zps99eaff0f.jpg.html)
Smokin':
(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y510/Banset1/c8fb21ff-9297-41c9-ac17-0cafc657cf33_zps8bee458e.jpg) (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Banset1/media/c8fb21ff-9297-41c9-ac17-0cafc657cf33_zps8bee458e.jpg.html)
After the smoke/cook. I cut back on Kummok's time because the filets were thin, no skin and less oily than salmon.
(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y510/Banset1/f622f971-6d15-44b9-b97a-df8be870fe6a_zpsa0227c2b.jpg) (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Banset1/media/f622f971-6d15-44b9-b97a-df8be870fe6a_zpsa0227c2b.jpg.html)
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!!
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.