Fresh, cleaned, freeze, thaw, smoke, refreeze, eat?

[dortman]

Fresh, cleaned, freeze, thaw, smoke, refreeze, eat?

Wondering what everyone's thought on this is.... Salmon season is in full swing here on the Great Lakes and I can put away a bunch of salmon. The problem, however, is that I don't have time to fish and smoke each week. So is it possible to catch, clean the fish, freeze'em, then thaw say this fall or winter, smoke the fish, then eat some and refreeze some? Seems like a lot of processing.

If it does work, preferred method for cleaning? Have the fish all filleted out, skinned, and in smoking sized chunks ready for the smoker before freezing? Can a 5 pounds or more be frozen together in a vacuum seal bag? Will this cause any issues when thawing?

Many thanks for your responses, want to maximize the catch.

Best,
DoubleD

[OU812]

You could send some my way.  ;D

The only salmon I have bought is frozen and tastes good to me but I wouldn't know what fresh salmon tastes like being land locked and all.

[manxman]

Fresh, cleaned, freeze, thaw, smoke, refreeze, eat?

In a word ....... yes!

I do it all the time, I tend to fillet, skin and even brine the fillets prior to freezing and vacuum sealing. I keep the fillets to a single thickness so it depends on the size of the vacuum bag to some extent but with the bigger bags it is certainly possible to get several pounds of fish per bag.

Smoking then refreezing is not a problem.  :)