Should I hang or lay down?

[Lasse]

Hi,

Any opinions if a fish gets better when hanging inside the smoker or laying down?

Also, when laying down, is it better to arrange the fish with the belly up or should it lay on the side and turned?


/Lasse

[manxman]

Hi Lasse,

I have just smoked a load of mackerel and herring, I did fillets and did them skin side down on the racks without turning them . Some of the mackerel fillets were peppered so laying them flat prevented the pepper falling off!

They worked out a treat. Also hot smoked some salmon fillets this way which also came out really well....no turning required.

If using racks, important bit is to rub/spray lightly with cooking oil before you start to prevent the fish sticking to them at the end of the smoke.

Also I invested in some of the smaller meshed non-stick racks which are superior to the ones that are supplied as standard with the BS.


I have hung fillets but it proved a lot more messy (more dripping of juices) and indeed as they cooked some fell off the hooks!![:(]

I plan to try cold smoking some kippers (herring) soon, I will probably do them in the traditional fashion by splitting them open and hanging them heads on which should give them something more substantial to hang from!

So in my view either method can be used dependent on the job in hand although I have had more success with the racks to date.

[Kummok]

Hello Lasse...and Xáat dísi* Greetings to you and other fish smokers/eaters!

My fish smoking experience is pretty much limited to salmon and in that arena, I've smoked more than my fair share.....so that's all I can speak to when answering your inquiry.....that being said, in my salmon world, hanging is reserved for drying and combination drying/light cold smoking (as in "squaw candy"). Hanging for drying is a common practice in the villages where thousands of pounds of spawners are hung by filleting and cutting the fish into two halves except last part of the tail, which is left whole to provide the "hinge" from which the fish is hung over a line or drying rack made of local trees/branches. It is common to see what looks like miles of hanging fish around this time of year.....see http://www.terragalleria.com/america/alaska/eskimo-villages/picture.alas4355.html  It IS a pretty messy process and normally done over dirt because of the dripping fat/oils.

As far as belly up or down, I don't smoke salmon whole for personal taste reasons. If I was smoking a whole fish, perhaps for presentation, I'd smoke it skin down (If I left the skin on, which I'd prefer NOT to, but it would hold the meat together more reliably in that large a piece. I'd also make a few shallow slices in the meat to allow more penetration of any rubs/spices and to provide a little more area for smoke.....In all honesty though, I just can't ever see myself smoking a whole fillet though, unless cold smoking.

Again, my experience and opinion is limited to salmon.....I can see the need for smoking other fish whole or filleted halves, e.g. trout and other smaller fish....[:p][:p]


* Tlinget for "July" or "Salmon month; when the fish return"

35 years of extinguishing smoking stuff and now I'm wondering WHY!
Kummok @ Homer, AK USA

[tsquared]

If you do decide to hang your fish I have to emphasize a point Kummok made--only do it if you have real good control of your temp. You have to cold smoke hanging salmon or they will fall off, making a mess of your smoker and ruining some fish. I used to get a whack of chum every year from the natives that I worked with and we always used to hang and cold smoke for candy--worked great!
Kummok-One more day of work, then it's game on! fishing for the rest of the summer. Can't wait to try and catch up to you(an impossibility I know, but hey--the fun is in the trying!)
Tom