Calling all Fish Smokers

[goalieboy29]

Hey Gang,

Anyone done Whitefish? One of my fave's here in Ontario. A nice oily little pan type fish with firm white flesh. Not everyone's cup o tea but I likes my fishes "fishy" eh...

My question; I would like to smoke a bunch of these babies but not like lox. I just want to cook 'em in the smoker and add the smoke flavour to 'em. How long/what temp/what wood? Would love it if they turned out firm and dry.

Thanks a bunch for any ideas.

I am loving the new NHL. Go Leafs...

goalieboy29

It's the wood that makes it good...

[Mikey]

Well I would use Alder myself, try to keep the temp as low as you can for the first 2 hours so the smoke soaks into the meat. Then to firm it up turn the element on and keep a temp of around 140 to 170 until it is the dryness you like.

[manxman]

Hi goalieboy29,

I have both hot and cold smoked whitefish. My preferred method is coldsmoking and freezing then cooking the fish just prior to eating the fish along the lines of:

http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2294

I now have a backlog of people wanting this, it has proved very popular!!

Also I have put whitefish (cod, haddock and pollack)in the BS when I have hot smoked batches of salmon similar to the cooking process in:

http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=120&SearchTerms=hot,smoked,salmon

However, I brine the whitefish as in the first reference quoted in just plain 80% salt solution.

Both have turned out really well but I prefer the former.



Manxman.

[tsquared]

I would try Mikey's method except that I wouldn't crank it up as high as 170 at the end, maybe keep it at 140 for the entire process. Watch the fish at the corners and close to the sides if you do go with the higher temps as these will reach your desired "doneness" first. Good smoking!
T2