Trout Brine ?

Wingman · December 23, 2011, 09:29:34 AM

Hello everyone. I have a few trout frozen small in size and was wondering if I could just use the Alaskan Salmon Brine on these instead of buying somethink else? Happy Holidays to all.

Habanero Smoker · December 23, 2011, 01:58:24 PM

You could.

The below link is to a really good brine recipe for trout. It is for much thicker trout. When I have brined smaller trout, I have reduced the salt to 4 ounces, and the brown sugar to 1/2 cup, leaving the rest of the ingredients the same and brine for 5 - 7 hours.

Smoked Trout

Wingman · December 25, 2011, 05:26:31 AM

Ok Thank You for the reply. I will be trying it later on in the week.

Wingman · December 25, 2011, 03:00:45 PM

Hab I have about 18 trout so Im thinking I would need alot more brine than 1 qt water to cover all the fish. Going to cut heads off and place in brine whole so do you think if I take the recipe you gave and multiply it aleast 4 times to get enough liquid to cover all the fish I will be ok? Or should I just add water to cover??

Tenpoint5 · December 25, 2011, 08:14:14 PM

Wingman I would suggest just doubling the recipe. Since the original recipe is for 5 pounds of fish.

Habanero Smoker · December 26, 2011, 01:38:26 AM

I'm not sure how much 18 dressed trout will weigh, but doubling the recipe may work. The best way to figure out how much brine to use is to place the prepared trout in a container, cover it with water (about 1-inch above the fish), remove the fish then measure the water. That is how much brine you will need to make. This way you are not making more then you need, and wasting good cognac and maple syrup. :)

Which ever amount of liquid you come up with, the liquid needs to weigh at least 40%, of the total weight of the fish, then adjust the other ingredients accordingly. I use 50% because it is easier to calculate. One gallon of water weighs 8.33 lbs., but you can round that off to 8 lbs. If it comes out to 1.75 quarts, then to make things easier, I would round it off and just double the batch.

Wingman · December 26, 2011, 06:06:18 AM

Ok and again I want to Thank You for your help.

pmmpete · December 30, 2011, 09:52:06 AM

I like the suggestion that you weigh the fish and prepare an amount of brine which is a percentage of that weight. That's better than just eyeballing the pile of fish and winging it, which is my current technique. The amount of brine you need may also depend on whether you put the fish and the brine in a plastic bag, or in a bowl. If you use a bag, I think you'll find that (a) you need less brine, (b) it's easier to stir the fish (just roll the bag over), and (c) you don't need to worry about the fish which are floating on the surface and thus aren't getting exposed to brine on their top side.