curing

[boneboy]

Hi
New to this forum can anyone give best brine recipe for white fish from UKwaters Thank's in advance.
boneboy

[manxman]

Hi boneboy and welcome to the forum.

I smoke loads of whitefish, predominantly pollack but also cod and haddock. Typically the fillets are from fish around the 5-10lb mark and fillets are boneless and skinless.

I just use an 80% brine which is about 240 grammes salt to a litre of water, the salt used should be non-iodised salt. As a rough estimate if you mix salt and water together until an egg floats in it that will be around the strength required, that is the yardstick I use nowadays.

The fillets are then immersed for between 30 minutes and an hour the larger the longer. After this period they are rinsed off briefly in cold water and patted dry with paper tissue and left until pellicle formation. I cold smoke the fish for between 5 and 8 hours.

If required other additions can be made to the brine such as sugar, onion powder or garlic powder but I don't bother with that, I am very happy with just plain smoked whitefish.

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask. :D

[boneboy]

Hi Manxman
Thank's for the brine mixture, I will try it on my next smoke. Can you tell me what flavour bisquettes you use thank's.
Boneboy

[manxman]

For whitefish I have mainly used oak but also alder and apple and all work well.

I have partly stuck with oak mainly because it is traditional in Britain, oak smoked kippers, mackerel, cod, haddock etc. and it is still my favourite.

Pollack is the fish I use most as I have a boat and it is the most plentiful whitefish around, it comes out particulalry well in the BS.