Help me troubleshoot my smoked northern

[loogie1]

I've tried smoking northern twice now.  Although the fish tastes good, it forms a very tough skin on the meat.  I have had smoked northern from other people that was great and without that tough skin.

Here's what I do.

A couple of 3 - 5 lbs northern.  I fillet, but leave the skin on.
I then put in a brine of 1 cup salt and 1 cup sugar for about 16 hours.
I put on a rake and air dry for about an hour until they're sticky.
Meanwhile I get the smoker ready.  I set it at 200f the first time I tried it and 180f the second time.
I load it full of pucks, throw the fish in and away I go.
Smoked for about 2 hours.  Didn't really get the nice golden brown color until 2 hours.

The skin that forms is tough. You can peel it off the fish, but that's a pain. It doesn't taste bad, just hard to get the teeth through.
The fish skin peels off far easier than the skin that forms on the meat during smoking.

What am I doing wrong?
Any ideas???

Thanks.

[Mr Walleye]

I haven't done pike before but based on the various salmon recipes, especially Kummox's, the temp may be too high. Hopefully somebody with a little more experience will be along and comment.

Mike

[iceman]

I haven't done pike before but based on the various salmon recipes, especially Kummox's, the temp may be too high. Hopefully somebody with a little more experience will be along and comment.

Mike

I think your on the right track Mike.
I start my trout and salmon smoking at 145 then increase each 45 minutes to an hour by 10 degrees until the fish is firm and cooked through never exceeding 170 in the smoker. Just guessing loogie but I think to high for to long might be the problem.
How much water are you mixing the salt and sugar in?

[loogie1]

I think it was 1/2 to a gallon of water.  I do the float the egg thing with the brine.

[Mr Walleye]

The other thing is I don't see you mention if you are monitoring your cabinet temp with anything besides the built in gauge. If you aren't I would recommend that you do. You want to have a probe right at the same level as the fish to ensure they are getting the temp you think they are.

Mike

[loogie1]

I added a Omega temp controller, so the temp is dead on.

[manxman]

How much water are you mixing the salt and sugar in?

I do the float the egg thing with the brine.

Could it be that 16 hours in a brine of this strength is too long? Whilst I use the same strength brine(float an egg test) I don't use anything like 16 hours for fillets of this size.

Did you rinse thoroughly after brining to get rid of any excess salt/sugar on surface of fillets? Did the end product taste oversalty/sweet?

Just another couple of suggestions, it could be a combination of things.  ;)

[iceman]

I missed the 16 hr thing on the brine time. I think thats way to long for fillets. I do salmon for 8 hrs and thats enough. That could have something to do with it.
Rinsing is very important also like Manx mentioned.

[3rensho]

From what I've read of the above posts I think that the long brining time leads to an over dehydration of the outer surface and the high smoking temperature furthers the dessication forming a leathery outer surface.  I'd go with a much lower temp. too as suggested above. 

Tom

[loogie1]

The fish didn't seem too salty.

I'm going ice fishing Saturday or I should say ice catching because I always get a few pike.
I'll try a shorter brine time and a cooler smoke and see what happens.

Thanks.

[Mr Walleye]

Keep us posted Loogie1

I am interested in how you make out.

Mike

[Carter]

me too.  When it's fresh and cleaned correctly, I like Northern Pike better than, dare I say it... Walleye.

[Carter]

Hey Loogie1,

Just found the link to Kummok's salmon recipe.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=107.0

Works amazing for salmon.  I would think it would do just fine for Pike as well.

Carter