North Alantic Mackerel

[joeduke]

I catch a lot on Mackerel in the waters around Ireland in the Summer months, they are a very oily fish. There is a video on You Tube from a guy in Scotland smoking them in a Bradley for 3 hours but he does not say at what temp!! any ideas??

[pmmpete]

Food preservation experts recommend that you heat smoked fish to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F for at least thirty minutes in order to kill the bacteria which can cause botulism and other food poisoning.  A good article which explains the basics of smoking fish is Smoking Fish at Home - Safely, by K.S. Hilderbrand, Pacific Northwest Extension Publication #238, which is available at http://cru.cahe.wse.edu/cepublications/pnw238/pnw238.pdf .  If that link doesn't work, search for the title of the publication, which is available on various websites.

Producing safe smoked fish requires three things: (a) salting or brining the fish long enough to ensure that adequate salt is present in the smoked fish, (b) heating the fish to a 160 degree internal temperature for at least 30 minutes, and (c) refrigerating and/or freezing the fish after it has been smoked.  Because fish of different thicknesses, different oiliness, and with and without skin will absorb salt at different rates, you can't determine whether a piece of fish has adequate salt content to preserve it without chemical analysis.  As a result, the only way to ensure that your smoked fish is safe is by bringing the fish to an internal temperature which is high enough to kill the bacteria which cause botulism and other food poisoning, and by freezing or refrigerating the fish after it is smoked.  Unless the fillets being smoked are quite thin, the air temperature in your smoker will need to be higher than 160 degrees to produce an internal temperature of 160 degrees in the fish in a reasonable amount of time.  If your smoker can't produce high enough air temperatures to produce an internal temperature of 160 degrees in your fish, you should finish the fish off in an oven after smoking it.

Some trial and error is required to learn how to produce fish which has what you regard as the perfect degree of dryness and a nice flaky texture, without developing "curds" from getting the fish too hot before it has dried out sufficiently, but while reaching a 160 degree internal temperature for at least half an hour during the smoking process. This typically involves beginning the smoking process at a moderate smoker temperature such as 120-130 degrees, and then as the fish starts getting as dry as you like, increasing the smoker temperature to a level which will get the fish up to a 160 degree internal temperature for half an hour before the fish gets too dry.  You'll need to try various combinations of time and temperature.  I have a lousy memory, so I keep notes about what I did and how it turned out.  You can quickly figure out a good procedure for a particular kind and size of fish, but may need a quite different procedure for a different kind of fish.  For example, in my area, large Lake Trout fillets, which aren't particularly oily, require different times and temperatures than Kokanee salmon fillets, which are thin and oily. 

Kummok's posting on Bradley smoiked wild Alaskan salmon at the beginning of this section of this forum contains a good explanation of the smoking process.

[Salmonsmoker]

Joeduke,
Chef's temperature on fish is 130-145F. USDA is minimum of 145F. I don't let my smoked salmon get to 160F. It would be dry and hard by then, IMO. I use the same temperature schedule as Kummok(120F, 140F, 175F), and the last hour or so of finish @ 175F isn't enough time to raise the IT from the 140F temperature set to a 160F IT of the fish, so I doubt that Kummok's gets that high either. I've been smoking salmon in excess of 20 yrs. without a single problem(illness, spoilage, etc.), and  with the USDA recommended min. temp. @ 145F,I don't know why K.S. Hildebrand calls for 160F.

My $.02

[tsquared]

That's a good question, JoeDuke. We only rarely get mackerel in our waters here so I don't have any answer for you but you might follow up with a good sushi chef in your area. The only time I ever eat smoked mackerel is on sushi--so a knowlegeable sushi guy might have the answer.
T2

[manxman]

Hi joeduke and welcome to the forum. If you do a search you will find quite a bit of info about mackerel, I posted a smoked mackerel pate recipe for example a few years back.

Only just across the water from you, fishing here is only just kicking off for the summer but no sign of the mackerel or herring yet. I did get 3 dozen scallops left on my doorstep last night so may smoke half a dozen of them today.  :D

To get you started here is a recipe you can play around with.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=1868.msg17975#msg17975

I have smoked a lot of mackerel since and the only real difference is that I have knocked the internal cooked temp back to about 145F as someone else mentions. I also keep the damper at least half open all the way through.

Size of mackerel also makes a difference, there is a wreck about 6 miles south of the IOM which has jumbo mackerel which I tend to use for smoking. Smaller ones brine less, bigger ones a bit more.

Hope this helps.

[joeduke]

Hi Manxman,

We have been catching Mackerel for the last 4 weeks which is very early, last year in was June before they started showing in any great numbers.. I will give your Pate a go.. :)

[manxman]

We have been catching Mackerel for the last 4 weeks which is very early, last year in was June before they started showing in any great numbers

Last couple of years numbers have been really poor around here even when they do show to the extent we are wondering if their migratory pattern has changed.

Having said that early signs this year for other species are good and there have already been sighting of Basking Sharks so perhaps we are in for a good year!  ::)

Here's hoping!