Smoked Rainbow Trout - Dry Brine

[skewy]

This is my first post on the board.  I admit to lurking and borrowing many of the recipes and ideas from various posts over the last year or so.  I finally decided to contribute a post of my own.  So here goes...

Went fishing with my brother-in-law and caught some rainbow trout.  The fish were relatively small (around 1 lb each).  Decided to take the extra time to filet and debone the fish.  I know there are many ways to filet a fish, but I use a method similar to what is shown in this youtube video I found online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjxAF139SGg

I used a dry brine that I have used in the past for salmon and modified over time, depending on ingredients on-hand and what sounds good.
        16 oz. dark brown sugar
        1/2 cup kosher salt
        2-3 Tablespoons garlic powder
           1 Tablespoon onion powder
           1 Tablespoon black pepper
           1 Tablespoon dry mustard
           1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper

Layered fillets in glass oven dishes, covering each layer well with the brine mixture.  Brined for 10 hours in fridge.  Here is a pic of some of the fish at the start of the brining.



After brining, I rinsed in cold water and air dried in the fridge overnight to form a tacky pellicle. 

Smoked following the bradley guidelines.  Time in the smoker was 2 hrs at 100 degrees and 1.5 hours at 140 degrees.  I applied approx. 2 hours of alder smoke at the beginning.  Finished it in the oven for 2 hrs at 175 degrees, and before putting in the oven, I "lightly" glazed with honey. 

Ready to go in preheated 175 deg. oven.




Here is an example of the final product.
 

I hope the pics posted ok. 
Thanks to everyone for the great info. on this board!
- Dave

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi skewy;

Welcome to the forum.

The trout look good. I do have a question; I understand taste is subjective, but how would you describe the level of sweetness?

[skewy]

Thanks for the welcome Habanero. 

I have had a batch that was too sweet using this recipe or something close too it.  I believe it was because I did not rinse prior to air drying.  I am not big on real sweet smoked fish.  To prevent it, I give the fillets a good rinse in cold water before air drying and make sure the honey glaze is very light (or skip it all together). 

[viper125]

Welcome Skewy! Fish looks great! Not sure about the honey though. As I prefer not so sweet either. Question I have is why do you finish in oven?

[skewy]

Thanks Viper. 

I finished in the oven because it was raining so hard here (Seattle weather at its best!).  Also, I do not yet have a temp. controller and wanted to watch that last stage closely since the fillets were so thin.  I was worried about drying it out...

[Habanero Smoker]

The next time I get some fillets, I will definately give this a try.

[iceman]

Nice job skewy. Those look picture perfect.  :)

[Smoker John]

Welcome skewy, the fish looks really nice

[Mr Walleye]

Welcome to the forum Skewy.

The "bows" looks excellent!  :P

Mike

[MrRaven]

ooooh - this looks good. a friend just dropped off a steelhead and I think this is gonna be the brine I try.

[destrouk]

Wow mate that looks great

[Consooger]

Skewy those look great! I have some trout in the freezer dying to come out of their vac from my trip this year.

Definately giving this one a run as well

- Sugar