Fish smoking question

[stevo133080]

Just a question,  Has anybody ever tried smoking white colored fish (Cod, Tilapia, Halibut)?  Im going fishing here in the next week or so and im hoping to catch some burbot.  Anybody ever tried it?  Is it best to cook it like smoked fish,  or more like a jerky type?  Ive had trout, salmon and the pinker meats,  but never white fish.  Wondered how it works with the flaky white meats?   Will i be wasting my time smoking burbot?

THanks for any info

[tskeeter]

Stevo, I can't answer your question from personal experience.  However, I lived along Lake Superior for several years, and smoked Lake Superior White Fish was a local delicacy, as was my favorite, smoked Lake Superior Herring.  That leads me to believe that smoking a white meat-ed fish shouldn't be a problem.  I'd give it a try.

One thing to keep in mind.  Trout, salmon, etc are relatively oily fish.  White fishes are usually less oily, so the fish might dry out faster than the pink fish.  To reduce the tendency to dry the meat, I'd smoke with the skin on.  (I find the skin peels off easily once the fish is refrigerated.)  Some information I've seen talks about lightly brushing the fish with cooking oil before smoking.  If the fish comes out dry, I'd try something like a spritz of Pam on the meat side to slow the rate at which the fish is drying.

Please let us know how your white fish smoking goes.  I'm interested in what you're doing as I prefer the white fish to the oilier ones and would be intersted in trying smoking cod or something similar myself.

[Smokeville]

I've cold smoked Haddock and it comes out great, but you have to cook it when you use it.

That Lake Superior Whitefish tskeeter mentions is white, but it's still a member of the salmon family so it does have a certain amount of oil, more than cod or others like that.

I just checked burbot (never heard of it) with the USDA data base and it has about 1/2 the fat of tilapia and about 1/5 the fat of rainbow.

Give it a shot! Watch your timing and temperature and enjoy.

Rich

[stevo133080]

I will definately give it a try and post up what happens.  I've never caught or had burbot, but there is a lake here in utah that now has them in it (flaming gorge). Somebody illegally planted them into the river going into the lake.  They are one of the ugliest fish you will ever see,  but they say its one of the best tasting.  It's basically a fresh water cod,  and they get big quick, but are kind of eel like.  There no limit on them because they don't want them in the lake because they eat everything and compete with the lake trout and Kokanee.  Im not going until next weekend but hopefully we can put some on the ice.  Ill post up pics when I try smoking them.

[Smokeville]

Get a shot before you gut it so we can see how ugly it really is......     ;D

[pikeman_95]

I have smoked pike with out the skin. I would never leave the skin on a pike. The skin is disgusting. I found it was good fresh out of the smoker but it did not store well in the fridge. I probably have smoked it longer to dry it out a little more. I know when they smoke white fish around here they have to smoke it longer to get the moisture content down. We have a lake that has Lake Superior white fish in it and we have had some great fishing days. They can up well but are very moist so you need to give them more time in the smoker.
kc