Tasty smoked kokanee

[pmmpete]

On Sunday I went fishing on the Helena Valley Regulating Reservoir near Helena, Montana, and caught ten kokanee between 13.5 and 16 inches long.  On any other lake in Montana, the smallest kokanee I caught would be an amazing lunker, but by the end of the summer I should be catching even bigger kokanee on the Regulating Reservoir.  (I keep the fish on ice in a cooler while fishing, but put them on a stringer and gutted them before leaving the lake and heading home).



I smoked some of them, using a modified version of the Sweet Teriyaki recipe from the Haugens' book on Smoking Salmon and Steelhead.  They came out very tasty. 





I froze the rest for cooking, which may seem like a waste of perfectly good fish to die-hard smokers, but kokanee is also great cooked.

[Wildcat]

Have you tried freezing fish in water vice vac seal? I have had less issues with freezer burn and better fresh taste by freezing in water. Especially for long term storage.

[pmmpete]

Have you tried freezing fish in water vice vac seal? I have had less issues with freezer burn and better fresh taste by freezing in water. Especially for long term storage.

I used to freeze fish for cooking in water in the manner which I described in a posting at http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=15240.0 .  This turned into a long and pretty interesting thread, which persuaded me to try vacuum packing fish before I freeze them for cooking.  After I try vacuum packing for a year or so, I'll decide whether to stick with it or go back to freezing fish in water.

However, I never froze smoked fish in water, because that would re-hydrate it and dissolve out the salt.  I've always vacuum packed my smoked fish.

[Gafala]

When I do fish, bacon, sausage just before vacuum sealing the bag I will add two or three Oxygen Absorbers packs this helps with shelf life cuts down on freezer burn just me.

[Smoker John]

Great looking fish