• Prep Time:
  • Cooking Time:
  • Serves: 1 Text file

Smoking Salmon And Trout Part 03 - Smoking Fish

  • Recipe Submitted by on

Category: Fish

 Ingredients List

  • There are several methods that fall into two overall categories: Hot smoked
  • [cooked] methods include barbecued, kippered, smoked-canned and small whole
  • fish and Cold Smoked [below 85 deg F] include Scotch/ Irish/Norwegian/Nova
  • Scotian style, Lox, Indian or hard smoked, pickled-smoked, Seelachs and
  • smoked roes & livers.
  • Cold smoked products are still raw, deeply colored, with a texture like
  • cured ham and can be thinly sliced without crumbling. Hot smoked products
  • are colored on the outside only and will flake like other styles of cooked
  • fish.
  • Barbecued: or smoke-cooked fish is made in a pre-heated covered barbecue or
  • a box-and-hotplate smoker. The fish is cooked in a smoky atmosphere without
  • preliminary cold smoking or prior conditioning.
  • Kippered: fish are conditioned before hot smoking by first drying the fish
  • in barely warm air, then bringing it up to cooking temperature gradually to
  • improve its appearance and quality.
  • Canning: fish is first lightly smoked by putting it into a pre- heated
  • smoker. High temperatures are used to draw the oil out to the surface. The
  • smoking is light as the flavor will intensify during the pressure cooking
  • stage. The fish should also be further dried before canning.
  • Cold smoked: is known variously as Scotch, Irish, Norwegian or nova Scotian
  • smoked and is appreciated by gourmets more than any other method. The fish
  • are salted before smoking and is still raw although it is cured when
  • finished.
  • Lox: or Lachs [German] can mean many things- traditionally fresh fish
  • lightly salted and mildly smoke cured [therefore still needing
  • refrigeration and is perishable], recently frozen fish thawed, salt-sugar
  • cured and lightly smoked [Nova Lax] and even salt-sugar cured and unsmoked.
  • Hard smoked: jerky like and so dehydrated that it does not need
  • refrigeration; based on traditional Native Indian preparations of cutting
  • fillets into thin strips. These strips are partially dried by wind on sunny
  • days or by fan in a dehydrator or a force draft smoker and smoked for only
  • a portion of the drying time.
  • Pickle-smoked: fish are pickled before smoking. This is a good way to
  • enhance the taste of lean fish that do not otherwise smoke well.
  • Seelachs: or ersatz salmon are salted, sliced thin, then dyed and smoked
  • white fish.
  • The Smoking Process: When fish is smoked it is also dried which improves
  • the keeping qualities and improves the texture. Hot smoking also cooks the
  • fish. The steps are filleting, cutting, salting, curing, smoking and final
  • preservation.
  • Filleting exposes more flesh to salt and smoke and allows faster drying.
  • Whole fish unless small take a long unpredictable time to do. Small whole
  • fish benefit from having the skin slit to allow penetration. Large sides of
  • fish salt and smoke easier if the fillet is chunked into pieces according
  • to thickness. Individual pieces can then be salted, smoked and dried for
  • varying times according to the thickness of each piece. Thick pieces can be
  • used for lox and Scotch smoked that are later thinly sliced crosswise for
  • presentation and thin pieces hot or hard smoked, kippered, canned for
  • serving whole.
  • Salt: is necessary for flavor, releasing moisture from the fish thereby
  • drying ut and for modifying [firming up] the flesh so that it can be thin
  • sliced when serving. N.B. Use only PURE pickling salt not rock salt of
  • unknown purity or table salt that contains additives.
  • Curing: is the process of draining off the brine and partially drying the
  • fish. The flavor develops fully during this waiting time [ of up to 24
  • hours] before actually smoking.
  • Smoking: is generally done today in forced draft units to get a uniform
  • amount of smoke onto all the fish. Natural draft smokers are unpredictable,
  • variable and have no natural updraft in hot weather unless the smoker is
  • set over 85 deg which results in poor quality and cooked fish.
  • Final preservation is important because smoked fish, except for hard
  • smoked, is still perishable. We salt and smoke lightly for [mild] flavor
  • and not for preservation. Therefore refrigerate [up to three weeks max],
  • freeze or can promptly.
  • Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie
  • Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller
  • Posted to MM-Recipes Digest by "Rfm" on Sep 08, 98

 Directions



Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Smoking Salmon And Trout Part 04 - Scotch Smoking Prepara
Categories: Fish, Smoke, Info
Yield: 1 Text file


This method is first as it is the most well known and the best; it is also
the most complex.

Scotch smoking can be done to a whole side, that is a large skin-on fillet
or to several pieces cut according to thickness which is easier. Don't
brine a whole side as the thinner parts- the tail and belly get too much
salt. Dry salt instead- this allows you to place a specific amount of salt
on each part of the side according to its thickness. Let the developing
brine drain off. With pieces you can brine for varying times according to
thickness.

For dry salting use plain pickling salt not a mixture to condition the
flesh so it can be thinly sliced for serving. Other flavors can be added
after. When brining pieces sugar and spices can be added to the brine if
you want.

Dry salting whole sides: Cut thick [over 4"] fillets into two slices OR
inject brine into the thickest portion with a pumping needle. Injection
brine should be made up in the ratio of 1 1/4 c salt per quart water,
cooled to 60 deg F and injected before applying the dry salt. Score or cut
just through the skin into the fatty tissues beneath [slashes] in several
places with a sharp knife or a razor blade to promote salt penetration and
apply the salt. Rub salt into the scores, lay the fillet down on a 1/4" bed
of salt in a tray and place salt on the top of the fillet- from a 1/2" on
the thickest part to just a sprinkling on the tail. Slant the tray so that
the brine that develops flows away from the thin belly meat.

Fatty fish take longer to salt as they contain proportionately less water.
DRY SALT TIMES

:Fillet Thickness Fat Fish Lean Fish

: 3/4" 9 hrs 5 hrs
: 1" 12 hrs 7 hrs
: 1 1/4" 15 hrs 8.5 hrs
: 1 1/2" 18 hrs 10 hrs
: 2" 24 hrs 13 hrs
: 2 1/2" 30 hrs 17 hrs
: 3" 36 hrs 20 hrs

With experience you can tell by feel; a moderately fat fish will loose 10%
of its weight. When touched with a fore finger the flesh should feel firm
and spring back when pressed.

After salting you can use a special Scotch sugar-rum cure or a finishing
brine.

Scotch sugar-rum cure: rinse the dry salt off the side. Drain and cure it
in a cool place for 6 hours. Rub it with vegetable oil [olive or peanut
preferred] and let it stand another 6 hours in a cool place. Rub off the
oil with a rum soaked cloth. Cover the side with brown sugar just as you
did the dry salt and let it stand another 6 hours. Then wipe off the sugar,
coat it with oil again and let stand 6 hours. Wipe off the oil again with a
rum soaked cloth and proceed to smoke.

Finishing brine: If not using the scotch sugar-rum cure, use a finishing
brine to take away some of the hardness caused by the dry salt and finish
distributing the salt through the fish. Make finishing brine in the ratio
of 11 oz salt to 4 qt water and leave the side in the brine for 20 min for
a 3/4" fillet up to 90 min for a 2" thick fillet. Drain the side skin side
down making sure the brine can drain away so there are no salt deposits on
the fish. A salt gloss will form and the flesh will cure. Allow to cure
overnight 12 hours or even more.

 Share this Recipe

Recipes by Course

Recipes by Main Ingredient

Recipes by Cuisine

Recipes by Preparation

Recipes by Occasion

Recipes by Dietary

Sign Up and Create a Cookbook Today!

Please Sign in to your Account or Sign up if you are new user.

Who loves our Healthy Recipes?