Homemade Sausage Making

This is the recipe that I use for Lake Whitefish that I get from commercial fishermen.(I go out on the lake in winter with my pickup truck to get them right from the net or wait on shore in summer for him to dock.) They do not get any fresher.

6 large or 8 medium whitefish, dressed, scaled & split. Remove pin bones & belly fat. Rinse in mildly salted water to remove remainder of slime.

3 gallons filtered water
1 cup uniodized salt
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup demarara sugar
3 tbsp crushed garlic
3 tbsp onion granules
3 tbsp crushed dillweed(optional-personal tastes)
2 tbsp cracked juniper berries

Dissolve ingredients and pour into food safe plastic tub. Submerge fish in brine for 12 hrs, remove and rinse. Place on smoker racks skin side down to dry and form pellicle(about 1 1/2 hr). Put into smoker @ 150 deg for 1 hr, and 180 deg for 2 hours, longer if you like a smokier flavour. Alder, apple, maple, cherry, or pecan work well, singularly or in combination.

Play with the recipe, adding or removing and find a concoction that suits your particular palate!!!!

Goes good with beer, hockey & friends!!!!

What can't be smoked can't be eaten."
That may be true for you but I have never been able to eat my portion of smoked broccoli without passing out from the whiskey needed to joke it down.

Hey Uncle,
Thanks for sharing your brine and method. Our area does not have a great "Whitefish" population but we have walleye, and of course "Slough Sharks" or Northern Pike. I am going to try your procedure on some of those sharks. We favour all of the additions you suggest so as soon as the thaw comes, I will let you know how it turns out.

I was in Lac La Biche a few years ago, hunting geese but we found that the mosquitoes were actually larger and tastier. Do you perhaps have a recipe for smoked 'skeeter?

If you are doing walleye and/or "snot rockets", they are not as fatty as whites, so brush them with canola oil on the flesh side just prior to putting into the smoker so that they do not dry out, unless you like fish jerky. Alternatively, you may only want to leave them in the brine for 8 hrs. I smoked some perch several years ago without brushing them, and rather enjoyed the drier flesh. It really went well with a cold Kokanee!!!

I never thought of it before, but I might have to try smoking some 'skeeter!!! Funny how they sit on the powerline fighting for position with our ravens.

Hey Buckster,

Your advice is once again, well taken. I have experienced the walleye jerky, (they're much like perch for fat) although not as tasty. I personally don't use canola oil after I saw my brother in law's tractor run on it, seriously. Apparently it was originally produced as an alternate fuel then converted to human use due to the the low price of diesel back in the day. There is a wealth of info on Google in fact here is a link that may make you think; poetic huh!

http://www.present-truth.org/7-Health-S ... Canola.pdf

We need to collaborate on the preparation for 'skeeters though. Maybe a raven or two also.



Take care Uncle