Smoked Lake Trout

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Dumoine
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Smoked Lake Trout

Post by Dumoine » Mon Jun 17, 2013 06:20

I live close to Lake Michigan`s Grand Traverse Bay. The other night, my son came home with four nice looking lake trout that he and a buddy caught trolling on the bay.

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It was kind of late so I just filleted the fish and put them in the fridge and then went to bed. The next morning I made a brine. I put the fillets in a couple gallon size zip-lock bags and filled them with the brine. I placed the ziplocks in the fridge. Five hours later I then took the fillets out of the brine and rinsed them off. I placed the fish on wire racks set in sheet pans and put them back in the fridge to dry and form a pellicle overnight.
The next day I oiled the smoker racks and placed the fillets on the racks.

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I preheated the smoker to 100 degrees and added some apple chips and chunks. I smoked the fillets for about 2 hours until they reach the desired color.

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I then transferred the fillets to the oven and baked at 200 degrees until internal temperature reached 140 degrees and held them at that temperature for 30 minutes. Let them cool and put them in the fridge and eat chilled.

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Brine

2 cups apple juice
6 ounces of soy sauce
1/2 cup of kosher salt
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder (or 2 smashed garlic cloves)
1/2 tsp. of onion powder (or 1/2 onion, chopped)
1 tsp. of cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves

Place the apple juice in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Add the soy sauce, salt, brown sugar and seasonings and stir until dissolved. Add 6 cups of ice water. Fillets with a thickness of one half inch or less should brine for 4 hours. Fillets thicker than a half inch should brine for 6 hours.

Two things that make my smoked fish good is the brine I use and the wood I smoke with.
The brine seasons the fish and complements its flavor without over powering it with salt. I smoke with apple which gives me a nice smoky flavor without being too strong. Much better results than with hickory.
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Chuckwagon
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Post by Chuckwagon » Mon Jun 17, 2013 09:41

Beautiful job on the fish, Dumoine. I really like your smoker and racks. Can you tell us a bit about them?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by ssorllih » Mon Jun 17, 2013 13:40

This must go into the members recipe index! Those are fabulous.
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Post by sawhorseray » Mon Jun 17, 2013 17:59

Great looking batch of smoked trout and a very handsome smoking unit. Good on ya! RAY
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.”
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Dave Zac
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Post by Dave Zac » Tue Jun 18, 2013 13:34

The trout looks great. But, I need help from you guys that are smarter than me.

I did salmon the other day in an 80 degree brine. Roughly 2 lbs salt per gallon of water for only 1/2 hour and it was a bit salty.

This recipe looks like it would convert to 1 lbs salt per gallon of water, or a 40 degree brine. How is the time affected by brine strength. It seems as though the fish would still be salty after 5 hours. No?
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Post by ssorllih » Tue Jun 18, 2013 18:38

dave I come up with about 250 grams of salt per gallon or about a half pound of salt counting the little that is in the soy sauce. Also we should add a bit of cure #1 to the brine.
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Dumoine
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Post by Dumoine » Tue Jun 18, 2013 19:25

The brine I use is about 34 degrees according to my calculations. 3/4 cup of Morton Kosher Salt = 186 Grams which is 0.41 pounds per 8 cups or 0.82 pounds per gallon. This calculation does not include the salt that is in the soy sauce. A 30 degree brine according to this web site is suitable for fish. I have used this brine to smoke salmon as well as lake trout and the salmon came out just as good. The salmon I used came frozen and skinned from the grocery store. I brined it for four hours as the fillets were less than 1/2 inch thick and it came out very tasty. I do not like salty smoked fish. The local fishery here in town sells smoked fish and it is way to salty for me. I have had smoked fish from various fisheries in Ontario and have found them to be much lower in salt and much better tasting. My favorite place for smoked fish is Clarence's on highway 17 just east of Blind River, Ontario. They have been in business at that location for at least 50 years as I remember going there for their smoked whitefish as a kid. I tweaked my brine to get my fish to taste like theirs and I am satisfied with it. As for cure #1 in hot smoked fish, it is my understanding that the FDA does not require it. The local fishery in my area that has been in business for over 100 years does not use sodium nitrite in their brine. Their brine is salt, sugar and water.
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smoked fish brine

Post by ajwillsnet » Sun Sep 22, 2013 18:55

I see lots of brining recipes that don't call for the use of any prague powder for brining and smoking fish. Any thoughts?
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redzed
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Post by redzed » Sun Sep 22, 2013 19:48

That is a long standing debate among people who smoke fish. In fact, I believe most people who smoke salmon around here don't use nitrite. And most recipes don't include it. But there are risks and for that reason I personally use it. I give away a lot of my smoked salmon to family and friends and feel better having used it. I was critised heavily for using nitrite on the Polish forum as many there are "traditionalists".

Another reason that I like using nitrite is that I don't have to salt it as heavily and don't have to bake the heck out it in the smoker to prevent any growth of clostridium botulinum.

What kind of fish are you planning to smoke?

Check out these two articles
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-c ... 5909086481

http://www.foodsafety.wisc.edu/assets/p ... rcatch.pdf
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