Brookies - Pics and need smoker recipe

[iliketrout]

Mustard73 and I went to a favorite brookie lake and hooked into a few nice ones. Take a look:

http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae107/iliketrout/photo.jpg

Does anyone have any good smoker recipes? They are all destined to be smoked!

Thanks!

[calgarygringo]

Send Slingshotz a pm. I just got an email from him an hour ago and said he was going to smoke some of the ones we caught yesterday. He does a lot of different fish different ways.

[flygirrl]

They are all destined to be smoked!

Place tail of Brookie in mouth, holding body of said Brookie strike match and light, enjoy........insert smilie :) here because it wont let me.....:( Ha like majic they appeared


Sorry I couldnt help it. Glad to see your day turned out well...Next time your at that favorite lake let me know, I may join you ( if its lake x Im thinking of.....)

[WayneChristie]

Beautiful fish guys, another great day on the ice!

[buckfever]

Mr. iliketrout...y is your display pic a pike if you love trout does mrs trout know about this?

nice lookin trout you got there

[brohymn2]

much nicer than the ones i caught

[goober]

Looks good!!!

[slingshotz]

What perfect timing for a post! Here's the ones I did today, and even though the meat from the female looked quite different from the male, we did not notice any difference in taste or texture.

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv137/limes8888/SmokedBrookies.jpg

I don't do really complicated recipes for smoked fish as I like the natural fish flavor not to be overpowered. The one I used is:

1 cup of water
1 cup of ice
1/2 cup of pickling or sea salt (do not use regular salt with iodine)
1/2 cup of brown sugar (or maple syrup for a richer flavor)
couple bay leaves
couple whole peppercorns

I usually use a cup of really hot water to dissolve all the salt and suger as best as possible. Then mix in the ice to chill the water. Or alternatively if it's -30 outside then two cups of hot water and set outside to get really cold.

I always smoke whole fish with scales, skin and bones as I find that it keeps the meat really moist, juicy, and prevents any dryness from overcooking. Keeping the scales and skin on the fish acts like a salt crust, the skin and scales comes off usually in one piece really easy after the fish is cooked.

Soak fish in brine at least 8-12 hours. After brining, wash fish off with cold water (it should be very slimy at first) as much as possible. Put on rack that can drain with good airflow around fish. Put back in fridge for 6-8 hours or so to dry out, the skin should should be sticky to the touch, this is called the pellicle which is very important for smoking. Depending on the airflow in the fridge the drying out time will vary. Put fish in smoker as per your smoker guidelines. Put fish in mouth!

I use the same recipe for whitefish but increase the ratios. Typically the brine ratio is 1:4 salt and sugar to water.

[gergarin]

5 gallon pale of water. Add salt until it will float a potato. 1/2 cup of brown sugar. 2 slice onion, 3 cloves of garlic. Place in pale for 8 hour.Pat dry whith paper towel. Place in smoker with alder chips. Smoke for 6 hours.

Call me when there done and I will bring the beer..Be a shame to have to eat them alone LOL

[aulrich]

Here is how I did my first batch of whitefish
Dry cure 1 to 1 brown sugar to kosher salt (regular salt just coarser and no iodine) dry cure is supposed to be slower so eaiser to control saltyness.

3 lbs of fish whole but scaled to 2 cups of the cure

- put a layer of cure down in a dish
-coated fish in cure
-stacked them back down in dish
-put leftover cure over top

Note a litte too salty so next bactch I will skip the layer and the leftover over top.

Hung them from eye sockets (bad move lost 3 to broken sockets skewer through back next time)

In the smoker for 10 hours, 2 pans of chips.

Result
Backs a bit too moist but close, tails too dry, ribs darn near petrified.

A bit salty, but in general tasted good the boys ate it down like candy.


Next batch

cut cure down by at least 1/4, no bottom layer , none in the body cavity, and no sprinkles of left over cure.

I may add garlic and onion powder to the rub

I hoping the reduction in the cure may help mosture balance, if it does not in the following batch I will likely cut he backs to help them dry out faster.

Smoked whitefish will likely become a new Christmas tradition around our house catch'em at fist ice and eat them all December.

[iliketrout]

Thanks everyone for the tips.

Slingshotz/Gringo - I wonder if we went to the same Lake X...I will post some pics of the finished results when I get them done.

Flygrrl - Most likely heading back there this weekend...I'll send you a PM if we do plan on going.

Wayne - Sorry...these guys may be a little big for pike bait LOL. Although I have seen you use bait that could feed a small family so who knows.

Buck Fever - I'm an "equal-opportunity" angler LOL. I caught that Pike at Wab before they shut down the power plant and it's my personal best so I guess I need to catch a 17lb bow or bull!