A while back we had a few nice days where I could do some smoking and I did up some lake trout and coho and king salmon fillets. Yesterday I took out a lake trout chunk and let it thaw slow in the fridge. I just dug it out and tried a piece and its absolute heaven .
Simple recipe. Equal parts of Morton Tenderqwik and brown sugar mixed well. Rub into the flesh side of any fish fillets and place in a plastic cake pan larger enough that the fillets can lay flat. You can layer the fillets but I like to switch mine around after 8 hours or so in the fridge curing so the last half of the curing isn’t on the fillets that started on the bottom. Rinse off the cure and pat the fillets dry on paper towel. Smoke any way you like and when the smoking ceases, allow the fillets to cool naturally on the racks until they are cool.
I vacuum seal my fillets and freeze them. They come out of the freezer and are set in the fridge so the thawing is slow and doesn’t let the meat sweat. This allows the fish to stay firm, not the least bit mushy.
Man is this good eating.
