Smoked Fish To Die For

Here’s a recipe to jot down that will win contests. The ingredients sound unusual, but the results will amaze you. Works well on any of the trout/salmon, white bass, cisco or whitefish. Got this brine recipe from a guy out in MT 22 years ago and it rivals the best commercial smokehouse flavors.

• 2 quarts cold water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup apple juice
• ½ cup non-iodized salt
• 1 cup soy sauce
• ¾ tsp fresh black pepper
• ¼ tsp onion salt
• 1 tsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
• 4-5 heavy glurps of Tabasco sauce

1. Brine fish for 4-6 hours (thin chunks or average fillets) or 10-12 hours for whole fish.
2. Remove the fish from the brine and place on your smoking racks with air circulating around them at a cool temp. You want the fish to glaze over if at all possible.
Suggest smoking with alder wood (preferred) or a sweet apple wood of known quantity (no bark…ever). Do not over-smoke.

Very similar to my brine but I finish it off by brushing the fish with a brown sugar, maple syrup and sirachi sauce paste about 15 – 20 minutes before the fish is done. It puts a nice glaze on the fish.

For you fisherman with Tulibee os Ciscoe, this recipe works great with all oily fish.

I am a fan of unsweetened pineapple juice in a similar recipe. I would like to try your recipe.

@grpubl7 Welcome Blast from the Past! Where ya been?

Bad winter Denny O….back is giving me fits and ice conditions in Central WI have been real sketchy. I have had to walk out 7/10 to 9/10 of a mile and must stop every 100yds to sit on my fold up chair. Fish haven’t been real cooperative either.

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What temp do you run your smoker?

225F for everything

I dont have any fish to smoke so I decided to smoke cheese today since we have perfect temps for that.

Ballpark how long do u usually smoke the fis for.

pass0047 wrote:

Ballpark how long do u usually smoke the fis for.

Same? Trying your recipe this week with small trout. Whole body.
Go until flakey? Is there an optimal internal temp? Thanks.

i dont use this recipe as i have one that’s awesome with no desire to try anything else.

from start to finish i usually take about 1 1/2 hours. start my temp setting at 210, when it hits 190 i set it for that. i find the key temp to pull fish is at 145-150 degrees in the thickest part of the fish. a digital thermometer works great.

i gave some of my smoked fish to iowaboy and EPG at the last G-T-G…… maybe they’ll pipe in on how they liked it!!!!!

Perfect. One last question. Do you rinse the fish after removing from brine? I know to dry them prior to smoking to form a pellicle however that may not be as important since I’m using whole fish with no exposed meat? I guess that’s two questions. Lol

nope……dont rinse them either. straight from the brine onto the smoker racks!!!! i dont dry them either. just how brother and i do ours!1

doing whole fish, i’d suggest using something like a popsicle stick broke to size to open the cavity up.

good luck!!!!

Here’s the brine recipe I use. Hope it’s readable.

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Glenn, do you have a proven recipe to make fish spread? Im sure a salmon recipe would work perfect. My quantity will need to be shifted down though.

Maybe Glenn has an actual recipe, but I’ve usually winged making fish spread loosely around homemade tartar sauce. Amp up the acid with lemon juice, pickles and/or capers. Fresh dill is nice. You’d obviously need less mayo (definitely not that Satanic Miracle Whip stuff that Glenn uses) for oily fish. I’ve been known to mix hot sauce or sriracha with lime juice and canned sardines to top crackers with.

I found one online that will give me a good starting point.

suzuki wrote:

Glenn, do you have a proven recipe to make fish spread? Im sure a salmon recipe would work perfect. My quantity will need to be shifted down though.

no i dont. i dont ever even recall making a fish spread……it doesnt usually last long enough around mt house to get to that point!!

Yooper Smoked Fish Dip Recipe (this is what I do with all my smoked whitefish)
1/2-3/4 lbs shredded smoked whitefish (any smoked fish will work)
8 oz Cream Chesse softened
2 tsp Lmeon Juice
1/4 tsp Garlic Pepper Seasoning
2 Tbsp. Finely chopped sweet onions (regular white onion works too, if you like a little stronger onion flavor)
1 Tbsp. Horseradish
3 Tbsp. Sour Cream
2 Tbsp. Mayo

I’ve made this a bunch, and it’s about as good as it gets imo!

Thanks. I have enough that I can experiment a little. This is most of them.
Im making a small test batch today to see where this goes. I’m optimistic it will turn out then I can do the bulk of them later this week. My friends gave me all their fish to smoke so it better turn out!
Worst case scenario they get a big tub of fish spread….

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picklerick wrote:

Maybe Glenn has an actual recipe, but I’ve usually winged making fish spread loosely around homemade tartar sauce. Amp up the acid with lemon juice, pickles and/or capers. Fresh dill is nice. You’d obviously need less mayo (definitely not that Satanic Miracle Whip stuff that Glenn uses) for oily fish. I’ve been known to mix hot sauce or sriracha with lime juice and canned sardines to top crackers with.

Yep I do use the good stuff. Nor that recycled motor oil you use!!

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^^^^^^^^

Thanks again for the awesome brine and other advice here.(temps) My test run was a success. Doing the big batch today. Only issue is size. 7-9 inch trout are exceptionally difficult to eat because of the small bones. But they taste incredible. And the texture is right where it should be.

glad it turned out. yea i’ve smoked trout before….there tasty but a PITA!!!!

Any reason this recipe wouldn’t work on beef? I need to turn some old meat into jerky.

Have only used my brine on fish.