# First Time Smoking Trout -- Turned Out Great!



## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

I posted above, in countryside families, about scoring some fresh trout. I'm moving here, since this is really the most appropriate forum for it. 

To recap, we have a large ranch/private compound up the road. It's for sale, and the owners are shutting it down -- turning off the power, winterizing everything, and closing up until someone buys it. The ranch has a huge pond stocked with rainbow trout, some of them enormous. They invited the locals up to fish some of the trout out, as the trout will die in a month or so when the aerator is turned off and they stop feeding. 

In a 45 minute period, I landed 14 big trout in the 1 1/2 to 3 pound range, many just loaded with roe and really fat. And boy are they tasty -- the pond they're in is spring fed and ice cold. 

I blanched and skinned a a few for poaching in foil with lemon slices and dill later, but decided to smoke most of them. I soaked them whole, overnight, in a bucket of salt and brown sugar -- nothing else, I kept it simple since this was the first time I'd ever made trout. I followed the old time method of adding enough salt to float an egg in the water to calculate salt density, then added all the brown sugar I had, which was about 2 pounds. Probably a gallon and a half of water.

In the morning, I discovered our smoker was not working right -- something was wrong with the burner controls. Also, it wasn't big enough for all the trout I'd brined. 

But wait! Where there's a will, there's a way.

First, I dried the fish on my BBQ grill on a VERY low setting with one burner going and with the lid propped open a few inches and the doors underneath open, to get a nice carmelized coating on the skin (I think it's called a pellicle from what I read last night). It was 30 degrees when I started the grill around 7 AM, with dead calm air, so the fish wasn't going to dry on its own. 

(Also, the bucket o' fish and brine wouldn't fit in the fridge last night. This briefly stymied me until I remembered I no longer live in the desert and nature's refrigerator was right outside. The bucket of fish spent the night on the back porch. There was more than enough salt in the brine that there was no chance of it freezing.)

Since the smoker was too small and not an option, I considered slapping one together with scrap wood, but then I came up with this ...

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What you're seeing is my BBQ grill kludged to make a smoker. 

I've got a pan of mixed apple and maple chips in a cast iron pan on the side burner. (Apple and maple were what we had on hand.)

I used tinfoil to funnel the smoke into a heavy iron pipe, and then more tin foil to stop the smoke from pouring out the front of the grill. 

I had one burner (on the far right) turned on low to provide just enough heat to smoke the fish without burning them. I had to watch it pretty close and fiddle with the temperature and the position of the fish but it worked well enough. 

I put the small fish on the top grate and the bigger fish on the smaller grate, then as the small fish finished, I moved the bigger fish to the top. It worked REALLY well, and I'd love to do this again -- though my Dad and I are talking about making a proper smoke house that would be a bit less labor intensive. 

See next post ...


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Here's the fish on the grill. You can see the bit of fence pipe I used to direct the smoke into the BBQ grill. 

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I was really pleased with how well they turned out. In fact, I went and got three of the blanched and skinned trout that I'd set aside for my lemon/dill poached trout dish, marinated them for an hour, and then cooked them too. Despite the lack of skin, they turned out fantastic, and I ate about a pound of trout for dinner, LOL!

I also mixed the meat from two of the smaller (and therefore saltier/smokier) trout with a big brick of cream cheese and I made fish dip. That was lunch, served on crackers. It tasted quite a bit like lox and cream cheese, only with a more delicate flavor.

I called the ranch's caretakers and gave them two of the bigger fish back as a thank-you for letting us fish there. 

I'm really, really, happy with how this turned out and I think I'll be smoking more meat. I do want to make a proper smoke house, but that should be pretty easy. I also need to source a better (less expensive) source of wood than the gallon bags of wood chips that you can get at the grocery store -- the only local wood we have is oak, which I suppose we could use, but it's not at the top of my list. I'm going to try manzanita, which I know for a fact is non-toxic (and in fact is used for bird perches and in aquariums), and it's closely related to apple, so I'll see how that turns out. If that works, I'll have an unlimited supply of wood for smoking. No shortage of manzanita up here. 

Otherwise, it'll be either oak or I'll have to buy wood. 

But wow I had fun today.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make caviar from the roe.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

One more photo -- these aren't all the fish I'd caught (some were already cleaned and in the brine) but here's a photo of some of those pretty rainbows in the sink. 

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I know by the standards of some parts of the country that these are not very big, but around here, they're quite large. Most of the fish I catch out of the creeks in this area are about half a pound, 8 inches, and skinny. Basically, the state stocks the trout streams with tiny fish and fisherman follow right after the fish trucks with their poles ready ... I doubt most of the fish last a week after being stocked. 

The state limit in public waters is 6 fish, so you have to catch your limit to make a meal. 

Of course, there's no limit in a private pond. And these were some well fed fish. *grin* When I was done smoking and I turned the grill to high to clean it, the fat that had dripped off the fish ignited and I had a fireball coming from my grill for several minutes! 

(Arizona DOES have very good fishing for catfish, bass, walleye, and crappie, and hit-or-miss fishing in some of the high country lakes for trout, but the trout fishing in the creeks is pretty much all stocked fish.)


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

you need to split them in half length wise and they will smoke better

plus take brine better in the thick top section.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

p.s.keep catching,brining and smoking


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Now, you can can it if you wish too. To make it clear lot's of us can our smoked fish--not all of it but sum so that it does not all become like jerky over time. Jerky is great for teething kids. and the skin is some times smoked separate for animals treats--oh and treat the birds to the bones from the fish--------if they are split and filleted I just toss them to the chickens along with the guts and roe.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Thanks.

These actually turned out just fine smoked whole. Very tasty and a smoky flavor throughout, and just right on the moisture level -- not too wet, not too dry. The sideburner was putting out a lot of smoke, and I brined them for a long time. *shrug* I smoked 'em whole because I intended to freeze some of them and I figured they'd freeze better that way. 

I've done a bit of reading and it seems manzanita is considered a very good wood for smoking. There's no shortage of it here in Arizona. I'm thinking of doing either cornish game hens or a turkey next using manzanita.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Kasilofhome, I will probably can the next batch. My folks are still wary of home canning and I live with them, however, so I'm not sure if they would be eaten canned. (I'm all for it -- I never seem to get all the teeny tiny bones in trout out and pressure canning the trout ought to eliminate those.)

I made half a pint of caviar from the roe. Getting the eggs off the membranes was a pain in the neck, and I'm not sure I'd do it again as I'm the only one who likes fish eggs around here. However, it turned out good, if a bit salty. I had some on crackers with smoked trout cream cheese spread and a slice of brie on each cracker. Made a nice lunch. 

The roe was a very pale golden yellow. Most pictures of trout roe showed it as being orange with pink dots in it. I'm not sure what caused that, but it tasted fine. It was quite attractive, however -- it looked great atop brie.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Ok==can in 4 or 8 oz jars--Mix with cream cheese and green ionion and you Have people wanting more--add what you like--


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Well, my neighbors, who caught a couple dozen fish, cleaned and frozen them but then decided they didn't want all of them. They've offered them to us in exchange for a few smoked trout back in exchange.

Works for me ...  We're having a big neighborhood Christmas party in two weeks, so I think I'll be putting out a few platters of smoked trout. 

(And I like smoked trout mixed with cream cheese and a little dill, on crackers or on a bagel.)


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Well---Now, your spread will be very Alaskan as it is not a potluck without a table for invented uses for smoked fish.

There are the spreads

and smoked fish in mac and cheese.
smoked fish in alfredo -over pasta
smoked fish sandwich spreads

A little bit is needed which is why I mentioned using smaller jars.

Oh --and since everyone here does it --and each one uses different brines --OJ and soy to Jalapina and brown sugar--Honey I firmly believe that in some cases a person is just clearning out old spices and what not and that is how a recipe started--I have heard some weird combos. Thus up here one is sure to be gifted with at least one jar of "the best smoked fish in the world" I am sure I have a shelf ready as the season of smoked fish is beginning. Oh did you know I hate fish. I can't say it out loud here as I am sure it would mean I would lose my Ak drivers lic.


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