Smoking Fish

[blumbergk]

Just netted some large mullet(2-3lbs each) from the canal out back. Gutted them and got tons of mullet roe. Fish and roe are in the frig until I figure out how to smoke them on the KK. Does anybody know how to smoke fish on the KK? Temps, time, setup etc...?

[Farmer John]

I think it was on the other K forum I read it but you need to brine them first, then you smoke them.. Try www.mortonsalt.com

[ThreeDJ16]

I tried it a long time ago, and from what I can remember Farmer John was spot on. You make up a brine and soak it, then you take it out and let it dry first (it forms some kind of glaze on the surface), then you smoke it low. I will go grab my book and see if I cannot find more info.

It was good, I am just a fried fish person - hehe.

-=Jasen=-

[ThreeDJ16]

Wow, lot more info that I remember - I refer to "HomeBook of Smoke Cooking - Meat, Fish & Game". But the basics above are close. There are lots of variation for different types of fish. Though they are mostly using very low cooking temps - 150 f. Oh yeah, that glaze I referred to on the previous post is called a pellicle. You can skip that drying step, but they caution white liquid will seep out of the fish while cooking and crust up, which is normally the material that pellicle.

So recap, pick a brine of your liking. Way shorter brine time that other meats. About 1 hour per inch of thickness. Rinse and dry under fan or refrigerator until pellicle forms. Now depending on whether you want a lot of smoke or a little smoke, cook at desired temp (150-200 for more, 200-225 for less). They also had numerous recipes starting at 85 f, but unless you are using a smoke generator, I doubt you gonna get that in a KK (well, ok, in the summertime - but no smoke - hehe).

I also saw a good bit of info on a Google search.

Be sure to get us some pics of the fish!

-=Jasen=-

[Porkchop]

smoke curing/cold smoking

hey; i don't do fish on the grill. not my thing.

howsome-ever, if you are wanting to cold-smoke (85 deg range) as opposed to smoke cook/bbq (150-200, whatever), you can get your KK down at those low temps with a little finagle-ing.

smoke generator? a smokey joe (heee), an electric hot plate, and some of that aluminum dryer duct, and you could get rolling. just put the hotplate in the smokey joe, throw a tin pie pan on top with lots o wood chips, cover and attach the dryer duct to the upper draft of the joe. connect the other end to the lower draft of the KK and open the KK upper draft all the way. you'll get smoke for sure, and there will be no heat in the KK.

now, I HAVEN'T TRIED THIS, but my suggestions are based on Alton Brown's show on smoking salmon in a cardboard box. should work. only thing i would imagine could cause trouble with the above setup would be getting a good enough draw to get the smoke into the KK, but it should work. i'd defo keep the all the drafts involved full open; the KK tends to retain moisture, which i don't think you want for cold smoking. the same setup should also work for jerky (you REALLY don't want moisture retention in that case!).

anyhow, a suggestion if you are looking to try cold smoking as opposed to smoke cooking. oh, also, if you do try the cold smoking, you are probably gonna want to use Morton's Tender Quick in the brine to kill off any microorganisms.

if you try this, lemme know if it works out!