Cold smoking, the easy way.

Hi every one.
This a follow on from the last day I was out at the Pollack and wrasse.
Since the Pollack where a nice size for smoking I decided to keep them. As there is no point going to all the bother for 1 or 2 fish I like to do a full load at a time. Which is about twelve 2.5lb Pollack. A handy size and they don't need a heap of smoking. About 4hrs is enough to smoke fish this size as there fillets are not very thick.

Here they are just a nice size along with a few smaller ones.

 

 Here's the brine mix, Tasty looking isn't it lol.

My mix is

250g of salt,

100g of sugar,

 half a teaspoon of garlic granules,

3 teaspoons of turmeric purely for colour.

1/2 of a tea spoon of Chinese 5 spice.

 You can put what ever else you like in that's just what I use. 

Put it all in together and top it up with boiling water to get it all mixed together.

Then go and fillet your fish while it cools.

 

All filleted, skinned and deboned. Its ready for the cooled brine mix.

 

I add the mix into a deep tub and add a further 2 pints of water, then add the fish.

Here they are added to the mix, as you can see they float in the mix from all the salt in it.

 

After 2hrs in the mix the are ready, but no for the smoker yet. They need a heavy washing to remove the salt. Then dry each fillet and place on the racks. As you can see when they are brined enough they become almost transparent.

 

Then I leave them on the racks in the breeze to further dry the fillets. They should feel sticky to the touch when they are ready to go in to the smoker.

Here are mine rapped in fine mesh to keep any insects away until they are ready.

So now its into the smoker after about 1hr drying.

 

Here they are in the smoker, that's the cold smoke generator in the middle left of the pic. I have been using whiskey cask oak. Very nice stuff.

 

Here they are, not like the stuff in the shop. Real smoked fish isn't luminous orange lol.

Most of the colour you see here is from the turmeric. 

The fish should be dry and not at all wet.

So have a go yourself it's not that hard and if it's done wright it can be excellent. Ideal for fish pies and chowder.

Most fish can be done like this but for kippers and smoked mackerel I brush them with a very light brown sugar wash which is surprisingly very nice, but doesn't taste sweet when cooked.

 

Thanks again for reading and until the next time tight lines.