Smoking Fish

[pushbutton]

just bought a smoker and took a few runs at crappies, now i have some suckers and soon to be catfish brining. would appreciate a quick rundown on the smoking process for these larger cuts of meat. any differences between the two? temps? times? fish are all about 2 to 2 1/2lbs. thanx!

[loosegoose]

Brine larger pieces longer, keep the temp the same and maybe put the smoke to it a little longer. And of course keep the heat to it longer.

[Big Dave2]

just bought a smoker and took a few runs at crappies, now i have some suckers and soon to be catfish brining. would appreciate a quick rundown on the smoking process for these larger cuts of meat. any differences between the two? temps? times? fish are all about 2 to 2 1/2lbs. thanx!

I don't go by time, I go by internal meat temperature.

[pushbutton]

so what would that temp be?

[Redlantern]

140 degrees is what I use.

[Agent Andy]

I have a batch of suckers in the smoker as we speak. Remember that suckers and other bottom feeders can have bacteria in them.You need to raise the temp to kill it, or you can freeze the fish first. I prefer to freeze them and then cool smoke them (115 to 120 degrees) as this doesn't dry the fish out. Try adding some cut up onions to the brine. This year I am going to can the smoked suckers, heard that it is really good.

[kingr]

I'm going to smoke some trout tomorrow and was just wondering if I should fillet them or leave them whole. Is there any difference besides the amount of time it's going to take?

[Redlantern]

kingr, I just smoked some one pound rainbows the other day. I did them whole, sans guts and gills. I think next time I'll try filleting them. Unlike when I panfry them, the bones don't come out in one neat skeleton. The ribs seperated from the spine and left me to get them out of the meat. I figure by filleting them and removing them prior to smoking I can eliminate this problem.

Also, they should take about half the time to smoke.

[DonBo]

I always fillet them.

[kingr]

Well, Just degilled, gutted and cut the heads off because I was afraid of drying them out. They took 6-1/2 hrs at 200 but they turned out great. I used apple chunks and a brine that Gissert posted on a different page. They turned out great. Here's the brine he posted:

2 cups of water

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup sea salt

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

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[Lip RIPPER!]

Here is what I use on walleyes

6 cups of water

2/3 cup of pickling salt

1/3 cup of brown sugar.

soak for 2 hrs and then hit the smoker for 3hrs at about 200 degrees. If you like it sweeter, you can sprinkle brown sugar on them after then have been in the smoker for a bit. Simple recipe and it works for me.