Freezing smoked fish

[MJ1657]

I am bringing some fish in to be smoked today. Does it work ok to freeze smoked fish? My thought is that they may get mushy when they are thawed out.

[hockeybc69]

I make up to 10 lbs of smoked salmon at a time, vacuum seal and freeze most of it.

NEVER been a problem with it getting mushy. I would say when thawed you wouldnt have a clue it was smoked months prior.

[reinhard1]

i think it depends on how it is stored in the freezer. the fish i have smoked myself was eaten in short order. actualy just smoked what i needed at the time. i have a small smoker just for that, which i use for small amounts. the smoked fish you buy in the grocery store are usualy vacume sealed with a code date or just have a plastic wrap [whole whitefish for example] with a shorter code date or sold in a counter is some markets. i have seen certain brands of smoked fish come to us frozen and vacume sealed [when i was working] and i sampled it after it thawed and found it to be tasty and moist. the plain vacume sealed brands tended to be drier. so if i do smoke more fish than i need at one time i will vacume seal them and freeze them and i'm sure they will be fine. however there is nothing like smoked fish right out of the smoker after they cool down. i would not freeze the smoked fish as long as fresh meat for example. i'm sure they wont be in the freezer long anyway, right? good luck.

[NoWiser]

If you vacuum seal them and freeze them, they will be fine. We just found a lake trout fillet in the bottom of our freezer last week and took it up perch fishing with us to eat on Friday. It tasted like it was just out of the smoker, and it had been frozen for well over a year. We smoke big batches of fish and vacuum seal them all, and have never had one go bad.

[reinhard1]

i think you are righ on there. vacume sealed frozen smoked fish are tasty and moist. the vacume sealed refrigerated kind sold in stores are not as moist and some even dry. good luck.

[pushbutton]

guidelines state you should eat the refrigerated smoked fish within 2 weeks and frozen within 3 months.....although i have also gone a lot longer than that and none worse for the wear......i think