Anyone ever smoke crappie's

[otterman91105]

Just wondering if anyone has a good brine recipe that they would share for smoking crappies. I've heard they turn out good and would like to try it. What temp and how long? Thanks.

[LABS4ME]

Did it quite often back in the Red Lake crappie days. Used High Mountains brine a couple times and I have a brown sugar brine recipe at homes. After you take fillets out of the brine, rinse under cool water pat dry with paper towel and let air dry on counter till the meat is shiney... 30-45 minutes.

Make sure you leave the skin on... flesh side up in smoker... smoked just until the fillet showed some seperation. Then glazed with a 1/3 c honey, 1/3 c apple juice, 1/3 c brown sugar mixture. Boil on stove for a few minutes until sugar is disolved... brush on fillets for last 30 minutes of smoke... mmm mmm

Good Luck!

Ken

[Gordie]

Thats how I do pike Ken and now I tink I gotta fire up the smoker again

[KEN W]

This is the brine I use.....

3 C water

2 Tbs salt

1/2 C Brown Sugar

1 tsp Worschester

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Put the fish in the brine for 4 hours.Longer for thicker fillets.

Smoke skin side down until done to your liking.

Fish are a deep dark brown when finished.

[otterman91105]

How does the fish come out? I'll have to try it and see if it's something i like. Thanks.

[3pronghook]

buddy of mine gave me 1/2 dozen crappies he smoked last week and they were really good. he smoked a bigger 6 lb walleye and that too was very good. smoked northern also tasty.

[KEN W]

Turns out very good.At least my family really likes them this way.Especially when I grind them up and make a smoked fish spread.

[reinhard1]

being raised up north all i ever thought about was smoked trout, salmon and smelt. this opens up more exciting ways to utilize the fish i catch. good luck.

[grizrunner]

Growing up we smoked anything.

Buddy's old man had a brine recipe that was fantastic. We even speared and smoked carp. Usually 8-10#ers. They were great fare that went hand in hand with a frosty Grain Belt. Big crappies(13-14"ers) did good, but smaller ones and bluegills were a little trickier.

[otterman91105]

Smoked fish spread sounds really good, maybe that's something to try. Along with just the smoked fish.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I have done smoked crappie as well, turned out very good.. I sprayed mine with a mixture of goodies to keep it moist during the smoking process..

[Fish On]

i smoke sunfish and crappies alot but dont fillet them no need to scale em just chop the head and gut em stays alot more moist in my opinion brine em overnight in your basic salt brown sugar and water brine

[Dark Cloud]

Smoked fish spread sounds really good, maybe that's something to try. Along with just the smoked fish.

I typically make spread out of my smoked fish...

softened cream cheese

some diced up dill pickles

a bit of lemon juice

some cajun seasoning

flaked smoked fish

Some salt unless the fish is salty

I try not to stir it too much, prefer it a bit chunky.

[otterman91105]

Sounds like a good spread. I smoked four crappie's yesterday turn out good. I think i'm going to try to make a spread.

[Unkleduke]

I've recently started my smoking career and did my first batch of fish the other day. I did a bunch of crappies and sunfish. I used a very simple brine of 10 cups water and 1 cup Kosher salt. I soaked the fish for about 12 hours, but 6 or 8 would have been plenty I think. I smoked them at a few degrees above 200' for about 3 hours...some of the thicker crappies I left in a little longer than 4 hours, just to be sure. I used Alder wood chips. They turned out absolutely the way I had hoped they would, and have been a big hit with everyone who's tried them. It was almost too easy, and a great way to spend an afternoon. Just make sure you have plenty of beer on hand before you start the fire.

[otterman91105]

Yea they are pretty easy and not much to clean up when your done. I have only done one batch so far hopefully get to another one soon.