Smoked Tullibees

[pikestabber]

My Grandpa always used to scale his, but we would do it right on the ice. Use a metal ice scoop (or a big metal spoon) and go to town on them. When they're scaled (less than 30 seconds) rinse the body in the hole and drop them into a bucket. No mess for at home. That said, that was an older method/belief, and I don't even know what the supposed benefit was? I don't scale any fish, suckers or tullibees, and they come out great. As for skinless fish, it's already been said, but clean, well-oiled racks are a must. Don't flip the fish until it firms up, but plan on flipping them all at least once. Keep a close eye on temp, and use a meat thermometer to pull them when they come to temp (to avoid them getting too dry/too rubbery). If you have the patience to babysit them this way, they are superior to fish smoked with the skin on, IMHO. They can easily go south if you don't pull them at the right temp, but having that nice golden crust on the whole fillet is a beautiful thing, and the entire fillet is of one consistency (versus softer spots near the skin and a dry top). No fat has a chance to render and leech into the fillet either which makes for a milder tasting fish.

[DrJuice1980]

Would you suggest mopping them with the brine to help keep moist?

[Alagnak]

I've never needed to mop fish. I use a water pan and have never had it come out dry but maybe it's the fish I use too which are all oily such as your tullies and rarely a white meat fish like pike that might dry out. If anything- with fish like wild salmon and some lakers there is so much fat I actually dab it off the top so the gross looking fat isn't just sitting up top.

Like Eyeguy- I do a glaze at the end like his maple. I use a little dish of honey/brown sugar and a little butter in the microwave and mix it up- then I brush it on towards the end. It looks nice AND gives me a sticky coating that my course ground pepper will stick to when I put that on right after the glaze.

[eyeguy 54]

brine down the drain for me as soon as the fish come out.

[DrJuice1980]

Got em in the brine. Went with the standard brown sugar and kosher salt, added a little garlic juice and black pepper. Off to the store for some grill buddies. I'll post up some pics of the finished product tomorrow. Going to have some plain and then I'm going to mix some with cream cheese for a cracker dip for the Super Bowl.

[DrJuice1980]

Turned out pretty good and I think I like the skin off option as the cooking time is significantly less and the amount of fatty oils made the picking apart much easier. Only one down side, less meat but it was only less of the fatty belly meat. Greased the heck out of the racks, sticking was not an issue. I took some pictures but just noticed the quality is junk, must have had some fog on the lens from being outside.

Cream cheese dip was awesome with some pita chips.

Anybody else got dogs that go nuts over smoked fish? I got a few beggars but when they smell that smoked fish they go insane.