smoking whitefish

[cat-man]

anyone have a good recipes, i have a charcol smoker but have never used but want to get started.

[1tofish]

I've had really good success using the High Mountain Fish Brine. Used my electric smoker with Alder chips.

Hope to catch some this winter....!

[cat-man]

anyone have any time and temp info.

[Kidd]

Here's the way I would do it.

Use enough water to cover the fish

Add 1 cup of salt and 1 cup white sugar. Stir until dissolved.

Let sit in refrigerator, covered, 4 - 6 hours (overnight works best for me)

Put in enough coals to last an hour or so, depending on the amount and size of the fish you may need to smoke longer.

Take fish out of the brine, rinse, pat dry and let sit until they reach room temperature.

Put wood directly on top of coals

Put on smoker, keep lid closed at least 1/2 hour.

Cook at, or around, 200 degrees.

For white fish, tullibe and ciscoes I use oak wood, as I like the heavier smoke flavor on these types of fish.

Ps. I’ve never used the brine 1tofish mentioned so it might be worth a shot to get some.

Good luck.

[straydog]

I did a batch at 190 deg for 3 hrs yesterday and the meat was done but they were pretty oily yet, I would have cooked them longer but I ran out of time which is a smoking no no, make sure you have plenty of time. For the brine I use enough salt to float an egg(1-2 cups per gal/water, cup brown sugar, a dash of pepper, garlic, and some lemon juce, and an overnight soak. White fish should be smoked sitting in the smoker like it is swimming so the oil can drip out. hope this helps, good luck.

[cat-man]

thanks for the info guy thats the stuff i was looking for. i'll give it a try.

[Juneau4]

The best recipe I have found

1 gallon of water

1 cup brown sugar

11/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. nutmeg

1tsp. thyme

11/2 cups pickling salt

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. marjorm

Stir all ingregedients together untill dissolved. Let cleaned fish soak overnight or as long as 24 hours. Sttir a time or two. Remove fish from brine, dry, and smoke.

Spray the grate with some veg. oil

I use a Brinkman smoker charcoal. Fill the pan and light. LET IT BURN Untill the lighter has burned off and the coals are white. Add the pan of water or the left over brine. Place the fish on the grates put 4 or 5 chunks of soaked or green pieces of apple wood on the grill. Place fillets on grill skin side down.

Let fish cook and smoke . The charcoal will last for about 3-4 hours. If you want a nice golden color on the fish after about 2 hours put some willow on the coals. Just a few 1/4 inch sticks 8 maybe about 6 inches long.

[Kidd]

Quote:

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White fish should be smoked sitting in the smoker like it is swimming so the oil can drip out.

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Straydog, I'm not a fan of oily fish either. What I do is open the smoker after a 1/2 hr or so and wipe the oil off with a paper towel.

[swamptiger]

I would just about die for some smoked whitefish right now... Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

But there aren't any lakes close by here where I can get them anymore - I used to get some out of Red Lake, but they had a big die-off a few years back. I can get tullibees, but I don't like them nearly as well as the whitefish.

Straydog - is there a lake in the Spring Lake area where I can get some?? (I'm from up by Northome.)

[straydog]

Quote:

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Straydog - is there a lake in the Spring Lake area where I can get some??

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Some of the more popular spots are turtle, and jesse, I think bowstring has them too.

[swamptiger]

Thanks - my wife was in the cities this weekend and she was kind enough to stop at Morey's and get some of their smoked whitefish for me, but it gets pretty spendy if you have to buy it...

Will have to get down there and give it a try sometime this winter - thanks again.

[loadmaster]

Swamptiger, care to share where you are getting the tullies. This is the only time I can get the wife out to ice fish when the tullies are biting>>>later the load

[swamptiger]

I don't target tullies - usually get them incidentally when fishing for walleyes. I know Winnie has a good tullibee population, so that might be a good bet.

[swamptiger]

You need to be careful on Winnie, though, sometimes ice conditions aren't good - get advice on the Winnie forum beforehand.

[stick]

Can someone clarify their enjoyment of the tulibees versus the whitefish. Up until last year, I thought they were the same thing. I bet most peopole use both names interchangeably as well. I do see some on this thread understand them to be different. I don't believe I have ever caught a real whitefish and they have all been tulibees. I have thrown MANY tulls back because they stink so much live, I figured they'd be lousy to eat (even smoked). Can any correct me if I'm wrong? Let me know what you think. I'd love to smoke up a bunch this winter if it's worth the effort.

[crawdad]

Different fish for sure. Taste? Both in my opinion are excellent. Whitefish will get bigger though. The whitefish have a sucker type bottom feeding mouth. The tulibees have a forward mouth like most fish. Thats about the only difference you'll notice when they're close to the same size. Actually ciscoes & tullibees would be more closely interchangeable. (From DNR HSOforum)

Tullies are certailnly worth brining/smoking and I bet it would be tough to compare done up the same side-by-side. LOTW has a good population if you can target them. All I have smoked have come from there. Typically deep lakes with good O2 levels have them, walleyes and northerns love em.

[stick]

I will certainly keep some and give it a whirl this winter. You've convinced me for sure. Thanks!!

[swamptiger]

Whitefish have a firm white flesh - tullies are darker and mushy. Stop at Moreys some time and buy one of each - you will see and taste the difference.

[stick]

Good tip. I can't place Moreys. Can you point me in the right direction on what/where Moreys is? Much appreciated.

[stick]

Scratch that...I searched for them on the web and found the answer to my question. I will do that for sure. Sounds like a fun (and tasty) experiment.

[crawdad]

I guess I never noticed the dark and mushy. The folks I shared tullies with sure enjoyed them too. Mine turned out white flaky, just enough grease. Honestly I haven't had whitefish for a long while, but if you can get em the tullies I've smoked up sure come close. Course I like smoked suckers, so there ya go. I guess everyone's taste is different. I'll have to look into Morey's. Can't beat Everett's smoked fish either, but it is all spendy.

[swamptiger]

There's probably also some difference in which lake they come out of. Smoked tullies are usually sold as ciscos and usally run quite a bit smaller in size also.