Food smoking

[OldMcDonald]

Yet another request for your advice folks.

We are having problems getting good quality smoked salmon. Not easy even to get mediocre stuff at a reasonable price sometimes. Fresh salmon is easy to get and a lot cheaper.

I have a small smoket set-up - lidded pan and rack inside that I want to try experimenting with. The smoke generating fuel will be put in the base of the pan and the rack be mainly covered in tin foil with the fish on that. The smoke can then circulate freely but come around the sides rather than directly up to the fish. I have seen issues with the smoke generating fuel being carried up on to the base of the food and want to avoid that.

I have lots of the usual trees to smoke - oak, alder, various fruit trees etc.........and am currently harvesting almonds. Has anybody used almond shells as the smoke generating fuel?

 

[3Ts]

If you use almonds, be sure they are the "sweet" and not the "bitter". The bitter almonds have cyanide in them, the sweet only has a trace amount.

Almond - Wikipedia

I've never tried smoking fish or cheese, just beef, pork, and still experimenting with chicken and turkey, so I'm not much help on that.

 

[Damifino]

I have always used alder wood for smoking mullet, with excellent results.

 

[Jim Nelson]

I just smoked a bunch of salmon for us and neighbor 2 weeks ago. I use a Big Green Egg but used to have a Char Broil sidexside that did a good job too. Years ago I used an old Weber kettle. The system I have settled on is to get a 2 lb coffee can and save the plastic lid but cut both ends off then fill it with small oieces of used lump charcoal interspersed with small chunks of a mixture of apple and hickory dried wood. The Green Egg has a fire grate in the bottom so I take that out it resembles a floor drain with holes all over it, I have the plastic l[d from the can pn the bottom of the can, place the fire grate on the top, then flip it over and place it in the bottom of the egg as it would normally fit. I then light ehe charcoal/wood mixture and then place a spider device that I bought from The Ceramic Grill Store over the can and put a steel 1/4" plate that I made on the spider to disperse the heat and smoke. I cut the salmon into quarters so that there is better smoke penetration and smoke for 2-2 1/2 hrs. It comes out great.
I soak my fish in a brine I make with 1C of sugar,1C brown sugar,1 C Yoshida's gourmet teriyaki sauce 3" grated ginger root and 6 garlic cloves diced then ground to a paste in a mortar and pestle with either a half tablespoon of kosher salt or Turbinado sugar to help with grinding it. I use the Turbinado sugar because I'm on a salt restricted diet. If you are not salt restricted you can put 1/2 C Kosher salt in the brine mix. I mix all this in a gallon zip lock bag put in 2C water slosh around to mix well, then add fish end enough more water to cover the fish and still be able to seal the bag then put in refrigerator overnight turning 2 or 3 times to get all sides of fish covered. drain brine and place fish on paper plate to finish draining, fire up grill and go to smoking.
Everyone who has tried this raves about it, works well on tuna too.

I hope this isn't too disorganized to understand. I would never make a writer.

 

[Mat4644]

Last night we fell asleep in the recliners and smoked a pizza. When the house smoke detectors go off it's done! :licking:

The recipe sounds great.

 

[PILOON]

Last night we fell asleep in the recliners and smoked a pizza. When the house smoke detectors go off it's done! :licking:

The recipe sounds great.

Guess U need to change the batteries often!

 

[bunyip]

We have used black tea, fennel and brown sugar, imparts an interesting flavour, good on red meat, meat balls and oily fish, we make a tray out of three folded layers of aluminium foil and put on the base of a cast iron pot, just throw away the foil when finished.
The brrown sugars melts and boils and leaves a caramel like flavour, the black tea has a pleasant woodiness and slightly bitter and the fennel gives it a kick.

 

[jaxs]

Are we smoking to store fish unrefrigerated or for serving right from the smoker?

 

[OldMcDonald]

Thanks everybody. I have been a member on here for just over 15 years. I rarely have anything to add, especially since this is basically a USA site and I have never been there, but I have asked a lot of questions. There are always lots of replies, and always friendly.

Nobody so far has used almond shells, but no matter, I know they are widely used I was just hoping for a little feedback from somebody who had actually used them. The rest of the replies are great - these are usually the most interesting. Some need a response - I am harvesting sweet almonds, the self-pollinating Spanish variety Soleta; to Jim Nelson, I followed that fine. We will not be using a brine solution, dry salt, or any other flavouring apart from the smoking fuel. We have followed a low salt diet since we married 49 years ago. We taste the ingredients not the salt. Both our mothers used a lot of salt and pepper.

Whatever is smoked will either be eaten immediately whilst still hot, or frozen for later use. We never store home-made stuff without freezing, or being put in sterilised jars with vacuum lids - and meat or fish always frozen. Only pickles or jams in jars.

 

[3Ts]

There are several different woods that are used for smoking over here and each gives a slightly different flavor. I'd suggest that you try different woods to see which you prefer. Maybe freeze a sample from each and after you have several different ones ready, set them out for a taste test.

I use primarily oak because that's what's available on my property. Next year I'll have hickory available (it's currently drying), but no fruit wood or mesquite is available.