smoked fish

Unknown

I have tried smoking fish for about 30 min. and love it...I recently had some smoked trout and salmon that must have been smoked for a long time and was much much "drier"....might be referred to as "cold" smoking....help anyone...many thanks,

Unknown

Beryl,
Cold smoking is done at pit temps in the 90 to 120º range.
Brinning would be needed and then cooking at those cool temps for quite some time.
Hot smoking at temps of 225 for a couple of hours is good for fish that you are not worried about long storage.
That same fish could be grilled at a med high temp and done in aprox 15 min.
Jim

Steve-O

Beryl,
I smoke whole trout and salmon filets both and I usually go for one hour direct at 250. I use lots of alder wood and season primarily with Raging River rub and have never had a problem with the fish being too dry. Unless you are smoking some really thing filets, I don't see how you are getting it done if you are using smoking temps for just 30 minutes.

Wardster

Jim Minion,
I was smoking some salmon last night, following the bourbon glaze recipe. It said to smoke at 350*, indirect, for about 1.5 hours. However, I took it off at 1 hour and it was very dry. I'm assuming it was overcooked? Can't imagine what would have happened if I had left it on for another 30 min........

Smokey

Wardster,[p]If the fish was frozen then thawed before cooking, it could affect it's moisture. I have done freshly caught salmon that was very moist. A fillet from the same fish (after being frozen for two weeks) was a bit dry. Next rime I thaw out fish, I will probably use a lite brine solution.[p]Smokey

Unknown

Wardster,
I would find that temp to high for my liking if I was going to cook the long. You may want to go to internal temp as a guide rather than time. For moist, flakey salmon pull it off from 145 to 155º internal in the thickest portion of the salmon.
If you let the internal temp get 160º or higher I find it drier than I like.
Jim