smoking fish

[rogerafish]

Anybody have a good recommendation for wood for smoking fish in Mexico? We have Mango trees, do they work? Are there alternatives or do I send down wood from the US. Anyone have a special sweet brine that works on dorodo or tuna. Have smoked lots of salmon and trout but nothing else. Ideas appreciated.

[marti]

we just put the fish in very salt water for a couple of hours and than dry them VERY good before hanging them in the smoker, you can add all kinds of erbs in or on the fish as long as you don't make it to hot(160F)in the smoker, we just use clean pine that we have as left overs from construction .
Don't now if it helps but thats how we do it

[thubert57]

It has been my experience that most fruit tree woods work well. And of course the old reliables oak, hickory, mesquite. The brining is the key. Looks like Marti might be the authority on this subject though.

Tom

oh, and "like wow man ... how do ya keep 'em lit"

[HOTSPOT]

I've always had a hard time keep'em lit.

[Snowwolfe]

The brine i have used for years is simple. 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of salt per quart of water.

[ReelWork]

THubert is correct and being a die hard grill/smoker, I can fill in a few of the gaps here.

I will also say that for fish, a mixture of Alder, Mesquite and Pecan is fantastic. If you have trouble finding those, try to at least get some Alder and if that's unavailable, go with the Pecan.

I'll also fill y'all in on little secret to making the best steaks. Add a little Cherry, Apple and Pecan chips to the fire just before grilling. I personally cook almost exclusively on wood and if you do too, then have the bulk of the fire with Mesquite for heat and flavor along with some Hickory and/or Oak. Just salt and pepper the steaks, let the flavor come out and DON'T OVERCOOK! If using charcoal, just add the chips prior to grilling and be sure to soak the chips in water at least 10 minutes prior - this nets more smoke and less fire..

Anyways, I had typed up a nice explanation, but my screen locked up, so here is something I cut and pasted to give my fingers a break..

Here's some short tips about some of the woods used to smoke meat. Good stuff - Man I miss my smoker!

I miss my wife too, but I miss my smoker and Dog also.. LOL

Here ya go..


1. Alder's natural sweetness is especially suited with pork (and fish).

2. Apple's natural sweetness is good for any type of meat. It's great in combination with other woods.

3. Cherry is especially good with beef and pork. It has a tendency to turn meat a rich mahogany color. It's best to balance Cherry wood with Hickory, Alder, Oak or Pecan.

4. Hickory is the all-time favorite of many Midwest and southern state barbecue cooking teams. Too much hickory smoke can turn meat bitter. This is so true too.. That is why when I make briskets, I only use a log or two of hickory.

5. Maple is quite similar to Alder wood. Maple is sweet and also darkens the color of meat. Balance it with Alder, Apple or Oak. Sugar Maple wood is the sweetest.

6. Some say to use only Honey Mesquite wood. The Wesatch variety of Mesquite "pops" embers. Mesquite is oily in nature, so it burns hot and fast.

7. Oak. Red Oak is the best variety for smoking.

8. Pear, Peach and Plum. These woods require a certain level of expertise in their use. Peach and Plum woods tend to lose their flavor shortly after being cut. For the best results, make sure you the fruit bearing kind of Plum.

9. Pecan is a member of the hickory family, and becoming more popular for smoking. This is a pungent wood, which should be used sparingly.

10. Dogwood is quite similar to Oak in its smoke flavor.

11. Grapevine cuttings add a nice flavor to fish, poultry and beef. You could achieve the same effect by soaking wood chips in an inexpensive wine before throwing the wood on the coals.

12. Herb woods, such as Basil, Thyme and Rosemary are usually used in combination with other woods. A good combination would be Alder with Basil, and Maple with Rosemary

Hope this helps out for making some good meals, great!

[Sea Note2]

This is the recipe that I use.
Brine recipe for smokeing fish
Main ingredient: Brine Recipe for King Fish 6 cups water 2/3 cups sugar ½ cup salt ½ cup brown sugar 1/3 cup soy sauce 2 cloves garlic- crushed 1 tbsp. pepper Combine ingredients and stir to dissolve. Add fish and cover. Refrigerate overnight and drain

[Rocky]

Well after our last storm, I now have lots of hickory wood that is great for smoking or barbque, just bring a chainsaw and your truck. Its free......

[jtburf]

That aint smoking !!!!!!

this is Smoking !!!!

and then this is Eating!!!!!

John

[ReelWork]

Well John, that looks damn good brother!

These are the only two pics I have. The first is of my grill (at home) cooking an Axis Backstrap on the firebox side. If you haven't had Axis Deer, it's awesome!




The second pic is me making dinner at the hunting cabin.. That's Redfish on the halfshell and bacon wrapped Dove stuffed with Onions and Jalepenos.. Oh son, dat's some good stuff!

[CORALREEFER]

Oak+Hickory=Oakry!!!! Thats what I use..

[Nimrod]

Reelwork, that looks very familiar, except we can't keep those small redfish here in Texas. Sure that isn't bait?

[Pole]

ok lot's of questions cuz this is something I've wanted to get into for a while now;

1. Marti, is that a cold smoker or warm? Looks like an easy to use setup, where can i get one? (online shop in Holland?)

2. Does anyone know if sea grape or casurina wood could be used to smoke?

3. jtburf, I assume that's a warm smoker. Any sites that I could try and order one?

4. Are there certain fish that don't smoke well? I've always wondered why there is no smoked grouper, hogfish or mahi. These are the fish I want to try and smoke so can anyone say which technique would be better ? cold or warm?

thanks in advance for any advice
pole

[ReelWork]

Nimrod, that was a nice 24 inch Port Aransas Redfish.. You do realize my finger is about 2 feet from the grill and just in front of the camera - you can see the relation of the filet size to the whitewing dove breasts.. Well, you get the idea.

There were some stuffed bellies that night!

Pole, Yes, those are warm smokers - You can do a search for New Braunfels Smokers or click on this link http://www.nbsmoker.com/smokers.html..

Those New Braunfels are about the best for the money, but you can get cheaper ones that work well too.. I have the Wild West Tradition model and it can smoke about 50 pounds of brisket or about 10 rack of ribs no problem. If you add a grate like I did, you can grill over the firebox...

You can really smoke just about anything, the problem with a lot of them is that some will lose their flavor and others are too delicate to handle on a grill, even with the skin on. Snapper, Grouper and the like are EXCELLENT on the grill..

[Parapapam]

Rolling paper or a water bong...



OK, I could resist the flashback....sorry.

[marti]

Pole, it is a cold smoker I think(don't know the english term for it) you hang the fish in there and smoke the little ones for about 75 minutes at 150 F (65 celcius) and than for a 15 minutes at about 185 F (80 to 85 C) .
it's simple to make it from a old barrel or two on top of each other if you have longer fish to smoke.
This one was made from airco pipe and we just sawed a draw at the bottom to put the wood in and so you can open it or close it, open when it gets to cold and close when it gets to warm, also a lit is put on and some holes drilled at the top to put in the pins were the fish is hanging on , fillet ,chicken legs etc all goes easy does it.

[thubert57]

Pole - 9/16/2004 2:28 PM

4. Are there certain fish that don't smoke well? I've always wondered why there is no smoked grouper, hogfish or mahi. These are the fish I want to try and smoke so can anyone say which technique would be better ? cold or warm?

thanks in advance for any advice
pole

Pole,

Oily fish, mackeral, blue fish, salmon to name a few, seem to smoke better than non oily fish. I read somewhere why but don't remember.

I have a Brinkman smoker and like it. It is simple and reasonably priced but doesn't hold large quantities.

I may have to pull out the directions and get the name of the coating that is created by the brining process. Can't remember that either. I guess since I'm Garrett's age I can't be expected to remember everything!!!

Tom

[marti]

Thubert, we all sufer from it, just glad that I'm not the only one

[Hydro]

I would give the mango wood a try. Sounds yummy to me and you could be on to something...............

[Bill]

Mango should work. All fruit woods I've tried have worked well. I've got an old apple tree I've been hacking pieces off of for years. The black cherry's been shrinking too.
Marti, I'm surprised that you use pine. Is it the same wood we call pine here? I used pine once to grill steaks and they came out tasting like we dipped them in creosote! Must work differently when smoking. Of course they cook shad on cedar planks at the shad festivals along the Delaware every spring so... I use maple or aspen animal bedding since it's the same wood sold as smoking chips, just a different bag. Trust me, there's about 3000 bags sitting on pallets on the other side of the wall I'm typing next to. BTW, I bought my smoker/grill based on comments here on this board - They were right, it's great. It's the same as the one in the picture at www.kamado.com. I can hold 150 degreees for hours and it will reach 600+ for a quick sear.