One of the methods of preparing tasty fish meals is fish smoking, and there are mainly two ways of smoking fish, which are cold smoking and hot smoking. But the focus of this article is on hot smoking, which involves the cooking of fish held over a flame by a portable fish smoker box.
Fish smoking, however, is an ancient practice and was done in the past to preserve fish, but in recent times it has been used more to prepare fish for consumption due to the unique taste and flavor it imparts.
The article, therefore, covers questions like what is fish smoking, and how to use a fish smoker to smoke fish. The best fish smoker, how to use the smoker for fish, etc. If you have any of such concerns, then the article is for you.
What is a Fish Smoker?
A fish smoker is an implement used for roasting fish. There are many types of fish smokers, but they are classified under two groups or methods:
- Direct heat methods
- Indirect heat methods
For the direct heat methods, we have the tube smoker, portable smoker, and pot smoker. These are often small fish smokers, but the portable smoker is the best fish smoker.
And for the indirect heat methods involves the use of an electric smoker, gas smoker, and kettle smoker (which is a small fish smoker).
How to Smoke Fish in a Smoker?
Step1: Get the Ingredients
This is the first and the most important step. It involves getting the necessary ingredients such as salt, water, sugar, herbs, spices, butter or margarine, a bowl, smoker wood, fish smoker box, meat thermometer, and the most important ingredient which is the fish. The fish could be salmon, trout, tuna, mackerel, and so on. But one thing to note is that the fishes vary in thickness and some (such as salmon) require cutting them into fillets in order to check the temperatures individually.
Step 2: Prepare the Fish
This is the second stage of smoking a fish. It involves preparing the fish by removing some unwanted parts like the scales, tail, fins, and so on.
When you cut the fish into fillets, you can then remove all the bones and leave the skin in place. After that, rinse the fish properly to remove the blood and internal organs.
Then split the fish into as many fillets as wanted.
Step 3: Brining
It involves the combination and mixing of water, salt and sugar in a container or pot until the contents of the solution dissolve. Once the brine is cool then proceed to submerge the fish in the solution and refrigerate it. For small fishes, 30 min to 4 hours is okay, but for big fishes, eight hours (mostly overnight) is enough.
Step 4: Pre-cooking Treatment
This is the next step after bathing the fish or fillet in the brine. The fish is then removed at the appropriate time and rinsed in cool water.
After that, the fillets are dried most preferably with paper towels soaking, remove, and rinse in water. And to dry it, you can keep the fish in a cool shady place till the pellicles form.
Drying is important to retain the fish juices during smoking.
After about 2 to 3 hours of drying, you can now sprinkle your seasoning on the fish and then rub it all over with butter and spices.
Step 5: Cooking and Serving
After the application of spices and butter, you can preheat your fish smoker box and add wood chips.
The temperature should between 175 and 200 degrees. You can place greased aluminum foil on the fish to prevent them from sticking to the grates of your fish smoker box or use planks to prevent them from disintegrating.
Place the fish or fillets over the rack or netting on top of the fish smoker box and prod over the fire. The cooking could last for about three hours.
As you prod over the smoke, try to check the temperature of the fish (which should be about 160 degrees internal temperature) to prevent overcooking.
After three hours, you can now serve it and enjoy the crispy fillets or fish with sliced sweet potatoes or vegetables or rice and so on.
Frequently Asked Question
Question: What is the Best Fish to Smoke?
Answer: Cold lakes and sea fishes are the best for smoking. These fishes contain a lot of fat which makes them absorb much flavor.
Oily fish is also very good because they give a flaky interior and crisp interior when the fish is smoked.
Examples of fish are mackerel, trout, salmon, sea bass, tuna, bluefish, and sailfish.
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Question: How Long Should you Brine Fish Before Smoking?
Answer: For small fishes, you can brine for 30 min to 4 hours in the refrigerator, but for big fishes, eight hours (which is best done overnight) is enough.
Question: Is Smoked Fish Healthy?
Answer: Yes, it is. Smoked fish is rich in nutrients; it contains protein, calcium and phosphorus, iodine, zinc, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins. It also contains omega-3acids which lower the risk of heart diseases and stroke.
Question: Can I Smoke Fish and Meat at the Same Time?
Answer: Yes. But you must prod the fish gently over the foils and watch it closely to ensure that the smoke penetrates every part of it.
You must also be careful about maintaining a low temperature, which should be a little above 82°C.
And if the fish is cut into fillets, ensure that they don’t fall off or disintegrate while prodding.
Final Opinion
Fish smoking is a unique way of imparting a delicious taste to fish meals, and the focus of the article was on how to use a smoker to smoke a fish or use a fish smoker box to get a tasty fish meal.
The process of smoking a fish with a smoker begins with getting the ingredient such as the fish, fish smoker box or small fish smoker, thermometer, etc.
After that is the preparation of the fish, then brining, rinsing, drying, and seasoning. It is then placed over the foil of the fish smoker box and cooked and then served.
Fish smoking using a smoker, for me, is one of the best ways of preparing fish, especially with the use of a good fish smoker.
Apart from the fact that it preserves the fish, it also makes it very tasty. And when combined with potatoes or rice, results in a fantastic meal.