There's starting to be a few good fish caught of late so I thought I would put it out there if anyone wanted to share their recipes and techniques for smoking fish.
Ive always used the same method to smoke all my fish (mostly trout) but was not sure how I learnt or even if what I'm doing is typical. Also Id like to try a few other things as it can get a bit boring doing the same thing all the time.
Currently I sprinkle a very liberal amount of sea salt over the fillets (sometimes even just splitting the fish rather than fillet) and a varying amount of brown or raw sugar. This is left in the fridge overnight. Next day I will wash off the salt and pat dry. From there another dusting of brown or raw sugar and into the smoker.
I have a basic smoker like this Killwell one
Attachment 59547
Ive never really known how much meths to use. I have two trays in the smoker and can smoke two full size trout at once. Im using about ½ to ¾ of a cup per dish and I have two dishes of meths under the smoker. The fish is never over cooked but a bit longer could be better as the last batch was almost too moist? I think some smokers suggest filling the trays right up.
I liked @bombers pohutukawa wood chips as a different way to do things. I also have read you can soak your wood chips in whisky or wine over night and this gives some different flavours. Maybe not soaked in Lion Brown though :)
I try to keep the wood chips to a minimum with a very thin coating over the bottom of the tray. Anyone tried varying the amount of chips? Too much I understand gets a bit overpowering?
I would also like to try smoking seafood. @veitnamcam had some smoked snapper heads. Should try this next time as I know theres a bunch of sweet meat on them.
If anyone had there own recipes or methods and wanted to share this could be a nice reference to try some smoking ideas.