How one smoked fresh fish in the high country

8/9/2008 | mrjesse

[mrjesse]

Pictures of a simple fish smoker setup for the high country

Above: A wooden tripod made from dead sticks holds up the freshly caught and cleaned fish, while a small stainless bowel (This one is from an old ladle) sits on the camp-stove to hold the hickory chips (which can be purchased at most grocery stores). A small stainless wire runs through the fish, and hooks onto the tripod to suspend them.

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Above: Now over the whole works is put one of these oven-proof plastic bags also from the grocery store or the like (in the ziploc/glad bag section, probably) -- these bags are good to 400F, and are designed to put the thanksgiving turkey into to prevent oven spatter and to keep the bird moist. One could use tinfoil instead, but then they wouldn't know when the hickory chips caught fire, etc.

Then to top it all off, a thermometer is inserted into the top to measure air temperature. In this case, the fish was smoked for 40 minutes at about 230 degrees or thereabouts. It was juicy and tender and pleasantly smoky, and was to be eaten right away, and these were small fish. If the fish were bigger, one would want to give ample time for them to cook clear through. Fresh hickory chips were fed in from time to time with a long handled stainless spoon, and also drops of water were delivered from time to time to the hickory chips when they burst into flames. If the hickory chips flame, the smoke is reduced and the "oven" temperature rises drastically. It is advised to soak the hickory chips in water overnight.

It is important to note that if one is doing the more traditional smoking where the fish is to be stored for a long time, then the fish must first be put in seasoned brine for a while and then smoked for a lot longer in order to assure correct temperatures and to dry it out (and make it more smoky), so one should find a proper recipe for such a situation if they don't intend to eat the fish right away.) The simple procedure pictured above simply cooked the fish gently but certainly and gave it a good smoky flavor

[robomatik]

[aposiopetic]

Thanks for posting this. And thanks for not posting it earlier in the day, when it really would have made me hungry.

[JerseyHighlander]

40 minutes at 230F is almost a 1/2 tank of MSR iso/propane? Can you get two smoking sessions out of one canister? What was the outside temp while smoking?

[GladesGuru]

“a small stainless bowel” - did some surgeon do a bowel resection on Super Man ? ? ?

;-)

[JerseyHighlander]

right, iso/propane is supposed to be butane/propane.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Very interesting.....

Thanks for posting this.

But, that appears to be a bass, which I don’t eat, no matter WHAT you do to it......

;-)

[valkyry1]

Looks fabulous! You could be a guide and $1500.00 for a dinner like that LOL!

[1066AD]

Umm, don’t like food smoked over bowels, even if stainless ! (Sorry, couldn’t resist it).

Smoked salmon is one of my favourite things tho’ too much is rather tasteless these days - because they’re farmed perhaps ?

[txhurl]

Check this

[mrjesse]

Sorry, that’s supposed to be stainless bowl.

I can’t be good at everything. Actually I’m not super good at anything - and that includes spelling :-)

[Grizzled Bear]

Umm, don’t like food smoked over bowels, even if stainless ! (Sorry, couldn’t resist it).

But "Jesse the Fish and The Burnin' Bowels" would be a great name for a rock group.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

That’s why I catch and smoke my own salmon.....yum....

[Inyo-Mono]

This way is easier:

[txhurl]

How they treat bass up north. Interesting.

The Indian way.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

But, that appears to be a bass, which I don’t eat, no matter WHAT you do to it......

Look again....It’s a trout.

[shadowcat]

GARBAGE CAN TURKEY

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Garbage-Can-Turkey/Detail.aspx

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I don’t think so......

Check that lateral line.......

[mrjesse]

40 minutes at 230F is almost a 1/2 tank of MSR iso/propane? Can you get two smoking sessions out of one canister? What was the outside temp while smoking?

Actually, this was using white gas/Coleman Fuel. Also, the stove, an MSR Dragonfly has a very nice flame control to allow anywheres from a candle flame to full blast. It wasn't run full blast, but maybe half-blast and it was constantly adjusted to keep the temperature correct.

It was running off of a 22 oz fuel bottle, which had already performed for 5 people 1 dinner and 1 breakfast. After that, we used it for a second dinner, then we turned it on high and sat around it to keep warm (outdoors of course) and it ran on high for another half hour or so before running out. (We had lots more fuel.)

So yeah, keeping an entirely uninsulated oven hot for 40 minutes does take some fuel to be sure, but not as much as running on high. And by putting two or 3 bags on, the R-value cold have been increased significantly and less fuel used too.

-Jesse

[txhurl]

You sure? Trout are long and thin, with no baseline markings.

Bass are stocky and shortish, with all sorts of markings along the baseline (and that may be the wrong word).