smoking fish on bbq

[pj1]

hi all. i hope to hot smoke some mackeral, trout and haddock for my brothers annual birthday bbq bash.

i plan to do it on my weber kettle bbq and was just wondering if any of you have had success doing this. i have looked on the net and some say you must brine the fish others say just some salt for have an hour others just say clean it and stick it on the bbq.

i hope to use oak for the smoke.

any advice appreciated

regards pete

 

[weeman]

I have a weber BBQ which I smoke fish on its great and easy.
I hand split some oak timber to like kindling pieces and soak in water for a couple of hours.

Then have a hot bed of embers, place the soaked oak pieces onto the embers, top rack on place the fish onto the rack, lid on, bottom vents shut, top ones open only a tiny bit. Takes approx one hour for two trout that weigh about 2,1/2 lb each. Colour wise a rustic looking gold colour flesh.

Say no funny prep with the fish onced clean season to your likening and smoke.

 

[lambchop]

Further vote for webber with soaked wood, tried a few types to find best and come back to oak. Boughg chippings also and presoaked as well.

 

[pj1]

thanks weeman. every year we try and do something new and experiment on our guests. there is normally 20 of us so we get a good variety of people trying whatever we cook. i have also this year cured my own bacon so we will see how that goes down too.

thanks lamb chop.

how do you guys find the texture of the fish. does it go soggy or dry out

 

[Herbi1969]

My local TK Maxx is currently doing bags of Jack Daniels wood chips. If bourbon is your thing give it a go, smells fabulous!!

 

[Monkey Spanker]

Whatever you choose to do, I would suggest that you have a trial run first to avoid the possibility of looking like a chump in front of 20 ****ed up blokes!
MS

 

[lambchop]

Texture is good, does dry a little but not unpleasant actually adds to it in my opinion. Support view to test first!

 

[Monkey Spanker]

I used to hot smoke loads of trout. Fillet and skin, then remove pin bones. Cover in salt for about an hour and then rinse and dry with kitchen roll. Hot smoke over any english hardwood dust or chippings for about 20-30 mins depending upon thickness. The taste can be very strong though and not to everyones liking!
Smoked trout pate is good though.
Probably my best trout recipe was made from numerous large fish fron Avon springs in Durrington. I never came away with less than 20lb of fish on a 4 fish ticket!
Fillet trout and skin, then cut into 1" chunks. Wrap each chunk in sweetcure or smoked streaky bacon and place on a skewer. Baste with a sticky oriental style marinade overnite in the fridge and then BBQ. I used to use olive oil, honey, soy sauce, five spice & sweet chili sauce. Great hot, but probably even better cold!
I'm really hungry now and feel the need to go fishing!
MS

 

[pj1]

Thanks for the replies I guess its a case of experimenting to get our required taste.

 

[John Gryphon]

Whatever you choose to do, I would suggest that you have a trial run first to avoid the possibility of looking like a chump in front of 20 ****ed up blokes!
MS

If they were ****ed up enough they would eat battered dog turds ha ha!

 

[Taff]

I hot smoke a lot of fish, I have kewi smoker at the moment, but you can make one out of a biscuit tin if you want, and instead of meths put it on the BBQ, I use either beech or oak dust never chips, I only salt if I am cold smoking.
you can do the same with a loin of venison, practice makes perfect.

 

[Pheasant Feeder]

Have a look here http://www.uncledavesenterprise.com/file/garden/storage/The%203%20Men%27s%20Fish%20Smoking%20Process.pdf

I use the timings and a modified version of the brine recipe for salmon everytime.

I place a tin foil heat shield under the rack with a quarter left open. This protects the fish from the heat whilst still allowing the smoke to circulate.

 

[pj1]

Thanks P F
Ive printed that one off. Can i ask how do you modify the brine..

 

[Olaf]

Thanks P F
Ive printed that one off. Can i ask how do you modify the brine..

Don't brine them as they will taste terrible because you are not going to be hot smoking the fish, rather more smoke roasting them. You are not really hot smoking the fish unless you can keep the temperature down to 70deg c and I doubt you will be able to do that on a Weber BBQ. I hot and cold smoke and I also smoke roast fish, what your seeking to do is to smoke roast the fish. So, just BBQ as normal on the BBQ and add some damp split oak at the end for about 5 to 10 mins. Season them well with salt and pepper and lots of chopped chives thyme and a little BBQ roasted rosemary. Let them stand covered with foil for a further 10 mins and then serve them.

kind regards, Olaf

 

[pj1]

Thanks olaf. In the end we lightly seasoned the fillets. Had the charcoal and oak one side of the bbq and the fillets the other. I used a piece of oak about 3/4 inch square and about 8 inches long.
It was just right pleasantly smokey trout rather than smoke with essance of trout.

Even my wife who doesnt do fish at all liked it

Thanks for all the replies. I think oak smoked trout will be a regular from now on

Regards pete

 

[timbrayford]

Is there any way of of marinading the "muddy" taste out of fishing lake trout?

atb Tim

 

[Monkey Spanker]

I found a Brooks Hot smoker at a Car boot sale today that had only been used once! Got it for £7 including a bag of sawdust!
MS

 

[Olaf]

Thanks olaf. In the end we lightly seasoned the fillets. Had the charcoal and oak one side of the bbq and the fillets the other. I used a piece of oak about 3/4 inch square and about 8 inches long.
It was just right pleasantly smokey trout rather than smoke with essance of trout.

Even my wife who doesnt do fish at all liked it

Thanks for all the replies. I think oak smoked trout will be a regular from now on

Regards pete

Fantastic, it sounds like you got the idea. It's so easy to do and so tasty. I've seen so many 'hot smoked' foods that were ruined simply because they were far too smokey.

Kind regards, Olaf

 

[jimbo1984]

Another big fan of smoked trout here when I was fly fishing a lot I had a bit of a surplus but I've never been a fan if cooked trout in the oven but smoking the fish makes all the difference to the flavor

 

[jimbo1984]

I found a Brooks Hot smoker at a Car boot sale today that had only been used once! Got it for £7 including a bag of sawdust!
MS

Lol you and that car boot sale!!! At least dick Turpin wore a mask lol
Well done ms !