Smoker prep

[hammer4reel]

Filled the bucket in a few hours this morning .

Headed and gutted and scaled  , going in the brine later tonight .

In the smoker early tomorrow morning .

 

Edited July 7 by hammer4reel

[Yobuck293]

Nice. One of my favorites on the smoker

[Buckeyes11]

Def post the pics when done! Good eats. 

[allmann]

I have done them with the scales on and off and have not noticed much if any difference. Is there a benefit to scaling them? 

[hammer4reel]

51 minutes ago, allmann said:

I have done them with the scales on and off and have not noticed much if any difference. Is there a benefit to scaling them? 

Scaled you don’t need to worry about scales in your food .

and I think it allows the smoke to penetrate better without that scale barrier.

 

[hammer4reel]

First set in 

[smittty]

2 hours ago, hammer4reel said:

Scaled you don’t need to worry about scales in your food .

and I think it allows the smoke to penetrate better without that scale barrier.

 

Also a lot of people like the skin myself included. I wouldn’t cook or smoke any fish with scales on them. Like dam said you wants scales in there mouth or any where near my plteu

[SPEARFISH]

Looks good.

Fastest way to gut too.

[hammer4reel]

1 hour ago, SPEARFISH said:

Looks good.

Fastest way to gut too.

Hoping they come out ok . They are definitely easy to prep . But ling is always a little softer than other fish .

 

getting close 

.

Edited July 8 by hammer4reel

[hammer4reel]

First batch done 

[allmann]

thanks for the response.  they look good.  

 

I usually cold smoke them for an hr then remove the bowl of ice (I use a recteq pellet smoker), then on low til they feel firm and not wet usually another 2-3hrs depending on size. They've always come out great. What temp do you bring them too?

[hammer4reel]

2 minutes ago, allmann said:

thanks for the response.  they look good.  

 

I usually cold smoke them for an hr then remove the bowl of ice (I use a recteq pellet smoker), then on low til they feel firm and not wet usually another 2-3hrs depending on size. They've always come out great. What temp do you bring them too?

I smoked them at 185 for 2 hours , then approx 3  hours at 225, till they were stalled between 148-150 .

pulled them all at that point 

[fish_hunter]

oh man they look perfect ! 

[NJNewbie]

Hammer,

What do you do with the meat? Eat it straight up or make into other recipes or dips?

[hammer4reel]

On 7/10/2024 at 1:46 PM, NJNewbie said:

Hammer,

What do you do with the meat? Eat it straight up or make into other recipes or dips?

Eat some straight up off the fish .

 

tracey also makes a fish dip, with the fish , cream cheese, mayo, scallions,garlic ,Lea and perrines,Lemon juice , S&P.  On ritz crackers it’s INCREDIBLE