Gas Grills Smokers for Smoking Fish

gasgrillssmokers — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:57:59 +0000

Gas Grills Smokers for Fish Smoking

You can use gas grills smokers, a built in grill with a smoker attachment, or gas grills with a

built in smoker to make some tasty smoked salmon or other smoked fish. It takes time and effort,

but the tasty and healthy results are well worth it.

In this world of prepackaged and chemical laden franken food, it would be refreshing to travel back

to a different age when small native communities would smoke their meats over a smoky fire or in a

smoke filled teepee so that it could be preserved to tide them over during winter. This is primal

stuff. Most civilizations through history had some for of smoking as a food preservation before

chemicals and refigeration were invented. I won’t argue against refigeration, but chemicals in

food, I believe, can lead to sickness or nutritional deficiencies. While food smoking does create

some natural chemicals that you would not want to consume exclusively or every day, in moderation it

is fine, as is evidenced by the fact that people have been doing it for millenia without any

noticable chronic or terminal effect.

Let’s smoke some fish.

Fresh fish is the best, and you can eat salt water fish like salmon and tuna raw. Sushi anyone? If

you eat fish raw, it must be oh so fresh. Besides fresh raw, or cooking it, you can freeze it to

save it for later. You can can it as well. Smoking is yet another method of preserving fish. I

adore chilled vacuum sealed smoked salmon from the grocery store, and I have previously enoyed

canned smoked sprats from Latvia, which were very interesting and delicious on black or brown bread.

You want to be safe from bacteria and parasites, so I suggest soaking the fish in a brine (salt)

solution first. You can use electric, charcoal, wood, or gas grills smokers for the task.

Get your fish. Gut them and take the head off. Cut them into filets and chunks. Leave the skin

on. Put the skin side down onto the grates so if they stick you lose the skin and no big deal. If

you were to try this with fish steaks the meat would stick to the grates and falls apart. You would

be left with a mess and a lot of frustration, and wasted fish.

Soak the fish in a brine solution of spices, sugar, and salt. You can use a preservative but I say

that you don’t need chemicals. Use your own judgement.

Prepare the fish with this basic brine solution:

1/2 cup non-iodized (Kosher works fine) salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 quart water

Stir until salt and sugar are completely dissolved

Place fish into the solution, taking care to insure that the fish is completely submerged in the

brine and place it in the refrigerator.

Thick 1 inch plus chunks should be in brine from 8 to 12 hours.

Thin 1 inch or less should be in from 6 to 8 hours.

Remove your fish from the brine and rinse each piece under cold water.

Being gentle, pat dry and lay the pieces on some paper towel to air dry for at least one hour.

After one hour you should notice that the fish has a kind of glazed surface film, or “pellicle”.

This is normal. This “skin” serves as a surface for the smoke to adhere to during the smoking

process. After an hour of drying the fish should be a bit sticky to the touch, and this means that

it is ready for the smoking process.

Woods such as Mesquite, Hickory, and Apple are good. Adler is another acceptable wood. Don’t use

pine as it is not good and you will get a nasty taste to your food. When using fruit woods, you can

also add some pieces of the actual fruit to the wood for added flavor. You will have to refill the

wood holder several times during the entire smoking process.

In your gass grills smoker or other type of smoker, place the fish chunks skins down as mentioned

earlier, and they should not be touching each other. Use large enough pieces so that you maximize

space. This is so because since you need some space between pieces, smaller but more numerous

pieces would mean not enough space for all your fish. Larger pieces spaced apart so they don’t

touch actually means that you can fit more fish on the cooking grate. See, you are already

benefitting from my experience! Here’s another tip. If you have a multi level grate system in your

smoker, you will want to switch the top and bottom grates through the process since the bottom ones

get more heat and smoke.

Twelve hours in the smoker will result in a moist smoked salmon. Twenty four hours will result in a

salmon jerky, which is a nice jerky but hard to get any bones out if you encounter any. It’s

actually good to try to pull out as many bones as you can when you start, but there can always be

some small spiny ones inside the meat that you cannot see. Do your best is all I can tell you to

do. I used pliers to pull the visibly portruding bones from the raw fish. Pull slowly, firmly, and

straight out. For the twelve hour moist version of smoked salmon, any residual bones are easily

dealth with during the eating phase. For the twenty four hour jerky version, it is best to just

seperate the meat while it is still soft straight from the smoker. You can use it in sauces and

gravy but not in soups. Some people use the leftover skin and bones as a cat food. Your mileage

may vary there.

While the salmon is cooling on the grates after the smoking is completed, you can add additional

spices like garlic and black pepper, or hot pepper like cayenne if that is your thing. The greasy

white stuff is salmon oil, which is basically Omega 3 fatty acids and is very healthy for you. That

stuff helps to unclog your arteries and it also soaks up spices very well. I tell you that because

many people would think that it was “yucky” when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Storage is a breeze if you have a vacuum sealing machine. I mean the type of machine that attaches

to a plastic bag which contains the salmon, and it sucks out the air and heat seals the bag once the

air is gone. No air means that the food won’t spoil as fast. You should still have it

refrigerated, however. Freezing won’t harm it, but the texture can be affected.

Since the entire process can take the better part of two days, you want to work with batches of at

least 6 pounds – larger batches – to make it worthwhile and cost effective. Non vacuum sealed but

plastic bagged smoked fish can go for about a month, while the vacuum sealed fish can last for

several months or longer.

I could have put this in the beginning, but a word about wild caught vs farmed salmon. Now I know

that ay salmon or fish farmer reading this will not like it, but farmed fish is full of fake foods

and antibiotics, if not hormones. you don’t want that. Most of the time they get the salmon flesh

orangy pink by adding dye to the food mix. In the wild, salmon flesh is white if they eat fish like

sardines, and the pink color actually comes from them eating krill and shrimp. The color of wild

salmon is a pale pink color, not orange. Also, the fatty acid profile of the fish is TOTALLY

different between farmed and wild. The fake and processed fish feed cannot match the stuff that the

wild fish eat, and their fats are full of healthy Omega 3 fats like DHA and EPA. As a matter of

fact, farmed fish are the opposite, usually full of dangerous pro inflammatory Omega 6 fats. That

is why I will not eat Tilapia. It is cheap, but it is also farmed and full of Omega 6 fats, which

can exaccerbate inflammatory conditions like arthitis and artery disease. You don’t want that the

cheaper price is NOT worth it. Go wild. If your fish monger says otherwise, get another fish

monger because he is full of something stinky, and I don’t mean rotten fish.

So there you have it. I hope that this information on how to make smoked salmon is useful and

encourages you to be a bit adventurous, or possibley go get that gas grills smoker or other smoker

appliance that you may need to do this.

Smoked Salmon

You can use gas grills smokers, a built in grill with a smoker attachment, or gas grills with a built in smoker to make some tasty smoked salmon or other smoked fish. It takes time and effort, but the tasty and healthy results are well worth it.

In this world of prepackaged and chemical laden frankenfood, it would be refreshing to travel back to a different age when small native communities would smoke their meats over a smoky fire or in a smoke filled teepee so that it could be preserved to tide them over during winter. This is primal stuff. Most civilizations through history had some for of smoking as a food preservation before chemicals and refigeration were invented. I won’t argue against refigeration, but chemicals in food, I believe, can lead to sickness or nutritional deficiencies. While food smoking does create some natural chemicals that you would not want to consume exclusively or every day, in moderation it is fine, as is evidenced by the fact that people have been doing it for millenia without any noticable chronic or terminal effect.

Let’s smoke some fish.

Fresh fish is the best, and you can eat salt water fish like salmon and tuna raw. Sushi anyone? If you eat fish raw, it must be oh so fresh. Besides fresh raw, or cooking it, you can freeze it to save it for later. You can can it as well. Smoking is yet another method of preserving fish. I adore chilled vacuum sealed smoked salmon from the grocery store, and I have previously enoyed canned smoked sprats from Latvia, which were very interesting and delicious on black or brown bread.

You want to be safe from bacteria and parasites, so I suggest soaking the fish in a brine (salt) solution first. You can use electric, charcoal, wood, or gas grills smokers for the task.

Get your fish. Gut them and take the head off. Cut them into fillets and chunks. Leave the skin on. Put the skin side down onto the grates so if they stick you lose the skin and no big deal. If you were to try this with fish steaks the meat would stick to the grates and falls apart. You would be left with a mess and a lot of frustration, and wasted fish.

Soak the fish in a brine solution of spices, sugar, and salt. You can use a preservative but I say that you don’t need chemicals. Use your own judgement.

Prepare the fish with this basic brine solution:

1/2 cup non-iodized (Kosher works fine) salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 quart water

Stir until salt and sugar are completely dissolved

Place fish into the solution, taking care to insure that the fish is completely submerged in the brine and place it in the refrigerator.

Thick 1 inch plus chunks should be in brine from 8 to 12 hours.

Thin 1 inch or less should be in from 6 to 8 hours.

Remove your fish from the brine and rinse each piece under cold water.

Being gentle, pat dry and lay the pieces on some paper towel to air dry for at least one hour. After one hour you should notice that the fish has a kind of glazed surface film, or “pellicle”. This is normal. This “skin” serves as a surface for the smoke to adhere to during the smoking process. After an hour of drying the fish should be a bit sticky to the touch, and this means that it is ready for the smoking process.

Woods such as Mesquite, Hickory, and Apple are good. Adler is another acceptable wood. Don’t use pine as it is not good and you will get a nasty taste to your food. When using fruit woods, you can also add some pieces of the actual fruit to the wood for added flavor. You will have to refill the wood holder several times during the entire smoking process.

In your gas grills smoker or other type of smoker, place the fish chunks skins down as mentioned earlier, and they should not be touching each other. Use large enough pieces so that you maximize space. This is so because since you need some space between pieces, smaller but more numerous pieces would mean not enough space for all your fish. Larger pieces spaced apart so they don’t touch actually means that you can fit more fish on the cooking grate. See, you are already benefiting from my experience! Here’s another tip. If you have a multi level grate system in your smoker, you will want to switch the top and bottom grates through the process since the bottom ones get more heat and smoke.

Twelve hours in the smoker will result in a moist smoked salmon. Twenty four hours will result in a salmon jerky, which is a nice jerky but hard to get any bones out if you encounter any. It’s actually good to try to pull out as many bones as you can when you start, but there can always be some small spiny ones inside the meat that you cannot see. Do your best is all I can tell you to do. I used pliers to pull the visibly protruding bones from the raw fish. Pull slowly, firmly, and straight out. For the twelve hour moist version of smoked salmon, any residual bones are easily dealt with during the eating phase. For the twenty four hour jerky version, it is best to just separate the meat while it is still soft straight from the smoker. You can use it in sauces and gravy but not in soups. Some people use the leftover skin and bones as a cat food. Your mileage may vary there.

While the salmon is cooling on the grates after the smoking is completed, you can add additional spices like garlic and black pepper, or hot pepper like cayenne if that is your thing. The greasy white stuff is salmon oil, which is basically Omega 3 fatty acids and is very healthy for you. That stuff helps to unclog your arteries and it also soaks up spices very well. I tell you that because many people would think that it was “yucky” when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Storage is a breeze if you have a vacuum sealing machine. I mean the type of machine that attaches to a plastic bag which contains the salmon, and it sucks out the air and heat seals the bag once the air is gone. No air means that the food won’t spoil as fast. You should still have it refrigerated, however. Freezing won’t harm it, but the texture can be affected.

Since the entire process can take the better part of two days, you want to work with batches of at least 6 pounds – larger batches – to make it worthwhile and cost effective. Non vacuum sealed but plastic bagged smoked fish can go for about a month, while the vacuum sealed fish can last for several months or longer.

I could have put this in the beginning, but a word about wild caught vs farmed salmon. Now I know that ay salmon or fish farmer reading this will not like it, but farmed fish is full of fake foods and antibiotics, if not hormones. You don’t want that. Most of the time they get the salmon flesh orangey pink by adding dye to the food mix. In the wild, salmon flesh is white if they eat fish like sardines, and the pink color actually comes from them eating krill and shrimp. The color of wild salmon is a pale pink color, not orange. Also, the fatty acid profile of the fish is TOTALLY different between farmed and wild. The fake and processed fish feed cannot match the stuff that the wild fish eat, and their fats are full of healthy Omega 3 fats like DHA and EPA. As a matter of fact, farmed fish are the opposite, usually full of dangerous pro inflammatory Omega 6 fats. That is why I will not eat Tilapia. It is cheap, but it is also farmed and full of Omega 6 fats, which can exacerbate inflammatory conditions like arthritis and artery disease. You don’t want that the cheaper price is NOT worth it. Go wild. If your fish monger says otherwise, get another fish monger because he is full of something stinky, and I don’t mean rotten fish.

So there you have it. I hope that this information on how to make smoked salmon is useful and encourages you to be a bit adventurous, or possibly go get that gas grills smokers or other smoker appliance that you may need to do this.

Smoking Meat and Cooking Temperature

gasgrillssmokers — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:11:03 +0000

Smoking meat is knowing the correct temperature range in which to smoke. There are thermostats you can purchase that help you find this range, but they aren’t always based on the best smoking method. They are geared more towards getting the temperature to a certain point in order to make sure that the meat gets hot enough to kill off bacteria. While this is important, it is not wise to heat the meat too rapidly because you aren’t grilling. Smoking is a process that takes hours, rather than minutes. The whole point of smoking meat is to infuse the flavor and slow cook the meat with indirect heat. The method which I use is to get my charcoal/wood in and flaming, and I also try and keep the temperature around 165f – 175f. Once there, place the meat on the grill and let the temperature get back to the proper range. When you open the grill or smoker to put the meat in, you will lose much of your heat. You will want to put in some water soaked wood chips, which impart a smokey flavor to the meat. At this point, you should put a lot of wood chips directly on the fire and watch the smoke bellow forth. I will do this for about an hour and a half and make sure a steady flow of smoke surrounds the meat Tip: do not open the grill at this point, you’ll lose all of the smoke buildup you’ve just worked hard to build. You will want so much smoke you can’t see the meat. Once you’ve accomplished that, go ahead and start raising the temperature. I like to get mine to about 225f – 240f for the remainder of the process. I don’t like to stop the smoke, so I will constantly check the smoker and put in more wood chips as needed. If the temperature dips, don’t be afraid to add more charcoal or wood. You have to keep in mind that this process will take 4 to 6 hours or more depending on quantity of meat, the type of meat, and how hot you maintain the temperature. About 15 minutes before you are going to pull the meat, you will want to add any sauce that you are going to apply to the meat which will allow the smoke to “harden” the sauce on the meat, allowing it to transform into “sticky goodness”.

Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology (Paperback)

gasgrillssmokers — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:38:58 +0000

Review
“Folks, it just doesn’t get any better than this! He is one of our TOP Instructors! Doug — Laura O’Rourke, Owner, The Culinary Center of Kansas City , August 28, 2003(Overland Park, Kansas United States)”Folks, it just doesn’t get any better than this! He is one of our TOP Instructors! — Laura O’Rourke, Owner, The Culinary Center of Kansas City , August 28, 2003(Overland Park, Kansas United States)A valuable manual for backyard cooks interested in exploring for the first t (more…)

gasgrillssmokers.org » Smokology

Gas Grills Smokers for Smoking Fish

Smoking Meat and Cooking Temperature

Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology (Paperback)