Headed For The Smoker

Eight pounds of rainbow and brook trout filets bound for the smoker in the morning. This is my first time trying a dry brine. It's 50/50 brown sugar and coarse kosher salt. Recipe calls for brining overnight followed by a good rinse to get all the brine off the filets then put on racks to air dry to form a pelicle(sticky) surface, brush 1 cup of honey on the filets and top with a light sprinkle of brown sugar then place in a smoker preheated to 200 degrees and smoke for 2 hours. Fingers crossed it turns out good?

 

Yes me too @Ernie

 

Step two....removed from the brine, rinsed under cold water to remove any brine sticking to the surface of the filets then pat dried well with paper towel and placed on the smoker racks in a cool spot(in this case outside on the bbq with lid propped open slightly) with good air circulation to continue to dry and form a sticky pelicle on the surface of the fish(approx 2-3 hours). Once formed I'll brush the filets with a 1/2 cup of honey and sprinkle 1/2 cup of brown sugar over the flesh sides then place in a 200 degree smoker until the internal temp of the fish reaches 145 degrees(approx 2 hours) then remove, let cool and chow down!! Lol

 

sure sounds like you are candy-ing them

 

I’d skip the honey on some of them just to see .
Did maple syrup before smoke once and wasn’t great .

 

Colour me impressed, lol. It turned out pretty good. I stuck to the instructions and ingredients of the recipe. Only thing different was it took about 45 mins longer than the approximate time stated on the recipe for the thicker pieces, at least to get to the texture we prefer. I think next time I would cut the salt by about 50% and go to 2:1 brown sugar to salt. It tastes great but given I've really cut my sodium intake back the past two years I find it a bit salty to my taste now. I did the honey and brown sugar coating as suggested and its not quite near as sticky or sweet as any candied salmon I've had in the past. It surprisingly has just a hint of sweet given the amount of brown sugar in the brine and the coating on top. I'd give it an honest 7/10 when comparing to some smoked salmon & trout I've had before and it's definitely 100% better than the last wet brine I tried. I think with a bit of tweeking I can make this a real good one!

 

Looks really good from here. I have found on both my Bradley and Pit Boss recommended times don't mean a whole lot. Good meat thermometers make the difference.

 

It does look great.

 

Agreed, I use one for everything. This recipe recommended internal temp of 145 for the fish so I used that as my guide.