Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue_Runner
Thanks guys. This will be talked about for a very long time! Wish we had a better pic.
FWB - fried and grilled on the Spanish. I've never smoked fish. What temp? How do you do it?
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You can buy a smoker and follow the directions and you'll get ho -hum results.....
OR....
You can do it "old man of the sea" way which is (IMHO) Wayyyyyyy better. But you'll need some land away from the house and an understanding wife.
Get yourself an old single door refrigerator.... (No, I'm not kidding.. the older the better... the kind from the 30's and 40's and even 50's that had porcelan insides... not the crummy plastic things that we get nowdays...) Put it at the back of your property. (That's where the understanding wife comes in) DO NOT USE THE PLASTIC INSIDE KIND..the plastic melts under the heat of the steam and ruins everything)
Strip out everything inside... no shelves, no freezer section...no nuttin..
INSTALL A PADLOCK AND HASP ON THE DOOR!!!! This is the lockable type of door and we do not want any children hurt or killed by getting into the refrigerator and pulling the door closed.
Drill 3 holes 1 inch dia from the side into the top area of the refrig. Make 3 thin metal patches that you can screw onto the outside of the refrig to close or open those 3 holes.. These will act like dampers to allow smoke and steam out. Keep them closed and more smoke and steam cooks faster and puts more smoke flavor into the meat.. open the holes more and you'll let out more smoke for a lighter taste. There is no right way.. experiment.
Drill one hole 1 inch dia into the very bottom from either the side or the back into the smoker chamber. (remeber, these older refrigs were filled with fiberglass as insulation between the inner and outer skins, so wear a mask when drilling so you don't inhale the fiberglass dust.)
Now... inside the unit you will want to drill a line of several holes on opposite sides of the unit up near the top...just into the inner skin, don't go through the outer shell....I used to make 5 holes, 1/2" dia., opposite each other about 5" apart. At waist high make another 4 holes, two on either side in a line, one in the front and one in the back on each side... these will become the anchor points for a wire rack for meats that you cannot hang.
Get plain or threaded rod slightly longer than the distance of the holes, flex it slightly and put them into the holes. (You'll now have 5 hanger rods up top and two rods that you can lay a plain wire rack on waist high that you can hang or lay your meat/fish/turkey on while smoking it).
Find an old frying pan.. 10" dia or 12".. either will work fine. The old cast iron pans are great for this.
Get an electric hot plate...not the food warmer kind, but an actual plate that you can cook on... Turn that baby's knob to full and put it into the bottom of your smoker... feed the electric cord out that bottom 1" hole you made.
24 hours before:
Clean your fish...leave the heads on...the jawbone makes an attachment point.
Get one or two 1 quart mason jars, fill them with wood chips.. the more fish being smoked equals more chips needed to smoke them. (any fruit wood will do.. apple, cherry, hickory.. different woods give off different flavors.. so experiment) The chips should be both big and small sizes..but no bigger than an inch. After you fill the jar(s) with the chips fill the jars to the top with water, screw the lids on and let the chips soak overnight.
While they are soaking, put your fish or whatever it is you're going to smoke into your brine/marinade..and let them soak overnight (12 hours) also.
Next day:
Take your fish out of the brine/marinade, let them air dry.
Take your frying pan and put it into the smoker on the hot plate. Cut up coat hangers to make "s" hooks (or use the chromed left over "s" hooks from all the bungie cords that broke over the years) Put the hook thru the fishes mouth and out it's neck and hang it on the rods you put in at the top. Keep at least an inch space from each one.
Pour the wood chips, including any water that wasn't absorbed, into the frying pan
Close the door and plug in the hot plate.
In about 10 - 14 hours, depending on the thickness of the fish, open the smoker (BE CAREFUL....HOT STEAM AND SMOKE WILL COME OUT) Test for doneness...
Enjoy a great meal. Cold beer, smoked whiting, cole slaw, and corn on the cob loaded with butter...OMG...does it get any better??
[What happens inside the smoker:... as the hot plate gets hot it turns the water into steam that starts cooking the fish.... as the chips get hot they start to smolder and give off smoke that adds flavor to the fish. They do not burn because of the steam in the unit.. but they will be black and reduced in size when you finally open the unit]
The marinade or brine that you soak your meat or fish in is especially important.. I have my own recipe that was given to me, but you can literally find hundreds of different recipes on the internet. A good source for a few are:
http://bbq.about.com/od/brinerecipes...or_poultry.htm
If you want to use my recipe it is as follows:
For each gal of filtered water add:
1 cup of salt (Kosher, not iodine)
1 cup of sugar (fine white)
4 bay leaves (Crushed, big pieces)
2 tablespoons of Old Bay seasoning
Mix well
Submerge fish in the brine/marinade solution and refrigerate it overnight. In the morning remove fish from the brine and rinse them under cold water, then let them air dry for about an hour.. (you should see a sheen on the skin and it should feel slightly sticky)
They are now ready for you to smoke.