8/7/10 Report: 1st V21 Billfish!

[randlemanboater]

Thats awsome BR!

My son and I were just north of you Saturday morning, didn't catch any sails though, just about 50 other little ones.

[Destroyer]

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?

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.

[Blue_Runner]

Thanks RB!

Destroyer - man that sounds really cool. First time I've heard of the old fridge smoker. I love doing things like that. I made a smoker out of a couple of cardboard boxes one time on a camping trip. It worked great for the first couple hours.....until I let a hot coal get near the edge

I appreciate you writing that up and explaining it to me. That will definitely work and sounds delicious.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by Blue_Runner

Thanks RB!

Destroyer - man that sounds really cool. First time I've heard of the old fridge smoker. I love doing things like that. I made a smoker out of a couple of cardboard boxes one time on a camping trip. It worked great for the first couple hours.....until I let a hot coal get near the edge

I appreciate you writing that up and explaining it to me. That will definitely work and sounds delicious.

When I lived at the shore there was an old salt that told/showed me how to make one... The whole idea of the refrigerator rather than just a metal box is the insulation in the refrigerator keeps the heat in, so the thing works really great. I've done turkeys, hams, chickens and fish... all come out tasting fantastic. Glad you like the idea. :)

[Blue_Runner]

Thanks for showing me. You got me doing some research now.

Question - the 10 - 14 hour thing, is that what you would call cold smoked? Also what temp does it reach inside the smoker?

Check these out:
http://forums.mathewsinc.com/viewtop...c50625aa88b4b7

and

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=52967

[Destroyer]

It's definately not cold smoking.. the temp in there is well over 200. All the water turns to steam, and that happens at 212 deg. F. Truthfully, I've never been finicky or anything about how much temp or whatever. I know it works. The electric hot plate doesn't run out of fuel, so by my way of thinking my main concern was to keep as much of the steam inside for cooking as possilbe.. I didn't have to worry about drafts and such since there were no flames. So I kept doing it that way. I figure if it ain't broke I'm not fixing it. I used to smoke whiting 12 hours... sometimes less, and Striper and Blues for about 14 hours, depending on their size.

I liked that one link where the guy had that refrigerator smoker. He made some nice shelves in it.. I don't like the chiminey vent, to my way of thinking it's lets way too much steam and smoke out... Of course they are using fire boxes and such, and have lots of steam and smoke, so maybe they can afford to open the draft... I used to run my smoker with the holes 3/4 or more closed...
I never did cheeses... never thought to try them actually... Oh well.. I guess that's what they made Whole Foods for.

[Blue_Runner]

Yeah the homemade wooden one has no insulation so the hot plate probably wouldn't be enough heat. I do quite a bit of smoking over wood coals (hickory and oak) on a metal smoker my dad made and also a dry stacked concrete block smoker I made. I normally smoke b/t 200 - 225 degrees. It is a lot of fun on a cold winter day. Flyfishin's dad is getting ready to build a nice concrete block smoker outside his 30 x 40 shop. I will have to post some pics of it. On opening day of deer season Fly's dad is going to fire up the smoker and the plan is for us all to meet back up after the morning hunt to chow down and shoot the bull before heading back out that afternoon. Gonna be fun!

[willy]

Good job Blue Man, you better bring a bigger fish bag next time

[Blue_Runner]

LOL Willy. That bag has seen a lot of fish and hasn't met one yet it couldn't hold....until that day. Note we were going to release the sail anyway so it didn't matter. I was surprised that 43lb yellowfin fit in the bag but it did. I would like to have one a little longer and wider. I figured out on the fishing trip before last that when empty the fish bag makes a nice lounge cushion to sit on the deck on the way in or out. I bought the bag used for $75 so it has definitely paid for itself and continues to do so.

[Airslot]

Perty work Blue. I'm loadin up the gear now. We'll be in Topsail August 23rd, harrassing the fishes