Smoked trout?


 
Smoked fish, crackers! No KETCHUP!!!!!
Making a dip with a squeeze of lemon, a splash of white wine, cream cheese and a small dollop of mayo to get it to a chunky but dipable consistency. Capers are good in it too.
Experiment.
 
I got descaling mixed up with deboning. I didn't realize they were two different processes.

I called Costco and they confirmed the fish was descaled.

I guess my question is after smoking it, I have to debone it, right?
 
Whole fish, I’d scale then, skin after smoking, remove flesh from bones, chill and make a nice smoked trout dip. Crack open a bottle of champagne and enjoy it with my wife.
 
Anne M. said:
If I remember correct, I didn't use any seasoning for trout (I love smoked trout).

As I cooked it on the stove, I have no real idea about temperatures and time.
I would just fire up the WSM, see at what temperature she likes to run, add some wood and check after 15-20 minutes. Mind you, that's not from experience, just a guess
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Should the smoking take ~ 20 minutes, or hours?

I was watching this video just now, and he did it @ 196 degrees for 3 hours (to reach internal temp of 160 degrees).

I'm thinking my temp will be somewhere from 250 - 275, from past experience. So it should take less time.

I'm also thinking that I should make this on the weekend. That would give me some time to get the other ingredients for Timothy F. Lewis's dip ready.

Also, if it's going to take at least an hour, then that's another reason to put it off for a few days.

I don't mind spending 2 - 3 hours in the kitchen on a weekday. But if I'm trying something new like this, maybe the weekend is better.

Also, when I was reading the comments in this video, one commenter said that smoking fish will leave a smell for future cooks. What do you think, is this true? Or will the smell go away in about a day?


This guy says a little less than 2 hours, at around 225 degrees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0y5TSox15Q
 
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Definitely not 20 hours :)

I have only smoked fish on the stove top and I think it only took about 15 minutes or so, hence my suggestion to check after about 15-20 minutes.
It might take 1 or 2 hours.

If your fish is scaled, then smoke the whole fish. Just do the filleting afterwards.
You could actually do the same if it isn't scaled as you most likely discard the skin.
Just make sure it is gutted.

The whole fish will take a bit longer, but it will stay moister (if that's a word...)

As for smell, I don't know.
I would think that it won't be too bad for the relatively short smoke. Just clean the grid properly afterwards
 
I would not go over an hour. Depending on just how Smokey you want it.
I used to hot smoke salmon with Cherry for about forty to forty-five minutes. It was perfect every time but, that was for a much larger piece of fish than trout.
Time and practice is really the only way to learn what works for YOU!
Also, frozen fish will not be as firm as fresh, I try to only use fresh and smoke it skin on and filleted the skin provides a little insulation when hotsmoking as I do.
 
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Trout's on the WSM.

Wow, putting only 12 or 13 briquettes is different than filling the entire chimney, like I'd always done before.

It takes less time to light them (< 10 mins). It's also easier to light the chimney, as I can reach the newspaper from the top, because the chimney grate is still exposed. When the chimney was full, I'd have to lift the chimney with one hand, and light the newspaper from the bottom. This was always a bit awkward, and sometimes the newspaper wouldn't stay lit for more than a few seconds. So I'd have to try several times, to make sure it would really burn.

I imagine that when I was filling the entire chimney, I was probably lighting 110+ briquettes.

A few of those cooks were high heat, so it was ok. But I still think now I lit way more than I should have, regardless.

Here's my cook on the Flame Boss. It's only been 14 minutes, and the fish temp is already at 104 degrees.

https://myflameboss.com/cooks/290078
 
It took 48 minutes for it to reach 160 degrees.

From looking at the Flame Boss graph, the pit temp was in the 550s for a major portion of the cook.

I used water in the pan.

I haven't tasted it yet, so will comment on that later.

Why was the temp so high?

One other thing I was thinking of, was that for such a short cook, I don't know how good of an idea it was to put the wood on the edges of the charcoal grate. Maybe I should have put it closer to the middle, where the lit coals were? Since there were only about 13 lit coals, they weren't spread very far. So they were all around the middle.

I'm not sure if it reached the outer wood, with this short of a cook.
 
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De-boning was also much easier than I thought it would be.

The fish just splits open in the middle, and you can pull the bones out.

Just like this video:

 
Does trout taste kind of like salmon?

I had the trout both over some quinoa, and in Timothy F. Lewis's dip. For his dip, I used 1 lb. of cream cheese; 1/4 cup white wine; 1/4 cup mayo; and 1 lemon.

When I had it over quinoa, it reminded me of what I usually don't like about salmon.

However, when I had it with Timothy F. Lewis's dip, with saltine crackers, then it had a nice balanced taste.
 
Difficult questions, Arun ;)

I think I would probably have gone for a full load of charcoal in the WSM and just close all vents and let the fire die when the fish is finished.

As for taste: with Tim's dip, you diluted the trout taste, so maybe it was too strong tasting for you?
Maybe less wood next time?
I hardly use any wood on the WSM as I use lump charcoal and I find that extra wood becomes overpowering quite quickly.
 
Trout taste nothing like Salmon...If there both caught fresh and handled right there both excellent tasting fish.
 
James N said:
Trout taste nothing like Salmon...If there both caught fresh and handled right there both excellent tasting fish.
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It's been several years since I've had trout, so I was just wondering.

The trout was packed on 8/25, and I cooked it on 9/1.
 
Anne M. said:
Difficult questions, Arun ;)

I think I would probably have gone for a full load of charcoal in the WSM and just close all vents and let the fire die when the fish is finished.

As for taste: with Tim's dip, you diluted the trout taste, so maybe it was too strong tasting for you?
Maybe less wood next time?
I hardly use any wood on the WSM as I use lump charcoal and I find that extra wood becomes overpowering quite quickly.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I tasted much smoke taste. But with the dip, the overall taste was all right.

I also realized afterwards that I had one vent hole open in each of the 3 bottom vents.

Maybe I should close those, and just keep one open where the Flame Boss fan is, to keep the temperature lower.

Should I have put it on the lower rack like I did, or the top rack?

I did use some lump charcoal too.

As I said earlier in this thread, it might be close to 9 years since the last time I made fish.

And the last time I had cooked fish (that wasn't deep fried) might be July 2017, when I had rockfish with quinoa in a restaurant in Seattle.

So overall, it's not frequent for me, and I might just be getting used to things.

I'm also someone who preferred catfish over salmon from when I was a younger, so take that for what it's worth.

Overall, I have to consider this somewhat a success. Other than breaking the pit probe on my flame boss; nothing else broke. And I didn't burn anything, or drop anything.

And de-boning the fish was easier than I thought.

And the dip had both a tart taste from the lemon and wine; and the fish taste. Which was pretty good.

I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I had a full load of charcoal in the WSM itself, it's just that I only lit 13 briquettes in the chimney. Is that an ok amount?
 
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