Directions: |
Directions:How to Make Dry Brine for Smoking Northern Pike
1. Mix all ingredients together well.
2. Cut PIKE into fillet-size pieces (about the size of your hand or palm. Leave the skin on and rinse well under cold water.
3. Drain and pat as dry as possible with paper towels. Place Pike, skin-side-down in a plastic tray. You'll want something with high sides to hold all the moisture that will be drawn out of the fish.
4. Completely cover the Pike with the dry brine mixture. Be sure to pat mix around the sides as well. You want to cover up as much of the fish as possible. Cover the tray/fish with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge or a very cold place for 24 hours.
5. Remove plastic wrap and thoroughly rinse fish under cold water. Remove as much of the brine as possible from the fish. Dry the fillets with paper towels (you want it as dry as possible). Let sit on a tray for 2-3 hours or until a sticky pellicle can be seen/felt on the skin of the fish.
6. Bring the smoker up to 200 degrees. Use alder wood chips when smoking fish. Get the smoker smoking and, working quickly, put the trays of fish in the smoker. Smoke for 2-3 hours.
Smoking Northern Pike (Liquid Brine)
Before smoking pike fillets, soak them in a brine for an extended period of time. The longer the fish soaks, the saltier it will become; twelve hours works just fine.
Brining fish helps add moisture, preserves the meat and infuses more flavor. To make the brine add 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of brown sugar, ¼ cup of lemon juice and a bunch of random spices to one gallon of water. Once the fish has soaked in the brine for twelve hours, Wash off the fillets using cold water, place them on racks, and cover them in garlic powder, pepper, cayenne pepper and alpine touch. After the fillets have been spiced up, turn on a fan and point it toward the meat until its “wet looking” texture no longer glistens. This process of drying the outside of the meat is called pellicle. It helps to trap the infused flavors and moisture in the meat. At this point, the fish is ready to be smoked.
To smoke the pike, use hickory or apple woodchips; birch, alder or any other kind of fruiting tree will also work. Chips must be soaked in water for at least an hour before use. Once the chips are soaked, place them in a metal box that has holes on its surface. Then place the metal box on an electric coil in the bottom of my smoker. The intensity of the coil’s heat output will alter the temperature of the smoker and the amount of smoke released from the metal box. Once the chips begin to smoke, put the racks of prepared fish in the smoker, adjust the heat to 200°- 230° and let the pike smoke for roughly two hours. After a couple hours, the smoked fillets will have a nice caramel colored crisp outside. This means they are done and are ready to eat. |
