Project Smoke

I do a lot of curing and smoking of a variety of meats like bacon, hams, and fish. I thought I would share my exact brine and recipe so you can try it yourself. This works well with heavier grain fish like Striper but we will be using catfish for this project.

THE BRINE:

3 quarts of water
1/2 cup kosher salt or sea salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 finely crushed Bay leaves
2 tablespoons basil
1 tablespoon dill

Combine ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer 10 minutes. Pour the brine into a non-metallic bowl. Let cool.




After the brine is room temperature we will add fish. Your fish pieces should be equal in thickness for best results.


The time it takes for the brine to penetrate will vary based on thickness. We check and stir in one hour.(Continued)

Ok, fast forward one hour. This picture is to show the importance of using same thickness cuts. As the brine penetrates the fillet it will become translucent. The lower part of this fillet is fully penetrated while the upper(thicker) needs a little more time.


This piece is exactly what I want it to look like when it's ready to remove from brine. This piece is bluecat and was soaked 2 hours. Channel cats have a denser grain and will take a bit more time to penetrate same thickness fillets.


Once the fillets have the look of the last photo you will remove and lightly rinse the brine off fillets with cold water. I then pat dry the fillets with paper towels and lay out to dry.

This drying time is called equilibrium time. It allows the brine in the meat to fully and equally distribute itself throughout the fillet. We will allow 6 hours in the refrigerator on a towell-open air. Next step, The Smoker. Continued

I�m on me me way...c u at supper time!!

SMOKER'S: there are two delineations of smokers, hot and cold smokers. The delineations say it all! For this project we will be cold smoking. Cold smoking uses smoke and no heat. It allows more time for smoke flavor to penetrate the meat but will not cook it. I generally smoke fillets 3-4 hours with no heat. We will cook the final product for about 7 minutes at 350. You may choose to hot smoke on your BBQ pit. It will greatly reduce time but sacrifices much flavor.

Smokers can be made of anything. I started with an old refrigerator and used it for years. I now use an old bread rack from a commercial kitchen for these smaller projects.




Here's yesterday's jerky for Gato sitting next to today's fish.

I'll be back to talk smoker wood in a bit. It's a very important subject if cold smoking. Continued

Looks excellent!

So your saying El Gato will take you fishing for beef jerky??

I think I can come up some... haha

Great post though

Gato makes me bring the beer and throw the net! Jerkey just smooths the edges!

Ok, we are off and smoking! Wood selection for cold smoking is very important! Hardwoods are generally the only wood used to cook but I choose a white wood for smoking fish and white meat. I almost exclusively use pecan which is second cousin to Hickory. I do not use the wood itself but instead go looking for the rotted pulp wood of former pecan logs. This pulp is super light like balsa when you find the right stuff. You can light the end of a piece and it will smolder but will not light. This equates to smoke but no heat! Here's a picture.




I lightly baste my brined fish fillets with olive oil and introduce to the smoke house.




When smoking, it is important to remember that a light smoke over a long period is much better than rolling heavy smoke for a short period. Heavy smoke will impart a sooty crusty smoke that will be bitter. Take your time and lightly kiss the meat with light smoke for several hours so that it has time to penetrate. Continued

punk wood, who'd have thunk it?

This is awesome I'm setting here at work with a little drool running down my chin

3 1/2 hours of cold smoke ought to do it for these thin cuts. Now to pat dry any moist spots then get ready for some quick heat.


Perfectly cured!

Littlefeather the Comanche Smoke Shaman!.. here is a picture of Littlefeather after cold smokin all afternoon!

I pre heated the oven to 350 then I put fillets in on a cookie sheet and inserted for 7-10 minutes. Here's the final result!


My wife just said she'd throw out lobster to make room for more brined and smoked catfish! The nice thing about fish this way is that you can crush up leftover fillets and mix with cream cheese! Serve with crackers on the next fishing trip. Thanks for tagging along with me on this thread! Good luck on your next fishing trip! Try this brine recipe with or without the smoke. You won't be disappointed! Curtis

Will do, it looks beautiful Man.

Want to fish tomorrow?

Lol! Thanks fella's!

That sure looked good !!

mmmmmm...Thanks for the post buddy!!!

Thanks for the replies! Let's do the left-over cream cheese dip. I will not be giving exact measurements because I believe everyone can please their own pallet with the seasoning you enjoy. I generally start with 2 blocks of cream cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and chives.

I mix 2 parts cheese to 1 part grated smoked fish. The seasonings are strictly personal choice. Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature or microwave for 20 seconds so it's pliable.

After completing the arduous task of mixing I top with a light sprinkle of paprika and grated dill. I generally advise letting this sit for 24 hours so flavors penetrate but rarely does the mix make it for more than an hour.


Use this dip on saltine crackers if your Redneck side is shining through! I prefer the Melba toast crackers with it but sometime I just spoon it out of the bowl!! This is an awesome snack to have onboard while out replenishing your catfish fillets! If you run out of crackers you might try stuffing some fried shrimp with it! Lol!
Enjoy! CK

Awesome post. Looking MIGHTY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

wow that looks to good not to try thanks for the post!!!

OOhhh!!! My gosh that looks good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slow down, Spags can't take notes that fast!

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the thread. I wish I could show my other smoke projects but this is the catfish section so they don't qualify! Happy fishing!

TTT for BlueBlazer.

Nicely done! Looking Mighty Good!

That looks oh so good!

My problem and it's a big one, is that I like fish so much I don't have the patience to do all that.
For me it's wash, season, batter, hot grease, and done.

Woo hoo. Thank you sir. Now I just need to find some rotten wood to try a cold smoke. I have never heard of a cold smoke before. I usually smoke traditional redneck meats. Haha

Thank you and man that looks good!

Looks lip smacking good !

I am going to try your brine for sure next time I catch some eater blues! Love blue cat and I bet that would make them even better.

Thanks for sharing mate!