bric Loc: Helena, MT

Pics - Before and after smoking. Turned out pretty good. Still refining my smoking technique. I brined overnight, but I see conflicting recipes on whether to rinse off the brine before smoking.
Anyone have any tips or experience whether to rinse off the brine before placing in smoker?
Thanks in advance.

Fish Dancer Loc: Guntersville, Alabama

Looks delicious 😋. What did you say your address was. lol

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Half will say rinse it the other half will say don't. LOL. Looks good like it is

GLA Loc: WA State

Gordon's correct about conflicting preferences. I'd say try it both ways and see what you and your family like best. I personally do a light rinse after I bring the fish out of the brine, pat it somewhat dry with paper towells and add the finishing touches. Viola~!

Garry Loc: Wellborn, Florida

Down here some people smoke bait fish, Lisa (mullet) My wife loves it, I don't eat my fish bait.

bric Loc: Helena, MT

Thanks for the feedback guys. Really appreciate!

wellfield Loc: Long Beach,California

Mmmm'...can smell them all the way to California!.....wouldn't think it would make that much difference,brine or less brine....another good way to do them is:gut them/scale them/sliced up mushrooms in the cavity/wrap them in bacon/stick them in the oven....Mmm' Mmm' Mmm'

bric Loc: Helena, MT

Aww sounds good. Haven’t ever tried that for trout. Will try that next time. Thank you.

Big dog Loc: Bayshore, Long Island, New York

Looks delicious 😃.
No one ever taught me how to smoke fish, I learned through trial and error but I dare say I got trout down rather well. Here’s my method;
1) gut and clean off the slime coat
2)prepare marinade in oblong pot.
Water, soy sauce, brown sugar, liquid smoke, onion powder.
3) get charcoal fire going.
4) as flames die down, place fish in pot and pot on grill. As marinade heats up it’ll poach the trout. When the eyes are white, remove from heat.
5) allow coals to ash over and then add presoaked wood chips (apple, hickory, what ever you prefer.
Put grill on top of coals and fish on grill.
6) cover grill to contain smoke and not allow any flames.
The secret is lots of smoke but not too much heat. Allow this to go on until the meat has lost most of its moisture but not too dry.
The poaching actually cooks the fish, the smoking adds extra flavor and gives you the right texture.
As I said, I had to figure this out on my own. It’s a quick method and only takes a few hours as opposed to 24 hours or more. I put it up against the smoked trout from the local smoke house and mine was right good. Try it sometime.😊

JRK227 Loc: Cedarburg, WI

Rinse briefly and pat dry before loading in the smoker. Leave skin on flanked fillets to retain moisture in your smoked fish. I also like to chunk lake trout or large salmon for smoking. Leave the skin and scales on the chunks and remove just prior to eating.

bric Loc: Helena, MT

Thanks for the tips and recipes guys!

wardcarr Loc: Western North Carolina

Best investment I ever made was a Traeger wood pellet smoker. Bought mine used I cook trout fillets a short bit of maybe 8-12 mins Use small amounts of spice. No brine just smoke 💨 on grill. Very good flavor much better than if cooked on any thing else. I will never switch back.

bric Loc: Helena, MT

Yeah traegers are nice. Thanks

MAS fish Loc: Peoria,IL

This is my grandparents 50 years tried and true smoking brine recipe.
Brine mix: 1 cup vinegar, 3 cups water, 1/2 cup plain salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar. Mix these ingredients throughly and add fish to brine mix.( I use 2 gallon ziploc bags). Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours, or overnight. Rinse in cold tap water, pat dry with paper towel. Place on smoking racks belly down, skin out, and air dry about an hour. Place racks with fish in smoker, smoke for an hour and then test for doneness. Larger fish will take longer. I enjoy smoking with applewood.

Kerry Hansen Loc: Bremerton, WA

My thoughts. I suspect if high salt content brine you might want to rinse off. You should pat dry with paper towel and put on a rack. You need to let it sit and hour or more until it develops a sticky surface (pelleting or some name like that) that will help keep the fish moist. What I do is roll each piece in dry ingredients and put in zip lot bag and refrigerate. It will develop juices in bag as it draws moisture out of fish. reposition bag to continuously covering all fish the same.