Smoking fish at home?

[Argamemnon]

Does anyone have experience with smoking fish at home? I've heard there are special appliances for this.

[Michael in FtW]

I don't know of any special appliance for smoking fish specifically ... however there is a difference in the setup you need for hot-smoking (cooking) fish to an internal temperature of 160ºF/71ºC and holding it there for 30-minutes. You can do that with most smokers by controlling the size of the fire and adjusting the dampers, and a probe thermometer to verify the temperature.

Cold-smoking (smoke curing) at 80ºF-90ºF (27ºC-32ºC) for 2-5 days is a different matter. There are electric smokers which can be set as low as 100ºF (38ºC) or lower that are thermostatically controlled to maintain the temp and automatically feed in wood smoke pellets over a long period of time. But, the really good ones are not cheap.

What kind of smoking did you have in mind?

[attie]

Hello Argamemnon, if you go to any major fishing tackle supply outlet they should have fish smokers in stock, they will come fully fitted out and ready to go with different flavoured sawdust to choose from. Here's an example of what they look like, is this what you are looking for.

These sell for around $50AU here and they're quiet easy to use and produce a fair product

[Argamemnon]

Thank you for the replies. I really don't know anything about this subject, maybe I should google a bit :)

[love2"Q"]

what about a cold smoker?

[Michael in FtW]

Originally Posted by Argamemnon

Thank you for the replies. I really don't know anything about this subject, maybe I should google a bit :)

Let's try it this way - are you wanting to smoke some fish to eat the same day .. or maybe refrigerate for a day or two?

[Argamemnon]

Originally Posted by Michael in FtW

are you wanting to smoke some fish to eat the same day .. or maybe refrigerate for a day or two?

Refrigerate..

[KamilEvolution]

aH! This information may help me too, thanks!=]

[Michael in FtW]

Here is a good article on Smoking Fish that explains the processes (brines, temps, time) for hot and cold smoking fish.

The problem with cold smoking is that you really can't do it in the summertime because the ambient temperature is too high (the air is already as hot or hotter than the max temp you want for the smoke).

Although the hot smoking method in the above article starts out at 90ºF for a couple of hours - you don't have to start that low. Here is Alton Brown's Smoked Salmon method (maintains 150ºF throughout the smoking process) - which is close to what I've done (I usually started out around 120ºF).

As for a smoker - all you need is a way to generate smoke, contain it, and control the temperature. To see how simple your setup can be ... look at Alton Brown's Custom Corrugated Vapor Colloid Applicator (cardboard box smoker).

[Argamemnon]

Thanks Michael, that's a good site.