more smoke on fish

You don't say what kind of wood you are using,but stonger woods will increase smoke flavor,as well as more of them.

Get the smoker smoking,before you put the fish inside.

Sometimes cherry will darken.

Brushing with a little soy sauce will sometimes help the color.

Thanks Tom -- were using Hickory so will try some cherry -- does the soy change the flavor too much?

Today is the batch that has the brown sugar/ salt on it and that ususally is darker - just from the color from brown sugar I think.

Noticed that as the fish cooled off it seemed to darken a bit - which helped the look.

rho

A little soy should be barely noticable in flavor.

Hickory should give plenty of flavor.

How long and at what temp are you cooking?

good ? i also have this problem. to day i did some trout but could not get enough smoke flavor into the meat. eddie

One thing you cant omit from the fish smoking process is drying after the cure. Wet or damp fish dont take smoke in well. You must give the fish time to form the pelicle before smoking. We like a bit less smoke flavor in ours so we only let ours dry for 60-90 minutes after rinsing the cure off. I have heard some folks will let it dry for 3 hrs or longer (if you refrigerate). Then right before I put it in the smoker, I apply a very thin coating of pure maple syrup. I use 1 oz of apple for the smoke.

Hope this helps some.

Bob

Thanks everyone -- both recipes have been tasted by guys at the firehouse and while both are considered good it seems that the brown sugar/salt ones are loved so we will probably just stay with that tried and true method from now on -- it also turns out the darkest because of the brown sugar I guess.

We may not have dried it long enough -- probably about an hour and a half.

Also as they cooled off the light colored fish in the first batch did seem to get a bit darker -- has anyone else noticed that?

But they sure won't go to waste -- will use the lighter in a spread and the darker will be set out for a platter. They will be a big hit at the wet down for the new fire truck.

Have made a note in my book to try the soy and maple syrup.

It's still a learning process -- and heck even the ones that aren't exactly what we want are still yummy.


thanks again
rho

Soy sauce (or Teriyaki)and brown sugar will certainly add color. The soy will add a bit of saltiness to the fish, and the brown sugar a bit of sweetness.. I find these pleasant.

I've had a bit of trouble getting a pelicle on some of the fish I've done, to the point of leaving the fish in the frig for over 24 hours. I read recently that one should not try to form the pelicle in the refrig, rather outside the frig. Pat dry with towels, put on racks and use a fan to force move air over the fish. Works pretty well.

Bill

just got to throw my 2 cents into this one.
try a little kitchen bouquet or magi. brush on real litely.
jack