Suggestions for trout/salmon with no skin

Not sure about smoking but recently I grilled fome fillets.

First I dry brined them with a 50/50 blend of Turbinado (brown sugar will work) and Kosher salt for four hours - two would have been plenty!

Sprayed the grill with cooking oil & cooked with the skin side down first over a medium heat - 325˚ to 350˚. When we flipped the fillets (about 3.5 minutes per side) we had no trouble with the fish sticking. The brining firmed up the flesh nicely.

I really think you'll be ok if you brine.

Hope this helps a little. Maybe some of the fish smokers will chime in.

I agree with Wheelz to a point.. only differences on personal preferences..

50/50 mix of brown or turbinado sugar and sea salt.. you can add teriyaki or soy sauce to the rub if you like. Rub it onto both sides of the fish and let it sit in the refer maybe 6-8 hors for a Costco sized fillet. Rinse the fish well to remove the salt mix and place the fish on a cookie drying rack or even on the smoker rack. If the house is not hot.. put the rack on the counter in front of a fan. This will dry the surface and form a pellicle. It will appear dry and shiny and tacky to the touch. Then put in the smoker with apple or alder or other light wood and smoke till the fish is at about 180º.

MMMMMM..

I tried foil with holes the first time I smoked fish. I had problems getting the fillets off the rack in one piece because of the lack of rigidity in the foil.

I smoke on a FE100, and it's big enough to hold some pizza pans I had with holes in the bottom. I don't smoke much fish, but when I do, I use them. I roll fillets in olive oil, coat with Tones rosemary garlic and smoke.

I aways remove skin from my salmon when I smoke it in my smoket. Never a problem falling apart. The trout may be another story, however you probably will be ok if its thick enough. Just lay it right on your oiled racks. hope you got this in time?

See my recent post titled "Salmon out of this world". The way I did it was simple and couldn't have been better, for this household anyway. The filets were also skinless. Going to buy some more this weekend.

Thanks for the replies all, havent done anything yet, was just worried more about the fillet staying together during the smoke, I figured it would fall thru the rack if it had no skin as the bottom layer so it couldnt move.
That rub of salt and bs sounds good, will give that a try.

What internal temp should the samon and trout be cooked to? Or just check myself when it flakes easily?

Uzzi,

I smoke quite a bit of Costco skinless salmon. Never had a problem with fillet falling apart or falling thru the grills. Probably my favorite method is soaking the fillet in Hi Mountain Salmon brine overnite. Soak in cold water 30 min. change water and soak an additional 30 min. Rinse well and place on a cake cooling rack with fan blowing over it for a couple of hours. When pellicle is still a little tacky, I brush on pure maple syrup and let it set another 30 min. Put in preheated smoker at 180-200 and smoke to an internal temp of 145. You can adjust the internal temp to your taste if you like it more solid flesh and drier.

Salmon smoked in the smokette is terrific. Big hit at Christmas parties last year.

Jerry

My way, I use the Steven Raichlen recipe :

Soak for 30mins in brown rhum (Captain Morgan Spiced add more flavors)

2 part brown sugar for 1 part sea salt (I think?)
20 spins of fresh ground pepper
mix with hands

after the salmon's bath, dry it with paper cloth.

Set some salt mix in the bottom of plate (use same as bath) sit salmon on it ant cover with rest of salt mix.

Let sit for around 2-4 hours, depending on thickness of filet

Prepare smoker (I have an offset) fo temp around 190-200

Smoke for around 1h 1½h (maybe 2h)

Let cool and enjoy!!!

I did multiple salmon filet with no skin and they never falls apart...Same for trout (whole)

uzzi
I've had good luck using the seafood grill in place of the regular grill. If you have a cookshack smoker, you can buy the grills from Cookshack directly. Or, Allied Kenco has a good selection, prompt service and resonable prices.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by uzzi:
Thanks for the replies all, havent done anything yet, was just worried more about the fillet staying together during the smoke, I figured it would fall thru the rack if it had no skin as the bottom layer so it couldnt move.
That rub of salt and bs sounds good, will give that a try.
[QUOTE]

Uzzi.. check out my Smoked Salmon pictures for the batch I did yesterday. If you handle the filets reasonable carefully, they will not fall apart.. but this is dependent on the temp you cook to. This will have something/a lot to do with the moisture content you end up with. The lower moisture the better it holds together.

As for temps, I cook mine to an internal temp of 185º as measured in the thickest pieces. The thin pieces I pull before the large pieces hit temp as they will dry faster.

Oooo, nice pic, looks yummy, makin' me hungry and still a ways to go till lunch time!

Thanks for all the replies. Gonna get going on this today or tomorrow for the smoke. I like he ease of the dry brine of 50/50 salt and brown sugar, gonna try that one I think!

Y'all need to get the seafood grill, then there are no worries.

We go to Costco every week just to get the Salmon Filets. The wife loves this simple recipe;

In one gallon of water;

3 cups of Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup of Pickling Salt
1/4 Cup of honey
2 Tblspoons dry dill

Soak overnight

Smoke with apple at 230 degrees until the salmon is 145 degrees.

The salmon holds well on the rack or a stainless steel seafood tray that I got from Lowes.

My wife insists that I make this every week. I tried smoking salmon without brining.....mealy and not very good at all. I am a brine believer.

Good luck and keep it simple.

OK, I got 'er done yesterday. Salmon fillet wasnt the thickest in the world, but I just had to give it a go. So I mixed up 1/2 cup kosher coarse salt and about 3/4 cup brown sugar, mixed will together, then coated both sides of the salmon, placed in the fridge in a coverd dish. Left for 6 hours, removed from fridge, rinsed thoroughly. I notice a large amount of juice/liquid had been sucked out of the fillet, fillet was very firm/rubbery if that makes sense after rinsing well. Placed on a elevated Cookshack rack directly in front of a fan inside my house out of the sun. After about 1.5 hours, brushed with a mix of maple syrup and corn syrup, thin coat applied, and then applied some crushed pepper. Left for another 1.5 hour, and nice pelicle had formed. Fired up smoker, preheated at 200 with a bit of alder wood, once the heat was up and smoke was rolling, I put the fish in on the top rack of my 050. Turned temp back to 180. Pulled it out 3 hours later, internal temp was exactly at 161*, I'd imagine it had been holding there for a while. Left on counter for a bit to cool, then into the fridge uncovered to finish cooling, and I wen tot be, got up this am, had a taste, it was VERY good.

Only comment I have it was quite salty, think next time I'll cut dry brine down to maybe 3 hours instead of 6, maybe even cut the salt back and increase the BS....thats really my only complaint. Its very moist/juicy inside, outside is nice and firm/crusty/chewy. My wife says its like candy! She was impressed with me again. She said she can even overlook the saltiness, its that good! Makes me happy anyways! Shes gonna make some kind of appetizer with it tonight....can't wait!

Thanks for all the help, very much appreciated!