For the Pot Smokers

[zmk1962]

Hey Raiders,

I bet the title got a raise from a few !   ... so I'll try to keep it true to subject.

Ok, so several of the raiders I respect have in the past week mentioned how they enjoy smoking fish - hmmmm - now I enjoy smoked food and have eaten smoked salmon, wahoo etc - but I have never smoked a fish in my life. So with lockdown-itis in full swing I embarked on the adventure. 

First - I needed a smoker !  An hour or so of googling and youtube gave me plenty of ideas to work with and off I went to the workshop armed with a few broken kitchen items and created my own POT SMOKER !

Started with a pot missing a handle and with a damaged lid

and scrounged a damaged ally pot lid already lying around in the workshop... hmmm could be a good drip tray with a simple mod:

Couple the drip tray with two cake cooling racks cut down and bent to fit the pot - should do nicely.

It all came together like this:

Drip tray and first rack fitted:

Both racks:

With the Pot Smoker created, it was time to put it o the test. The only fish we had in the freezer were flattie fillets. Probably not ideal, but worth an experimental shot.

So some more googling gave me a simple starter brine recipe: 2cups water, 1/4cup salt, 1/4cup brown sugar. 

Into the fridge they went to party overnight.

So to prepare today's luch, out came the brined fillets placed on paper towels and patted down to dry....

So while they were resting, I prepped a salad of chopped fennel, green apple, shallots with a mayonaise + wasabi + dill  dressing. (Also put some sweet potato in the air fryer).

Then it was time to do some POT SMOKING ! 

Turned the gas on and waited for the smoke to start then placed the fillets on the racks, put the lid on and kept the temp around 72C ....

 

Some 20min later ..... checked .. the fish was flaking easily DONE ....

And VOILA ... lunch is served .... warm smoked flattie salad

Maria gave me 10/10  😛  .... this meal is definitely on the repeat. 

Now can't wait to try some fish species more disposed to receiving the smoking treatment - tailor etc. 

Hope this inspires others to give it a go and thanks to the raiders that peaked my interest.

Cheers Zoran

Edited July 17, 2021 by zmk1962
Fix out of place picture

[mrsswordfisherman]

Wow an A for effort there 

[BigHorse]

wow great work mate! that meal looks fit for any king!

[Blackfish]

Thats fantastic, big thumbs up for that one. 👍

[Rebel]

Well done. Lot of effort. Super photos.

[noelm]

It's great fun smoking fish and meat, done just about everything over the years, Prawns (not good) Oysters, almost every type of fish, Australian Salmon come out a treat, just cut all the blood meat away, and skin. Your brine is OK, I add about a cup of Soy Sauce too (the cheap supermarket brand is fine)

[frankS]

Zoran. Like you I have never smoked anything. You have given me inspiration to give it a go.

You make it look so easy even I could do something like that.

That meal looks scrumptious . What wood did you use ?.

 

Frank

[zmk1962]

24 minutes ago, frankS said:

What wood did you use ?

I used hickory chips. I had some already - I use them in the gas pizza oven to get the wood fire taste. The flavor was awesome- hard to tell we were eating fish - more like ham or smoked chicken. 

Bunnings sells a range and I’ll definitely now get some apple and cherry wood. That’s what the other raiders advised for fish. 

cheers Zoran 

[kingie chaser]

Nice work Zoran.

 

You have highlighted that almost anything can be used as a smoker.

 

My suggestion is to soak the woodchips in water for a while before hand.

 

It will give you a more subtle less harsh burnt smoke flavour 😉

[Hoods]

Thank You - Straight to the Pool Room with that one.

Did you mention which wood chips you used or think would be better for the flathead??

Hoods

[zmk1962]

10 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

 

It will give you a more subtle less harsh burnt smoke flavour 😉

Thanks KC. Will give that a go for sure 👍

9 minutes ago, Hoods said:

Thank You - Straight to the Pool Room with that one.

Don’t think I’ve heard that expression before Hoods- as Pauline would say “please explain!”

10 minutes ago, Hoods said:

Did you mention which wood chips you used or think would be better for the flathead??

Only had hickory at hand so used that. Flavour was great but will try other wood chips for sure. 
 

cheers Zoran 

[Brendan Monks]

Love seeing your inventions @zmk1962! 👌😁.

I had a mate from NZ that used to smoke Aussie Salmon and I couldn't believe the taste! This has got me so keen if it is that quick and easy! (Time to chase these and tailor) 😅

As @kingie chaseralso mentioned, he used to always soak the woodchips overnight in water as well - I just remember him telling me how much better it made it taste.

Great work!

[noelm]

A really good smoker is an old Weber kettle BBQ, you see them out on the footpath for free, those little box smokers you buy from tackle shops are good too, easy to use, and just a small Metho burner. Something that comes out real good is Chicken legs and wings, I once did a big "chunk" of Striped Marlin, came out great, I did it for a party and people just cut bits off all night.

[Scratchie]

Awesome Zoran! Wouldn’t even know where to start but that meal definitely looks inspirational 🤙🤙🤙

cheers scratchie!!! 

[zmk1962]

1 hour ago, Brendan Monks said:

Love seeing your inventions @zmk1962! 👌😁.

I had a mate from NZ that used to smoke Aussie Salmon and I couldn't believe the taste! This has got me so keen if it is that quick and easy! (Time to chase these and tailor) 😅

As @kingie chaseralso mentioned, he used to always soak the woodchips overnight in water as well - I just remember him telling me how much better it made it taste.

Great work!

Thanks Brando.  Yes this has got me re-evaluating many species as food!  Best of luck with it.

39 minutes ago, Scratchie said:

Awesome Zoran! Wouldn’t even know where to start but that meal definitely looks inspirational 🤙🤙🤙

cheers scratchie!!! 

Thanks Jeff. Can I suggest you scrounge an old pot from the kitchen first.  🤣

Cheers Zoran 

[dunc333]

now that pot smoking is not even illegal nice job Z 

[masterfisho7]

What a great idea love the report 

 

[Burger]

On 7/17/2021 at 6:01 PM, zmk1962 said:

On 7/17/2021 at 5:49 PM, Hoods said:

Thank You - Straight to the Pool Room with that one.

Don’t think I’ve heard that expression before Hoods- as Pauline would say “please explain!”

Have you not seen 'The Castle' Zoran???

An Aussie classic!

'Tell him he's dreamin!'

Edited July 20, 2021 by Burger

[Hoods]

Thats the one - Only the good stuff goes to the Pool Room!!

[zmk1962]

17 minutes ago, Burger said:

Have you not seen 'The Castle' Zoran???

An Aussie classic!

'Tell him he's dreamin!'

Ahhhh yes ... thank you for reminding me.   Somehow that brain cell was de-activated, my sincere apologies 🤣

[Burger]

Maybe too much Serenity . . . . 😉

[zmk1962]

“Ahh… the serenity….. zzzap….zzzap”

[kingie chaser]

On 7/19/2021 at 3:07 PM, Brendan Monks said:

As @kingie chaseralso mentioned, he used to always soak the woodchips overnight in water as well - I just remember him telling me how much better it made it taste.

Great work!

So many thing in life are done by trial & error & we can learn from pals & each other.

 

Its a good thing to be able to compare the one you started with & then the progression....................

There is always a progression to process in my eyes.

 

Whether thats experimenting with different woods like local apple wood which some a particular Aussie trout smoker will promote in his company's ethos or the brine.

 

Even as I chef I have had those days when I tasted something I made & said thats not as good as I was expecting.

 

As you move forward you can introduce different things like lemon zest, peppercorns, bayleaf to the brine & see if it changes the flavour for the better.

 

Or you could through the bayleaves into the wood chips 🤔 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zmk1962]

1 hour ago, kingie chaser said:

So many thing in life are done by trial & error & we can learn from pals & each other.

 

Its a good thing to be able to compare the one you started with & then the progression....................

There is always a progression to process in my eyes.

 

Whether thats experimenting with different woods like local apple wood which some a particular Aussie trout smoker will promote in his company's ethos or the brine.

 

Even as I chef I have had those days when I tasted something I made & said thats not as good as I was expecting.

 

As you move forward you can introduce different things like lemon zest, peppercorns, bayleaf to the brine & see if it changes the flavour for the better.

 

Or you could through the bayleaves into the wood chips 🤔 

So true KC ... Maria's and my head has been sparking since this experiment. Both on fine tuning the method, ingredients and in re-evaluating fish species as suitable tucker. But as you said, you have to start somewhere.

Cheers  and stay safe. 

Z

[kingie chaser]

2 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:

So true KC ... Maria's and my head has been sparking since this experiment. Both on fine tuning the method, ingredients and in re-evaluating fish species as suitable tucker. But as you said, you have to start somewhere.

Cheers  and stay safe. 

Z

Well you know at any time you can always pick my brain on anything food mate 🙂

 

Having the thermometer in there was a great idea for the internal temp, not many people would think of that!

The smoke is one thing, the food temp is another.

Smokey fish & just cooked is what you want.

 

The whole dish looks a winner to me