Smoked fish

[tdibill]

My neighbor is an avid fisherman and on a recent weekend trip to Green Lake in Wisconsin caught a number of Ciscos. Knowing that I had a new smoker he asked me if I would like to smoke 10 of them, to which I agreed. I made a brine which consisted of 1 qt of apple juice, 1 cup of kosher salt, and 1 cup of brown sugar. I then
brought that to a boil, then let it cool. Once cooled I added the fish along with 4 cloves of crushed garlic and 1 quartered orange. Put that in the fridge for 3 days and then proceed to smoke it low and slow with a couple chunks of pecan. Once the fish reached 165, they were right where I like them. I must say it
was some of the most moist flavorful and moist smoked fish I have ever had.

[bigwalleye]

Nice!, and a good lookin' cook besides.
Never thought to add an orange or apple juice to a brine. Sounds like a nice twist.
Noticed this is your first post, but I'd venture this is NOT your first trip to the rodeo!

Welcome aboard!

[DReeves]

Very nice!

And all this time I thought Cisco's were routers. Who knew!

Thanks for sharing the brine. I have some fish in the freezer begging to be smoked!

[Augcat]

Nice job I going to try this with some Trout I got in the freezer I will let you know how it comes out. What temperature did you put the smoker on

[tdibill]

I set it at 200 degrees.

[GPALMA]

I used to fish Big Green Lake, specifically for cisco. Have been using this recipe for 20+ years and it produces excellent results on cisco, salmon, trout, white bass, etc.

• 2 quarts cold water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup apple juice
• ½ cup non-iodized salt
• 1 cup soy sauce
• ¾ tsp fresh black pepper
• ¼ tsp onion salt
• 1 tsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
• 4-5 heavy glurps of Tabasco sauce

1. Brine fish for 4-6 hours (thin chunks or average fillets) or 10-12 hours for whole fish.
2. Remove the fish from the brine and place on your smoking racks with air circulating around them at a cool temp. You want the fish to glaze over if at all possible.
Suggest smoking with alder wood (preferred) or a sweet apple wood of known quantity (no bark…ever). Do not over-smoke.