Trout - Caring For Trout To Be Smoked Or Canned

 

CARING FOR THE FISH –  Quality begins as soon as the fish is landed. Fish need to be killed,  field dressed and put on ice immediately.  This is especially true with fish that will be dry cured and smoked.  Ice will lock in the true flavor, and keep the meat firm and moist. If you loose the firmness and moisture, the curing procedure will suffer big time.  The dry curing process relies on a moisture exchange (osmosis) to draw the salt, sugar and spices into the meat. Later, the smoking process dries the meat which concentrates the natural flavor and the flavor from the seasonings.    Store bought fish should feel firm and have no “fishy” odor.  Farm raised salmon will have some color added, but that’s no big deal for smoking.  Just make sure you buy fresh fish, or better yet… catch your own!  The next couple of pages are instructions on how to process the fish you catch. Store bought fish will have the ribs removed and maybe the pin bones removed.

 

Preparing the fish you catch -  I field dress my fish and get them in the cooler before putting the line back in the water.  When I smoke fish for other folks, I won’t even take them if they feel mushy or look like they have stringer shock. (the one exception is during ice fishing, I leave trout on the ice about 15 minutes, then gut and bleed them, and store in an empty cooler so they will stay cold, but don’t freeze solid)

 

I use an electric fillet knife and I leave the skin on for best results.  If you purchase store bought salmon or steelhead to smoke, try to get fillets with the skin on.  Although wild salmon is better for you and supports the Alaska fishing industry, I have found that farm raised Atlantic salmon has a better level of fat when it comes to smoking.  It will remain moister than wild salmon, and it’s a lot cheaper too.

 Here are the tools I use.

 

 

 1. Remove the ribs – With a very sharp fillet knife cut as close to the ribs as you can and fold them out of the way.  Then use the utility knife cut to cut off any fins and also to cut the ribs and a strip of meat off the belly to even out the fillet. (see third picture)

 

 2. Remove Pin Bones - Run your finger along the fillet from the head end toward the tail end, this will cause the small pin bones to stand right up. Use a small pair of needle nose pliers to pluck them out. The hardest ones to find are the ones on the head end of the fillet. You really need to feel for them.

 

 3.  Before & After  - On the bottom fillet, the ribs are off, the pin bones have been plucked out, the backbone fat or cartilage has been trimmed away and the belly has been evened out.