catfish?

[twistertail]

should I brine catfish before smoking? Going to try some tomorrow for the first time.

 

[bbally]

With fish I do the opposite, I sqeeze the water out of it. As much as possible. If I am doing a big catering, I purchase a new squeezing mop bucket and use it to squeeze the water out of the fillets. To much water mean no smoke moving in along the protien fibers.

 

[olewarthog]

I love smokin' & bbqin' as much as anyone, but IMHO catfish are meant to be rolled in cornmeal & deep fried.

 

[twistertail]

I agree, nothing better than deep fried! But a guy I work with has a few bags left from last year so we are going to give them a try in the smoker.

 

[rickw]

I smoked some catfish a while back, turned out pretty good. I didn't do anything special just spiced it up.

 

[gene111]

normally i just put some spices or rub on them & Smoke'em up!!!!!!!!!

 

[langemr]

I'd have to give that a whirl sometime to. I threw some walleye on the smoker the other day. No brine, just seasoning and I thought it was great.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Remove the water. And watch the seasonings you use. Fish will take salt quick, and if you use a spice with a large amt of salt, the fish will be too briney to eat.Point:my neighbor brought over some beautiful fillets,he'd seasoned them the night before with Tony C's(a good spice,but it has a high amt of sodium). The fish was inedible. He ask if he could wash it off(post cooking) and I told him the damage was done.Too bad,gotta go fishing again.Drink more Beer and look at more Chicks on the shore or in boats!LOL
I mixed a bit of Cajun he can use next time;but I'll season just before smoking.

 

[mballi3011]

I personally wouldn't brine the catfish but I don't eat any fish with bones in it.

 

[twistertail]

Ok so I did not brind and just did half with salt and pepper and the other half with some cajun seasoning. Smoked with cherry at about 220 and only took about an hour and they were great. These were skinless fillets that my friend had caught this summer, I'll be hitting up his catfish hole with him come spring time!

Really they were much better than I was expecting, not dry at all but I could tell they could get dried out if you left them in too long.