new to smoking fish and need some advice

[kjezek13]

Hello everyone. I am living in a town called naknek in alaska. It is part of the bristol bay salmon run so we have no shortage of salmon here. I only get the internet on my phone so it is kinda hard for me to look up what I am trying to find kn here so im trying my own post in the hope of saving some time. I apologies now if I ask some questions that should be in a different section but again trying to save time and make it simple for me on my phone.

My first goal is to make my own smoker out of a old refrigerator. I have the fridge and have been searching the forums but they all seem to deal with meet smoking. Since I will only be doing fish in my smoker I am wondering how I should go about making this smoker. I would like to be able to do a cold and hot smoke. Like I said before I am new to smoking and building my own smoker so I really have no idea even how to start. It is just that I have the old fridge and it will be cheaper and bigger to build my own than to ship one out to me. So any and all advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

My second topic is how to smoke the fish. I want to learn how to candy fish cold smoke fish and jerky fish. I assume all these will take different methods and heats and times but like the smoker building I don't have any idea where to start. What is the difference in cold versus hot. Can the same smoker be used to do both methods. I really appreciate any and all advice on this subject. And again guys im very sorry if I have posted this stuff in the wrong section. Im not trying to be rude just want the best and most complete advice I can get. Thanks again for the help.

kevin.

 

[cmayna]

Welcome to SMF.    Guess what I'm doing today?  Doing some King Salmon Jerky.   Will be starting to post pics here in the fish forum in a little while with details.   I have yet to make my own smoker so can't help you too much on that subject. 

When it comes to cold smoking Salmon, I assume you are referring to Lox?   That's the only cold smoke I've done when it comes to Salmon.  There are plenty of Lox recipes around here.  The jerky I'm doing is currently in a dry brine of Salt/Sugar/fresh garlic, after being thinly sliced.  It will brine for 3+ hours, then air dried for 2 hours on the smoker racks.  Then smoke at 150-160 for two hours, then into a dehydrator for 4+ hours or I might just let it sit in the smoker for the last 4 hours.

I've only done true candy twice and never really liked the taste so I've moved on. 

 

[bigwheel]

Hey Kevin as far as the smoker try this. Mount an electric range top 220 element in the bottom..but only hook up one loop to 110. Pie pan sits on the element..wood in the pan. Put whatever you want to smoke in there..shut the door and come back tomorrow. Works great on jerky..should also work on fish.

Had an old chum on the Coast who smoked a variety of generally considered trash fish called Golden Croaker. He brined and smoke and the bones just went away somehow. Tasted like salty country ham. Person would be hard pressed to know it was in the fish family. Keep us posted as your adventures unfold.