something different with smoked walleye

[tasunkawitko]

i'm trying something different tonight with a couple of pounds of walleye fillets that my dad gave me. i sprinkled on some seasoning (mostly for the salt and sugar curing properties) with these ingredients:

1 generous cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp dry mustard powder (coleman's recommended)
1tbsp onion salt
1 tbsp celery salt
1 tbsp chili seasoning (from the envelopes you find in the gravy section)
1 tbsp seasoned salt (lawry's recommended)
1 tbsp black pepper

necessary substitutions with this rub were dark brown sugar, onion powder, chili powder and white pepper.


naturally, i didn't dump the whole thing on the fillets, just a good sprinkling on each side. i used this rub this last weekend on some ribs and really liked it.

anyway, once i did that, i took the fillets, put them in a quart-sized mason jar, added 1 tsp of tenderquik (not sure if this was necessary, but did it anyway), 2 tsp lo-sodium soy sauce and then filled the jar half-full with sunkist orange pop. then set this brine/marinade in the fridge overnight. it seemed more sweet than salty, but there was i beleive a good mix of sweet, salty, savory and a little bit of spice.

when i got home from work, i rinsed off the fillets and patted them dry, then sprinkled on a little bit of crushed bay leabes and red pepper flakes. i then set them on the smoker racks to form the pellicle for an hour. about 45 minutes into this operation, i plugged in the little chief and got a pan of alder chips to the point where they were starting to smoke good. put them in at 2000 and will use 2 or three pans of chips total.

i think this should be good - i gotta admit i forgot how dang good alder wood is when it is smoking! for anyone who hasn't tried this, i recommend it for anything ~

 

[nater3]

any pics of the finished product

 

[tasunkawitko]

i think it's about half-done now, nater - there won't be too much to take a picture of, but i will take one when i pull them off and probably post it tomorrow ~

naturally, just a couple of pounds of filelts isn't going to take too long, and it has been very warm today and still is tonight.

i usually do my smoking in colder weather with the little chief, and this is the first time i've used it that the racks have been too hot to handle as i was changing the wood chip pan. i am guessing that after a 2nd pan of alder chips, the fish will be done to the point where it is ready - it will be a two-hour smoke at 2200.

 

[tasunkawitko]

i forgot pics!

this stuff turned out pretty good. i had one piece and left the rest fo my dad sealed in the fridge, but he hasn't come to pick it up yet, so i was able to take a pic.

it's not a very attractive picture, but this is essentially how they looked coming out of the little chief, except they might be just a shade darker now. i piled them on a plate and ripped one in half to show an internal view. there were a very few small and delicate bones, but for the most part these were very good boneless fillets.

the flavor is good - the mild alder works very well with the sweet, salty, savory and spicy flavors. as you can see, the color is interesting as well.

 

[rivet]

Man that looks tasty and you don't have to convince me about smoking with alderwood! That's some good stuff, and your fish looked so good I sniffed my screen!

 

[alx]

I like the different things myself TAS.Thanks for sharing this.I believe my fish interest is spiking again.

 

[bassman]

Looks great, TW! I haven't done fish on the smoker in over 20 years. Maybe it's about time to give it a go again.

 

[beer-b-q]

Looks great, I've never done fish...

 

[tasunkawitko]

thanks guys - beerBQ - fish is easy - just takes a little bit of time and some good willingness to try a couple of different things. i am learning mroe and more the benefit of balancing flavors, and it is a great journey that can extend into any type of cooking, as this project demonstrated.

 

[rivet]

Unless you own a boat and go on the lakes, it is hard to get fresh fish, or a whole one for that matter around here.

There's a good seafood market here in town and I am going to check it out for some fish...want to use the alderwood for fish at least the first time!

Thanks for your post Tas~ as always your fish looks real good.

 

[tasunkawitko]

rivet - let me know when the time comes - we'll get some good ideas firugred out for you. basically there is hot smoking, cold smoking, sater smoking and dry smoking. the method i've done here is probably best termed as cool dry smoking, but there are many ways to skin a fish and smoke a cat!

 

[docparker]

I am going to try smoking some Walleye tonight, anything you learned that I should know?

 

[tasunkawitko]

doc - i got an email notification of your reply.

basically, it is pretty easy and turned out well. brine, pat dry, allow to form a pellicle (tacky-sticky coating from air-drying) then smoke at fairly modest temperatures to at least 140 degrees internal. from there you can go to the desired moistness/consistency that you prefer.

i used a little chief; this dries the fish a bit to something that is similar to the smoked salmon that you can get. if you use a different type of smoker, your results might vary a bit, but it should be good all-around.if you cook at higher temperatures, you will get a moister product that will be more like cooked fish but have a shorter shelf life.