# Fish Trifecta!



## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

Getting the holiday gift baskets prepped. Smokin Salmon, rockfish, and tuna bellies.

Will take the rockfish to a jerky texture.




















Separate containers for each while brining. 4-1 sugar to salt dry rub. Will brine for 8 hours, then rinse and air dry till pellicle forms. Season then smoke. 


Smoke away!!!


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## mike w (Nov 29, 2014)

I'll be following! what internal temp will you take the salmon? I'd like to make some salmon for new years.


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## snorkelinggirl (Nov 29, 2014)

Hi Case,

Looks great so far!  I'm very interested in the details of your process, as I'll be smoking a few salmon tail sections for the first time for holiday gatherings.  Staying tuned...


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## sawhorseray (Nov 29, 2014)

That looks real nice, I'd like to try that dry rub. You mix salt and brown sugar 4 to 1, what kind of seasoning after the pellicle has formed? RAY


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

Yep a 4:1 brown sugar to kosher salt ratio. I will take the saon to an IT of 145. The rockfish is going to go a bit further as I want it to be more like jerky. The tuna bellies I am undecided on. 

For additional seasoning I'll be using garlic and black pepper. Maybe a bit of dill on the salmon. 

I'll be using my GOSM starting around 130 for a hour. Then bumping the temp to 150 for a hour. Then 180 until done. 

I am going to use alder pellets for smoke in the AMNTS and mailbox mod.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

Got everything drying. It's cold and windy enough out that I can do this in my smoker. So that's where the tuna bellies are. The salmon and rockfish are in my also cold garage with artificial wind.







Smoker temp














Should be able to start the smoke in a hour or so. Pellicle is just about there.



Smoke away!!!


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## sawhorseray (Nov 29, 2014)

Boy howdy, that sounds and looks great, thanks! I'm definitely giving both the salmon and rocklers a try at this method, I've never dry-brined fish before . The temps you smoke at are just about exactly what I've always used. I just smoked a batch of salmon myself, so I'm all out of that till next season opens. I do have a freezer shelf stuffed with rockfish fillets that I'll be trying this on soon. Thanks again! RAY


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Nov 29, 2014)

It's all lookin great Case !  

I've gotta make some more salmon !

Lookin forward to how your turns out !

:beercheer:


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

I had thought about hitting the rockfish with a teriyaki glaze but don't have any and just realized we are out if brown sugar too! So won't be making any and I'm not going to the store!


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

All loaded up. Going to cold smoke for 1 hour then apply heat. Currently 42 in the smoker. Blowing like mad and spitting snow oh and it's sunny, only in Central Oregon!













image.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ Nov 29, 2014


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Nov 29, 2014)

Lookin good Case, your weather sounds like SE Idaho weather..... Can't make up it's mind.  We have a saying here that if ya don't like the weather, just wait 5 min and it'll change.  Did you all have bad wind the last day or so.  Just wonderin if we're gonna get that snow.  Winds bout 50 mph today so I think we have a cold front coming in !


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## welshrarebit (Nov 29, 2014)

Those are gonna be some nice gift baskets!

I won't talk about my weather but they don't call Hawaii paradise for nothing..,


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## atomicsmoke (Nov 29, 2014)

Marvelous fish smoke.


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## jerky nut (Nov 29, 2014)

Looking good,  I always smoke my rock fish using a 80 degree brine and throw in a little garlic powder.  I never tried using brown sugar in the mix might have to try that next time.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

jerky nut said:


> Looking good,  I always smoke my rock fish using a 80 degree brine and throw in a little garlic powder.  I never tried using brown sugar in the mix might have to try that next time.



What this 80 degree brine you speak of? Need more info please! When I brine the rockfish like this I like to add a glaze part way through, but didn't this time as I didn't have any! 


Smoke away!!!


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

Salmon done! 







Tuna bellies done! 

Rockfish still Smokin! 


The tuna bellies smelled so strong while smoking, but are mild and my new favorite smoked fish! Freaking awesome!!!!! 


Smoke away!!!


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## pc farmer (Nov 29, 2014)

WOW.

I want some rock fish.

Yup, tuna too.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

Adam the tuna is Fantastic!!! I was worried about how strong it smelled while smoking. Never done bellies. The fat is perfect for the 4:1 brine. Funny most here smoke the bellies for bait. They use them for halibut fishing and salmon fishing in the rivers. Not gonna be giving up bellies anymore, these are great!!!!


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## pc farmer (Nov 29, 2014)

Wish I could get fresh tuna here.


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## welshrarebit (Nov 29, 2014)

What kind of tuna? I'll be trying this soon...


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## jerky nut (Nov 29, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> What this 80 degree brine you speak of? Need more info please! When I brine the rockfish like this I like to add a glaze part way through, but didn't this time as I didn't have any!
> 
> 
> Smoke away!!!


Brine is just a solution of salt and water. The degrees is how much salt is in the water.

To get roughly a 80 degree brine you need 2.25 lbs of salt to one gallon of water. This is enough to brine 8 pounds of fillets after that the brine is too weak.

I checked my recipe I do use 1 lb. of brown sugar and 1 Tbs. Garlic powder and add pink cure.  I let the fish soak for 15 minutes per 1/2" of thickness. Remove them from the brine rinse and refrigerate over night uncovered to form a pellicle .   I  hot smoke mine starting at 140 degrees moving to 170 degrees after 2 hours. Fish is done when the IT reaches 150 degrees.  Comes out great not too salty. Cold smoking requires more soak time  I think it's 1to 1  1 hr / 1".


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

Welshrarebit said:


> What kind of tuna? I'll be trying this soon...



We get Albacore here. What is it called there again? Is bet any tuna belly would be great!


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 29, 2014)

jerky nut said:


> Brine is just a solution of salt and water. The degrees is how much salt is in the water.
> 
> To get roughly a 80 degree brine you need 2.25 lbs of salt to one gallon of water. This is enough to brine 8 pounds of fillets after that the brine is too weak.
> 
> I checked my recipe I do use 1 lb. of brown sugar and 1 Tbs. Garlic powder and add pink cure.  I let the fish soak for 15 minutes per 1/2" of thickness. Remove them from the brine rinse and refrigerate over night uncovered to form a pellicle .   I  hot smoke mine starting at 140 degrees moving to 170 degrees after 2 hours. Fish is done when the IT reaches 150 degrees.  Comes out great not too salty. Cold smoking requires more soak time  I think it's 1to 1  1 hr / 1".



Still confused why is it called a 80 degree
Brine?


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## welshrarebit (Nov 29, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> We get Albacore here. What is it called there again? Is bet any tuna belly would be great!



Albacore = tombo.


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## mike w (Nov 30, 2014)

Would that be 80% salinity?


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## tropics (Nov 30, 2014)

Case that is a nice batch of fish. Tuna bellies are great I took the ones they brought for bait on one trip LOL


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## jerky nut (Nov 30, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Still confused why is it called a 80 degree
> Brine?


 Brine strength is measured with a salinometer.  A salinometer looks kinda like a gigantic glass bulb thermometer.  It has markings on it just like a thermometer.  Salinometer scale is from 0 degrees to 100 degrees.   0 degrees no salt at 100 high salt concentration. You place the salinometer in a bucket of water it will float. Where the water line touches the salinometer is where you get your reading( salt density in degrees).
   So if I have a recipe to cure a ham that calls for a 50 degree brine.  I place my salinometer into a bucket of water and add salt until it reads 50 degrees.  No need to measure the amount of water or salt . Just use a salinometer and you have the same salt density every time

I hope this's helped.


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## jerky nut (Nov 30, 2014)

Mike W said:


> Would that be 80% salinity?


Hi Mike,  100 degree brine is only 26.4% salt solution.  I had to dig my book out to double check that number.  It gets confusing.


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## jerky nut (Nov 30, 2014)

jerky nut said:


> Hi Mike, 100 degree brine is only 26.4% salt solution. I had to dig my book out to double check that number. It gets confusing.


I had to come back and correct my self.  Mike you are correct my salinometer is marked in degrees but I just checked and the new ones are marked in % I'm sure that 80 degrees with my salinometer will equal 80% with a new salinometer or solometer.  So i guess it's how you look at it.

 80 degree or 80 %  of  saturation.

To make a 80 degree brine you need 2.229 pounds of salt added to 8.33 lbs of water (1 gallon)  which is only 21.116% of salt by weight.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 30, 2014)

Thanks for the explanation Jerky Nut. Never heard of your method. Wi have to do some reading up on it.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Nov 30, 2014)

tropics said:


> Case that is a nice batch of fish. Tuna bellies are great I took the ones they brought for bait on one trip LOL



The bellies have always been thrown out, not no more. I ate the better part of one today!


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## jerky nut (Nov 30, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Thanks for the explanation Jerky Nut. Never heard of your method. Wi have to do some reading up on it.


 No problem glad you understood what I was trying to say.  I use the brine method when I make smoked rock fish every one loves it. it turns out like a fish jerky, salty and smokey but not as tough.  I have to try using a glaze like you did next time see how that tastes. Good job on the fish they look great!


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## red dog (Nov 30, 2014)

Dang you're killin me with those bellies Case! Reminds me of the smoked sturgeon bellies we used to get when I was a young man. Me and a buddy would buy 2 pounds and 2 quarts of beer and head for the beach.


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## oldschoolbbq (Nov 30, 2014)

Dang , Case ,That looks absolutely Marvelous . . .


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## venture (Nov 30, 2014)

Excellent job, Case!

I used to believe the hype and cut off and pitch the bellies.  After I cured some up I love them!

Waiting for the final drool pics!

Good luck and good smoking.


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## humdinger (Dec 2, 2014)

Nice job Case. Salmon was one of the first things I smoked (hence my avatar) but I haven't done much since. I'll hit you up if I ever need any advice.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

Red Dog said:


> Dang you're killin me with those bellies Case! Reminds me of the smoked sturgeon bellies we used to get when I was a young man. Me and a buddy would buy 2 pounds and 2 quarts of beer and head for the beach.





oldschoolbbq said:


> Dang , Case ,That looks absolutely Marvelous . . .





Venture said:


> Excellent job, Case!
> 
> I used to believe the hype and cut off and pitch the bellies.  After I cured some up I love them!
> 
> ...





Humdinger said:


> Nice job Case. Salmon was one of the first things I smoked (hence my avatar) but I haven't done much since. I'll hit you up if I ever need any advice.


Thank you! Yeah the tuna Bellies are fantastic!

Kurt the first thing i ever smoked was salmon. Bought my first smoker back when I was 12. Top loader Little Chief. I smoked salmon all summer long. Since fishing was my job I'd bring home salmon everyday. Brine overnight, put in the smoker in the morning and pull it out in the afternoon when we got home Repeat the process!


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## welshrarebit (Dec 2, 2014)

I've only smoked ahi bellies once; did a soy, sugar, ginger and garlic marinade. They were okay but I didn't like the texture. I also hot smoked them and the belly was from a 230 lb. yellowfin. I think It would be better from a smaller fish...

Last week at the fish market we got 24 shibis and. a 45 lb tombo. I should have grabbed some bellies!!! I work tomorrow so I hope they got some more in by then...

Shibi: juvenile ahi: either big eye or yellowfin.
Tombo: albacore.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

Welshrarebit said:


> I've only smoked ahi bellies once; did a soy, sugar, ginger and garlic marinade. They were okay but I didn't like the texture. I also hot smoked them and the belly was from a 230 lb. yellowfin. I think It would be better from a smaller fish...
> 
> Last week at the fish market we got 24 shibis and. a 45 lb tombo. I should have grabbed some bellies!!! I work tomorrow so I hope they got some more in by then...
> 
> ...


These bellies were all from Albacore that weighed in around 25 pounds. I caught seven this season. Didn't get all the bellies, wishing had! Part of them went to the fish filleter as he wanted them for salmon bait for river fishing. Couldn't say no as he wasn't charging us  to fillet the fish!

Great weather here right now for cold smoking. Balmy 29° with freezing fog, yay, not !


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

I really like the 4:1 brown sugar to kosher salt mix. goes good with the tuna.


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## Bearcarver (Dec 2, 2014)

All Looks Great from my house, Case!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Don't know how this floated around for 3 days before I saw it !!!

Sorry I'm late!

BTW: I threw a Tuna Belly right in with a batch of Salmon hunks, and it was hard to tell the difference!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Nice Job, Case!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bear


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## welshrarebit (Dec 2, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> These bellies were all from Albacore that weighed in around 25 pounds. I caught seven this season. Didn't get all the bellies, wishing had! Part of them went to the fish filleter as he wanted them for salmon bait for river fishing. Couldn't say no as he wasn't charging us  to fillet the fish!
> 
> Great weather here right now for cold smoking. Balmy 29° with freezing fog, yay, not !



I can only cold smoke at night. Once the sun comes up the temp goes right up to 80 degrees!

Hopefully I'll get some bellies tomorrow! I'll try the 4:1 recipe...


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

Bearcarver said:


> All Looks Great from my house, Case!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Bear!


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

Welshrarebit said:


> I can only cold smoke at night. Once the sun comes up the temp goes right up to 80 degrees!
> 
> Hopefully I'll get some bellies tomorrow! I'll try the 4:1 recipe...


Its a good combo, been using it for years. Then add garlic and black pepper or other spices once the pellicle has formed.


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## cmayna (Dec 2, 2014)

Case,

eh.......not bad if you like fish, especially that Salmon stuff....


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

cmayna said:


> Case,
> 
> eh.......not bad if you like fish, especially that Salmon stuff....


Thanks Craig! Wish I could get as much practice as you do!


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## cmayna (Dec 2, 2014)

Seriously,  the job you did there looks fantastic.  I swear those tails look just like the smoked Salmon Lox I recently did with the dill.  Yum.    I need to expand my smoking to Tuna, etc.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

cmayna said:


> Seriously,  the job you did there looks fantastic.  I swear those tails look just like the smoked Salmon Lox I recently did with the dill.  Yum.    I need to expand my smoking to Tuna, etc.



Thanks again Craig! I've always liked dill Nd garlic on my smoked salmon. 

The tuna is awesome. Sometimes I'll do whole loins too but didn't this year as we needed more plain canned tuna. Gotta get in that soon. 

The rockfish is okay. Not my favorite, but still good. I wish I'd had a teriyaki glaze to brush on towards the end. Next time I guess. 


Smoke away!!!


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## welshrarebit (Dec 2, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> The rockfish is okay. Not my favorite, but still good. I wish I'd had a teriyaki glaze to brush on towards the end. Next time I guess..



Make a kabayaki glaze. It's teriyaki on steroids! ;)

1 cup soy sauce
1 cup white sugar
1/8 cup hondashi powder
Fresh ginger, garlic and chilli flakes (you'll strain these out later).

Bring to a simmer, thicken with cornstarch and water (make it kinda thick Its a glaze) and then strain.

Real simple... REAL good!!!!


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 2, 2014)

Sounds good I'll have to see if I can find some msg free hondashi locally. I'll I've found here is loaded with the stuff!


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## welshrarebit (Dec 4, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Sounds good I'll have to see if I can find some msg free hondashi locally. I'll I've found here is loaded with the stuff!



Nobody ever said being on steroids was healthy! ;)

BTW, complete strikeout at the fish market today... Hopefully tomorrow we get some tunas!


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## smokerdale (Dec 7, 2014)

Any Tuna is great except Skipjack, cats won't even eat that! If you catch it yourself just caught Bonita is good after you remove the blood line, even BBQ. (part of the tuna family but lesser quality). I water brine mine, smoke at 225 for no more than 2 hours, even the thick roasts. Amazing and moist!

Happy smoking!!!


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## welshrarebit (Dec 7, 2014)

I eat skipjacks, called akus in Hawaiian, nothing wrong with them! Kavakavas are good as well (bonitas). The best are big eyes the butterballs of tuna!!!


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## disco (Dec 8, 2014)

Sorry to be late to the party, Case but this fish is making me very jealous. It is hard to get around here and I don't think I could do it as well as you have. Nice smoke, sir.

Disco


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 8, 2014)

Disco said:


> Sorry to be late to the party, Case but this fish is making me very jealous. It is hard to get around here and I don't think I could do it as well as you have. Nice smoke, sir.
> 
> Disco



Thanks Disco! It's all super tasty!'


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## driedstick (Dec 9, 2014)

DS, I have not seen mine show up UPS yet, did you lose my address AGAIN????? 

Looks great, I have been out every weekend and have not got a chance to smoke anything for a while. I better get with it. 

DS


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 9, 2014)

driedstick said:


> DS, I have not seen mine show up UPS yet, did you lose my address AGAIN?????
> 
> Looks great, I have been out every weekend and have not got a chance to smoke anything for a while. I better get with it.
> 
> DS


Thanks DS! Yeah my weekend smoking has been pretty limited too. I need more weekend and less work week!

Man I'd happy to trade for some snack sticks next time I get some more fish to smoke!


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## roller (Dec 12, 2014)

It all looks real good. I just placed a large side of salmon in the same brine an hour ago. I got it at Sam`s club. Its captive raised so we will see how it turns out..


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 12, 2014)

Roller said:


> It all looks real good. I just placed a large side of salmon in the same brine an hour ago. I got it at Sam`s club. Its captive raised so we will see how it turns out..


Thanks Roller!

Yours should turn out just fine!


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