INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

These are different processes from Scotch smoking which is cold
smokingthe fish remains raw. Kippering and barbecuing are hot smoke
processes where the fish is cooked. In barbecuing you have no control
over the heat; the smoke is hot only. The fish is placed in a
pre-heated smoke oven and kept there until cooked. The only control  is
smoke on or off during prolonged cooking. In kippering you  gradually
bring up the heat to condition the fish before final hot  smoking and
cooking.  The salting procedures are the same for both cooking methods.
You can  kipper or barbecue whole sides for special occasions but
pieces of  fillets cut according to thickness is easier to salt and
smoke cook.  You can dry salt, plain or mixed, whole sides and wet
brine, plain or  mixed, pieces. Thick sides are hard to dry salt so
either slice into  two thinner fillets or inject brine.  Plain
salt:Score the skins as for dry salting before Scotch curing and  place
the salt the same way. The time required is 1/3 as much as for  Scotch
smoking and 1/6 if brine is injected. This is because Scotch  smoked
fish must be thoroughly conditioned so as to be able to slice  it
thinly but here we are just adding enough salt for flavor. Also  Scotch
smoked fish is an appetizer, a tid-bit and can be salty to the  taste
but kippered and barbecued fish is a main course. After dry  salting,
simply rinse off the salt and drain before cooking.  Salt mixes: add
3/4  cup white or brown sugar to each 2 1/4 c  pickling salt and
optionally add up to 50 bay leaves, 8 tsp pepper, 2  tb mace, 7 tsp
allspice, 2 1/4 tb cloves, or 2 tb juniper berries.  Prepare the side
for salting as for dry salting for Scotch smoking  and place the salt
as for Scotch smoked fish. The time required is  1/2 as much as for
Scotch smoked fish or 1/4 if brine is injected.  Plain Brine: Prepare
brine [2 1/2 c salt to 2 qt water] and cool to  50 deg. Keep fish and
brine cool at all times. Stir pieces from time  to time. The time
required is about 3/8 as much as for plain brining  for Scotch smoking.
Drain fish coming out of the brine before  smoking/cooking.
Sugar-Spice Brine: Prepare brine as for Scotch smoked sugar spice
brine. Time: 3/8 as much as Scotch smoked method. Drain fish coming
out of the brine before smoking/cooking.  Reusing brines: Because the
fish has absorbed sugar and salt and  released water, you must bring
the brine back up to strength by  adding more salt or mix. Use a
salinometer to be accurate and bring  back up to 90deg salinity.
Smoking Kippered Salmon: Drying- is important for appearance and
flavor. During drying the salt soluble protein protein from the fish
forms a skin on the surface called a pellicle which combines with the
smoke for a pleasant appearance and most of the smoke flavor. Methods
of drying include hanging under building eaves in a breeze out of the
sun, with a fan, a forced draft smoker and a small clear fire in a
natural draft smoker. Dry at 100 deg with maximum draft for 1 1/2 hr
[forced draft] or 3-4 hours [natural draft].  First smoking- 1 hr,
medium density at 100 deg.  Tempering- is gradual as opposed to sudden
heating and is important  for appearance and quality, so soluble
protein juice does not pool on  the surface and form curds or the flesh
dry unevenly and crack.  Gradually raise the temp to 175 with medium
smoke over an hour.  Second Smoking- 1 hr at max. smoke at 175. Take
thinner pieces out of  the smoker now and give the thick pieces 1 more
hour.  Barbecued fish: after salting or brining, place in a hot
pre-heated  smoker and cook until fish flakes readily.  Storage: of
kippered or barbecued fish. Cool as quickly as possible.  Do not wrap
before it has cooled or it will spoil. Freeze the surplus  promptly.
Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by:
Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim
Weller  Posted to MM-Recipes Digest  by "Rfm" <Robert-Miles@usa.net> on
Sep  08, 98

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