Hunting season has begun and I needed to make some more room in the deep freezer for potential future venison. As I began to sort through my frozen wild game, I came across a bounty of frozen trout from a couple of my fishing trips. I had been wanting to give smoking fish a try, so I figured this would be a perfect time. So here’s what I did.

Step 1.

I thawed my trout fillets and mixed up a brine. The brining helps keep the fish from drying out too much while it’s smoking.  Here’s what I used for my brine.

8 cups of water

1/4 cup of salt. I use Himalayan pink salt.

1/2 cup of sugar

2 tbsp of soy sauce

1 tbsp of Sriracha

3 tbsp of minced garlic

1 tbsp of black pepper

1 tbsp of smoked paprika.

1 tsp of ground thyme

Bring all your ingredients to a rolling boil. Let the brine cool and submerge your fish.  I let my fish soak in the brine for a full 24 hrs.

Step 2.

I removed my fillets from the brine and let them air dry for at least two hours. I placed them in front of a box fan to speed up drying time. DON’T skip this step and go straight to the smoker. The drying time creates, what is called a pellicle. You’re looking for a sticky coating that forms on top of the fish. This layer gives the smoke something to adhere to. I feel it creates a more intense smokey flavor to the final result, but you do you.

Step 3.

I then took a baking sheet and cooking rack and assembled a fish DIY smoking tray. Simple and effective.

I just needed something that allowed as much smoke access as possible.

Step 4.

I found some wooden kabob skewers and cut them into 1-2” piece rods. This is what I use to prop open the fish cavity during the smoking process. It allows more smoke access to the inside of the meat. Adjust your rod lengths according to your fish size. I have used toothpicks in the past, but they tend to poke through meat when cooking.

Step 6.

I like to keep my smoker temperature at 180-200 when smoking trout. That might be a little hot for seasoned meat smokers, but I find it’s hot enough to cook the fish, but not hot enough to cook it too fast. I’m looking for smoke flavor, not speed. I leave the fish in the smoker for roughly 2-3 hours and check my smoke flow every 20-30 minutes.

Step 7.

Remove your fish from the smoker and remove the wooden dowels from the interior of the fish. While the fish is still warm, I began picking all the meat off of the fish. The warmer the fish is the easier it is for the meat to pull off the bones. Trout have very small rib bones and they become harder to remove once the fish has cooled down. I have waited until the fish cooled completely before and the results were terrible. The meat wanted to stick to the carcass and I kept pulling out the small rib bones, which I had to pick out later. I also didn’t get as much yield as I would have I done it straight off the smoker. Lessoned learned the hard way. Just pick your fish meat off the bone as soon as it comes off the smoker. 

Step 8.

Use however you see fit. Sprinkle it on a salad. Add it to a sandwich. Make a dip with it. Or just vacuum seal it and put it in the freezer until you need it.

Smoked trout is very versatile.