pellicle?

[gadusmorhua]

I have just got my porky pa smoker going, loaded with two bits of cured belly for streaky, and eight fillets of trout.I cured the fish for six hours in the recommended sugar and salt mix, after which it had lost a fair bit of fluid.As I am very busy the rest of the week I just dried the fillets well before hanging them in the smoker, so they haven't had time to form a pellicle.How important is this pellicle, what does it do?
Hope I don't find out the hard way !

[saucisson]

This should tell you what you need to know, particularly paragraph 4:

http://www.3men.com/allabout.htm

So, yes it's best if you can let a pellicle develop, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. If you do a long smoke the pellicle will develop in the smoker while it's smoking. On the site I linked to they dry for just an hour before smoking.

Dave

[gadusmorhua]

Thanks for the link Dave.My fish, after six hours in the smoke, developed their own pellicle, except one- the pinkest of them all.They are springy to the touch and have a nice sheen, indeed I am very pleased with the result and hope to taste one this evening.
The porky pa smoke generator is great,it didn't raise the temperature inside the bin by a single degree, and it certainly produced lots of smoke.The downside was that I only got 2-2 1/2 hours per fill, so it cost about �2 for the six hours.You can turn the valve to slow the combustion, but smoke output isn't too goodt.I think I'll have to buy a 15kg sack of chips in the future, though I will experiment combining pellets with my shavings and dust.
Can't wait to get fishing and get a big fish smoked, I will post some photos.

[saucisson]

Do post a mini-review of the Porky Pa in the smoking and barbecuing section once you have had a good play with it.

Dave

[gadusmorhua]

I've only just noticed there is a smoking and bbq section- the mouse wheel stopped when I got to the cheese section ! Having said that I must have visited there, as a search result, because that is where I picked up on porky pa's smoker.Someone else on the forum said beer and computers don't mix; unfortunately I do like to imbibe deeply from the cuppus bachus !
Will post review when I've done another smoke up, shortly.

[saucisson]

As a few of us have based DIY designs on Porky Pa's, it seems only fair that someone reviews the original to get a complete picture Be great if you can do it.

Dave