Smoked Mackerel

[saucisson]

I'm going to get my kippers drying today. Thanks Royt and pokerpete for the update on mackeral. Rollmops I love, must try them soon.

Edit: update on mackeral, not kippers

[saucisson]

Kippers tonight were amazing

I pulled them out of the cure on Sunday, rinsed them, then threaded a rotisserie bar in and out through the gills (which helped spread them open) and dried them overnight in open air over the kitchen sink.

This morning I put them on greaseproof paper, rolled them up and put them in the fridge until we were ready to go.

grilled and served with fresh bread made earlier in the day...

I fully filleted some and left the bone in on others (ie some of the fish were half filleted) before curing

The fully filleted were saltier, of the half filleted my wife said:

This takes me back 30 odd years to when we had kippers in front of Dr Who on a Saturday night.

A result!!

Dave

[jenny_haddow]

Jolly good! I took a pair to my dad in London yesterday, sealed in cure with instructions of what to do. On your findings I'm hopeful they will pass muster.

Thanks for passing on the idea.

Cheers

Jen

[saucisson]

Five kippers, a loaf of bread...

all gone...



My cure has saltpetre in it so the cooked flesh was quite red rather than the expected brown in places.

Now I'm trying smoked salmon, but I'll post that in the cured fish forum

[jenny_haddow]

Well, my dad said the kippers were like kippers used to be, so I'll count that as successful. I'll make some more now I've used him as a guinea pig - it's what fathers are for!

Jen

[Rik vonTrense]

Well if he survived you can at least post up the recipe.................
#

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[jenny_haddow]

Hi Rik

I followed Saucisson's lead and treated the herrings like bacon. I cut down the backbone to open them out, weighed them, calculated the amount of cure and time, rubbed in some of Franco's smoked dry cure, sealed them in a bag and put them in the fridge. I estimated a total curing time of three days, then out of the bag, a good rinse, and allow to dry. My dad did the rinsing and drying and ate them the next day. They had some nice hard roe in them which went into the cure as well.

Cheers

Jen

[Rik vonTrense]

Jolly good I shall try some....


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[Wohoki]

Smoked herring roe. Mmmmmmmm.

[saucisson]

Guess what I'm having on freshly toasted homemade bread for lunch today...

[Rik vonTrense]

I bake bread every day......................

[saucisson]

I bake bread every day......................

I'm using your basic bread recipe, Rik, so I have you to thank for that!

I did my kippers pretty much as Jen did, I used my general smoking cure which is actually Oddley's saltpetre dry cure formula at 31g a kilo with Paul's suggested heaped teaspoon of hickory smoke powder.

[Wohoki]

Off topic, but I love herring roe and milt. Final meal, when THEY finally catch up with me, would be fried soft herring roe on toast, just a dab of pepper, Maldon salt, chopped parsley and some lemon.

[royt]

Well, I finally got around to have a go at at producing some smoked mackerel, I managed to obtain some fresh ones and the first thing I done was to fillet each one and immerse them in a brine of about 70% strength for 1 1/2 hours then I dried them off (put them in the fridge for an hour) next I sprinkled cracked mixed peppercorns on each fillet and then hot smoked them on my kettle bbq until cooked (I used a couple of handfuls of oak woodchips wrapped in foil and placed on the hot charcoal.) I omitted the cold smoking stage and I am very satisfied with the results
Incidently they are better cold with a salad!

[snorkers_good_oh]

It just so happens that I got a load of mackerel yesterday,I kept one for a hot smoke and did it using my wee smoker - 2x turkey roasting tins and a metal grid.
I dry salted the fillets for 1/2 hr then rinsed and dried them.A handful of birch dust in the bottom tin,grid with fish over this then cover with the other roasting tin.I then light my butane gas stove(outside)on it`s lowest setting and place the smoker on top.
15 mins later I check it and if necessary up the heat or move the tin to get the last of the sawdust to burn.

Salad,wholemeal baguette and a glass of pinot noir........perfick.