Smoking cod

[kevster]

Hi all...me again
I've recently been having a good look at how to cure and smoke salmon, and there appears to be a fair amount of information. Now I'm looking into smoking cod (it's half price at Morrison's) and there seems to be less info. Does it need any kind of curing? Or do you just smoke it and then dry it a bit? Or dry it a bit and then smoke it? How long (roughly....I know all smokers are different) do you smoke it for?
Cheers for any advice
Kev

[wheels]

Kev

You may be interested in this on smoking white fish:

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5890e/x5890e01.htm

For medium sized fillets I'd brine them in an 80% brine for about half an hour and trickle smoke for at least 8 hours.

Phil

[kevster]

Kev

You may be interested in this on smoking white fish:

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5890e/x5890e01.htm

For medium sized fillets I'd brine them in an 80% brine for about half an hour and trickle smoke for at least 8 hours.

Phil

Is the best ay to make a 80% brine to make a saturated solution and dilute it...or is there another way?
Kev

[kevster]

Do you think it is possible to achive the same results by dry-salting the cod, as you would with salmon fillets?
Kev

[wheels]

For 80% brine dissolve 1.2 kg of salt in 1 gallon 4.54 litres water - it's easiest to do this by bringing up to near boiling.

Yes, I'm sure you could dry salt it. For how long? Erlandson indicates around 3- 4 hours, but I'd go easy on it and for fillets try 1 -1½ hours max. Others may be better placed to advise though - I've not smoked cod.

Phil

[kevster]

For 80% brine dissolve 1.2 kg of salt in 1 gallon 4.54 litres water - it's easiest to do this by bringing up to near boiling.

Yes, I'm sure you could dry salt it. For how long? Erlandson indicates around 3- 4 hours, but I'd go easy on it and for fillets try 1 -1½ hours max. Others may be better placed to advise though - I've not smoked cod.

Phil

Great...thanks Phil I think I'll have a go with dry salting first, then smoke for 24 hours with beech smoke.
Kev

[probbq]

Looking forward to seeing your results
I would think 24 hrs would be too long, but I've also not smoked cod before.
I've got some Salmon going on the cardboard smoker I bodged, I'll give that 10 hours.

[kevster]

Looking forward to seeing your results
I would think 24 hrs would be too long, but I've also not smoked cod before.
I've got some Salmon going on the cardboard smoker I bodged, I'll give that 10 hours.

You're probably right....better to miss judge it and get a mild smokey flavour than over do it and end up binning it (a block of cheese went this way).
I'll go for 10 to 12 hours with the first attempt and see how that works out.
Kev

[jenny_haddow]

I smoke cod and I would say don't brine it for too long. 1 hour max in an 80% solution. White fish takes up salt like mad and can be easily spoiled, unless you like a lot of salt taste. Dry salting the same.
I smoke in a Bradley so the process is more rapid with the bisquettes, but I shall use my new cold smoker from probbq this week and leave it for longer.
I started a thread in this section called ' smoking at last' with some pictures of cod etc that I have smoked which may help. Sorry I'm technologically disadvantaged and dont know how to flag it up for you, so you'll have to search.

HTH

Jen

[Nutczak]

What type of texture are you hoping to get? Are you just wanting to cook the fish to eat it hot right out of the cooker? or are you going for some type of preservation with the cod.

Salmon, Whitefish and trout have a fairly high fat content, cod does not, So I expect the cod to be very dry if cured and smoked.

If you are looking to just add some flavor by smoking, just season the meat, brush a little olive oil or butter on it, and cook at a higher heat it until it is flaky.

Otherwise I think you may end up with a dry board that smells like fish.

[saucisson]

There you go Jenn:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... oking+last

Dave

[kevster]

Looking forward to seeing your results
I would think 24 hrs would be too long, but I've also not smoked cod before.
I've got some Salmon going on the cardboard smoker I bodged, I'll give that 10 hours.

Ended up smoking one side of cod (after 90 minutes dry salting) and a pork tenderloin that I had dry-cured a week earlier. Smoker ran for about 6 hours (aquarium air-pump design smoker with a large plastic crate housing the meat) and a 12v computer fan circulating the air in the crate (necessary as the smoke simply sinks to the bottom and sits there).

Result:
Cod - a bit salty, especially at the thin end of the fillet. The smoked taste is very strong, but should be fine in dishes where it is mixed with other non-smoked fish, such as fish pie

Bacon - had some of this chopped with some oyster muchrooms I found while walking the dog this morning (fried with shallots and some creme fraishe) ...also rather strong, but probably because it is a fairly slim cut. I'm sure it would be perfect with a thicker cut then left to mature for a while.

[saucisson]

Fantastic, well done. Two things to try next time are a shorter smoke or more ventilation if the smoky taste was too intense.

Dave

[kevster]

Fantastic, well done. Two things to try next time are a shorter smoke or more ventilation if the smoky taste was too intense.

Dave

Thanks Dave
I was very happy with the result (used beech dust, btw)....at least it was edible this time, and the smokey smell was delicious...unlike the creosote cheese I made when I used cedar chips

[realcoolchris]

I too discovered the cheap cod fillets at Morrisons and bought three kilos.

I dry-salted 6 of them for about 3.5 hours and then logged onto this website to discover that that is probably too long: I soaked them in several changes of water to try to remove some salt.

Smoked in a West Country cold smoker over beech for somewhere between 4-6 hours (I was out at the time), they've come up salty with a mildish smoke flavour - not perfect but certainly very edible.

I reckon next time to salt for around an hour and a half max and maybe smoke for a little longer.









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