Text 14020, 87 rader
Skriven 2007-04-14 13:53:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DALE SHIPP
Ärende: seafood 362
===================
 DS> How does one judge fish to be done in something like a smoker?

Feel, same way you'd judge anything else. For me, just wiggly;
for most others, just firm. Trader Vic (I think) wrote an article
once about how to evaluate a steak by touch - I couldn't find it,
but essentially, if the meat springs back, it's rare, and you can
go from there to firm to the touch being being well-done. The texture
of fish being different, you have to be gentler with the prodding,
but the main idea is the same..

 DS> When we do it on the grill or on the George, we know about how long
 DS> it takes and can also test the feel etc.  But a smoker is something
 DS> that should not be opened up very few minutes.

Mark was saying something about a fire of 200 to 300F. I'd
suggest that fish cooks mighty fast at 300, and my timetable
looked sensible for that temperature - plus opening it up
every few minutes would allow the temperature to come down
to a more modest figure. At a real smoker temperature of
200 or less, I guess a couple hours.

   For meats such as
 DS> pork loin, we have a remote thermometer gives an outside reading so
 DS> that we can see how it is doing.   If we stuck that into a piece of
 DS> salmon, what temperature would be done?

Again, I'd use different criteria for myself than for others.
For me, 120F tops. If I were cooking for others, maybe 140-odd.

This assumes of course that one is using the smoke for
flavoring, not preservation. The latter requires an internal
temperature of 150-160 and quite a long smoking time at
smoker temperatures.

 -=> Dale Shipp said to Mark Lewis <=-

 ML> why not get a bushel of live crabs and boil and steam them right
 ML> there? 
 DS> Several problems with that.   The day of the picnic is going to be
 DS> very full of other food and cooking.  We are going to do smoked pork
 DS> and others will be doing their thing.   In addition, we do not have
 DS> the ability (i.e. large pot, outside source of heat) to cook a bunch
 DS> of crabs nor do we know how to do it.   Final problem is that the
 DS> remains of after doing steamed crabs are pretty messy.  I'd rather
 DS> pay a restaurant to take away the soon-to-be-stink bomb:-}}

I was going to reply to his post - I got an amusing picture in my
head of the garbageman having to deal with massive black plastic
bags full of malodorous gunk, with little holes poked in the side
by stray claws and shards.

On the other hand, it could conceivably be worthwhile to do crabcakes
ourselves and not bother with G&M ...

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.00

      Title: TWO BRINES FOR SMOKING FISH
 Categories: Seafood
      Yield: 1 servings

----------------------------------BRINE #1----------------------------------
      4 c  Water                                    Plus your choice of
    1/2 c  Salt                                     Flavorings
    1/2 c  Sugar

----------------------------------BRINE #2----------------------------------
      4 c  Water                               1 c  Salt, regular or curing
      1 c  Rock salt                                Plus your choice of
      2 c  Brown sugar                              Flavorings

  It is recommended that you rub in flavorings just before putting the fish
  into the smoker, although you can also put flavorings into either of the
  above brines; in other words you can prepare a brine marinade flavored with
  garlic, shallots, tarragon, dill, thyme, or whatever you fancy. After
  brining in the flavored brine, fish should washed off and dried before
  smoking.

  Smoked fish will keep for a solid year, at least if they are frozen in
  airtight plastic bags from which the air has been exhaled.

  Source: unknown

-----

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