Fish Smoker

[boyler]

Hi Guys,
I am thinking of buying a fish smoker,does anyone use 1 ? im looking at this 1 at the mo http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/_ABU+FISH+SMOKER+STANDARD
or does anyone use a different one? any comments or ideas greatly appreciated.

Paddy

[scrob]

I use a similar style of one that I got from Lidl, great job for smoked mackerel (etc), very easy to use and runs on methylated spirits which are cheap and easily got at last minutes notice. Definitely my preferred method of cooking mackerel, very very tasty. Haven't tried it yet on other species.

There are only two small-ish drawbacks. The first is cleaning - it takes a bit of scrubbing with a brillo pad, but not the end of the world. The second, is the oak dust. This, in my experience, is next to impossible to find when you need it, so make sure you have a backup supply in case you run out. It doesn't take very much, less than half a handful, but when the bag runs out you would be best to have another to hand as the only place I can find it for sale is online.

My actual smoker was about 20 quid, works the best, no need to go overboard imo

[Cormdogg]

http://www.rivercottage.net/Category203 ... pment.aspx

[immunecfg]

i got the shakespere k series smoker with dust and chips from a tackle shop in bangor, only £30 but you really dont need to spend alot of money on one as long as the smoke gets to the right temp and you dont put too much dust/chips to make smoke then your sorted.

[davyp]

had the lidl one, worked great til I drove over it in the Landrover

as for the oak, blag some offcuts from a joinery works,or somewhere, borrow an electric plane, 5 minutes will have sackloads of the stuff, beech an apple work great too , - dont use ash its mingin , you can also use a wee bit of crumbled peat sprinkled in with the sawdust.....,

mmmm, making me hungry

[Last Cast]

I use this one
http://www.vlemmix.nl/popup/grote-foto. ... ntFotoNr=1

Its 85 X 30 cm and I went for the stainless steel one instead of the galvanised. When I first started to use the smoker for mackerel I over smoked them and had the temperature too high.The smoke coated the skin so much that it almost flaked off the fish and they tasted a bit sour. I found it best after a few attempts to smoke them at about 40 C for about 1 to 1.5 hours then at 70 C for about 45 mins. If the temperature goes above 70 C at the start of the smoking then the flesh begins to cook and the skin splits.

My smoker is designed to hang the fish length ways and this is how I've gone about smoking mine.
After gutting them soak them in a strong sea salt solution for a few hours then remove all of the gills and heart and any soft tissue within the head. If you don't do this as it begins to cook its juices drip from the head and form a scum on the out side of the head, it also creates a mess at the bottom of the smoker. Dry the fish off well before smoking and add some coarse rock salt to the cavity to help draw out ant excess moisture. Hang the fish upside down by the tail with a bit of string and place them in the smoker.

The smoked mackerel can be kept in the fridge for 3 or 4 days or frozen and used in seafood chowders when needed.

Slices of ham taste nice after a few minutes in the smoke, chicken breasts were also very nice and the Haddock was much better than the coloured muck in the shops. Pollock and Coalfish were also very tasty. For large fish like Pollock I found it best to cut one fillet almost to the tail leaving about 2 inches uncut and to flip the fish over and repeat on the other side and then remove the back bone and the head leaving the two fillets attached to the tail. This piece could then be salted and then hung by the tail and smoked.

[boyler]

Thanks for all the replies lads greatly appreciated

Paddy