"O-M-G!" Smoked Kokanee

Hi Guys!
Well I stoked up my new smoker yesterday!
Small 2 door Brinkman Charcoal Smoker ($69.00) that I turned into an electric smoker with a Waring 1300 watt thermostatic controled single burner hot plate. WORKS GREAT! and nice to be able to control the temp.

Smoked up 12 Kokanee fillets!
Brined them with the following recipe I found on the Internet.

1 1/2 quart of water
1/2 cup Kosher salt
3/4 cup dark honey
1/2 cup medium to dark Rum
1/4 lemon juice
10-12 whole cloves (crushed)
10-12 allspice berries (crushed)
2 large bay leaf (crumbled)
Chill the brine before adding fillets.

Brined the fillets (totally covered) for minimum of 24-36 hours.
Rinse lightly and pat dry lightly.
Let sit skin side down for 1 hour.
Smoked the fillets with a 50-50 mix of apple & pecan wood @ 170 to 180 F.

This was my 1st time smoking Kokanee and all I can say is:
OMG! tooexcited
Eye poppin!, Jaw droppin!, I WANT MORE!tongue2 tongue2

THIS IS A KEEPER! thumbsup

Have a maple syrup recipe also that I plan to try - Will let you know how that works.

Best regards,
SeaDog

OK! I've tweeked this recipe just a bit.
Upped the Rum to 1/2 a cup.
And added 1/2 cup of Brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
"OMG" -> Even better now!

Sounds good sea dog. I am gonna smoke up a batch this weekend myself. I will give this one a whirl.thumbsup

I have some large kokanee fillets in the brine right now. And I plan on firing up the smoker so that I can try this recipe out. It should be good. I mean come on it's got rum in it. When is that not good?

Excellent recipe. Finished making this the other day and only have one fillet left. It makes for a great appetizer with some cream cheese and crackers. I would highly recommend this one for anyone.

Sounds like a good one! I usually use a really simple maple syrup recipe that I really like. I think I will have to give yours a try though, I mean, it has RUMtongue2

Koke-n-a-smile would it be possible for you to post the maple syrup recipe that you use? I'd like to try it out. First have to go catch some more kokes though.

Not a problem, this is from another web site, they call it Indian Candy. It is really simple, but the results are fantastic. I smoke mine in a brinkman smoker, it has a water bath pan in it that I pour the brine in while I am smoking the fish. Seems to work great and keeps the fish nice and moist.

• 1/2 gallon water
• 1/3 cup pickling salt
• 2 lb dark brown sugar
• 1 cup maple syrup [the real stuff]
•
• Soak fillets, or cut strips [1/2 to 1 inch cut across the grain] of fillets, overnight or for up to 2 days.
Remove the fillets from the brine and let air dry for at least one hour. I don't wipe off the brine from the fillets. I smoke them for 1.5 to 2 hours using hickory wood chunks.

I'm giving your recipe a shot Avid and I did substitute the real Mapel syrup for the honey and in lieu of not having real dark rum I added some Kahula to the mix... we'll see if this turns out. :-)

HiTechKoke the receipe that I used wasn't mine. It was SeaDog's. He was the one who had originally started the post so the thanks should go to him.

Hi,

I tweek my Rum recipe and is better then ever.

Check it out!

SeaDog1

I enjoyed your info on Kokanee smoking receipt. I've been doing something very simular for years I've got to add the RUM though. I use/add Old Bay seasoning to my brine. One thing I was doing wrong I wasn't filleting the Kokanee did it my last batch a lot better in the smoking process thanks for the info

I use a simple dry brine:

1 cup coarse Kosher Salt
2 cups brown sugar
1 TBS garlic salt

generously cover meat in a glass pan for 6hrs (Kokanee filets) 8-10 hrs for thicker salmon/steelhead etc. It will make its own brine. Rinse and smoke how ever you usually would.

Does anyone have a kokanee or trout smoking recipe without so much brown sugar in it? Too sweet for me, so I am going to try a batch with every thing but the brown sugar and see how it turns out. I think the rum may be a good thing though.

Hobie

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hobie01

Does anyone have a kokanee or trout smoking recipe without so much brown sugar in it? Too sweet for me, so I am going to try a batch with every thing but the brown sugar and see how it turns out. I think the rum may be a good thing though.

Hobie

---

Hi,

There's no set rule (to my OMG recipe) as to how much brown sugar you care to use.
Cut it and maybe the honey by 1/2 and see if you like that better.
Experiment !
I love garlic but not in my fish brine.
As for the Rum -> Oh YES !
Also you can smoke with Alder wood vs my apple/pecan mix.

Again Experiment ! thumbsup
SeaDog

A buddy got me started on Morton's Sugar Cure. Yes, it's designed for bacon curing and smoking but it works nicely on kokes too. I've been just rubbing 'em with it and putting 'em in a stainless pan for a few hours but next I plan to dissolve some and let 'em soak overnight. There's a small packet of spices that smells a lot like a combination of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and something else I can't identify that comes in the bag. .a little of that added is quite tasty. Also works well with trout.

For smoking I use alder, cherry or mesquite. .still haven't decided which I like best.

It didn't hurt that I was using big fat fillets from Flaming Gorge that we caught this week. Those fish are so fat and healthy that the meat is super rich on its own. I used Cherry wood and it was great. worthy12

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SeaDog

Hi Guys!
Well I stoked up my new smoker yesterday!
Small 2 door Brinkman Charcoal Smoker ($69.00) that I turned into an electric smoker with a Waring 1300 watt thermostatic controled single burner hot plate. WORKS GREAT! and nice to be able to control the temp.

Smoked up 12 Kokanee fillets!
Brined them with the following recipe I found on the Internet.

1 1/2 quart of water
1/2 cup Kosher salt
3/4 cup dark honey
1/2 cup medium to dark Rum
1/4 lemon juice
10-12 whole cloves (crushed)
10-12 allspice berries (crushed)
2 large bay leaf (crumbled)
Chill the brine before adding fillets.

Brined the fillets (totally covered) for minimum of 24-36 hours.
Rinse lightly and pat dry lightly.
Let sit skin side down for 1 hour.
Smoked the fillets with a 50-50 mix of apple & pecan wood @ 170 to 180 F.

This was my 1st time smoking Kokanee and all I can say is:
OMG! tooexcited
Eye poppin!, Jaw droppin!, I WANT MORE!tongue2 tongue2

THIS IS A KEEPER! thumbsup

Have a maple syrup recipe also that I plan to try - Will let you know how that works.

Best regards,
SeaDog

OK! I've tweeked this recipe just a bit.
Upped the Rum to 1/2 a cup.
And added 1/2 cup of Brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
"OMG" -> Even better now!

---

This is really close to my recipe that I've been using for years I just add Old Bay seasoning to my brine ( no Rum) I found out if I fillet the kokanee they cook better for me and I use a tragger smoker with apple or misquite something like that/ so sorry to say I cook up a batch yesterday we just caught over the weekend and they had a musk taste already. One of the master cooks said he uses Maple syrup on the fillet as there on the grill. I got to dry that

I've been smoking my kokes without filleting them so that they are not overpowered by the brine mixture; I generally brine them for 8 - 10 hours in the fridge overnight, then rinse and pat dry in the morning before smoking. For those who have tried SeaDog's recipe, can you tell me how long you let the fillets brine and what effect the brining time had on the taste?

I thought I would get this thread going again. I have a blinding fast and easy recipe.

Filet the Kokanee and pull all pin bones
Put in a glass pan and marinate in plain Coke a Cola for 24-30 hrs.
Drain and place on the smoker racks letting the filets air dry,
Just before they get tacky, sprinkle with Sportsmans Warehouse burbon meat rub , light salt and pepper.
Let set till tacky almost dry.
I use a little chief smoker and smoke 2 times with misquite wood. ( watch hotter days, smoker works faster)
I cover the smoker with wet towels, which helps keep the meat moist. ( if you like your product not dry)
Chill and cover over night.

For a kicker. Smoke once and bring out partial raw and vacum pack and freeze. Bring the filets out of the freezer, thaw and pan fry till done. Yummy!


MY simple / easy recipe!

Sorry to bump an old thread, but does anyone know how much lemon juice is used in the OP'S OP?
It indicates "1/4 Lemon Juice"....quarter cup, TBS, tsp. Not being a smart@$$ (though I'm frequently being labeled as such for some reason) but I don't cook, I kill :) so cooking weights and measures escape me!

I was looking for a change and remembered seeing this recipe and wanted to give it a shot.

Thanks in advance.

Concerning Brine: A rule of thumb my grandma taught me is to use 1 1/2 Cups pickling salt to 1 gallon of water. This is a fair starting point in my opinion. Now you can add whatever else you want. I like the brown sugar myself and add about 2 cups packed per gallon of brine. Not to sweet.

I use the following recipe for kokanee and for jerky. My smoker will hold 24 Anderson Ranch kokanee fillets and I make a double recipe of this recipe for 24 fillets.

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup non-iodized salt
1 cup soy sauce
3 cups water (may substitute 1 cup white wine)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp tobasco sauce (optional)

I heat the brine to dissolve the ingredients and then cool the brine with ice cubes. I leave in brine for 12-24 hours. I have four racks in my homemade smoke the size of an oven rack. I bring the racks into the kitchen and elevate off of countertop with small wood blocks. I put the fillets directly on the racks without rinsing. I have a couple of 8" fans that I let dry the fillets for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Into the smoker at a temp of 175-180. I love hickory smoke and refill the wood pan every hour. It usually takes about 3 to 4 hours to get the dryness my wife and I prefer. I recently took about 20 fillets to a wedding reception and they were a big hit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hobie01

Does anyone have a kokanee or trout smoking recipe without so much brown sugar in it? Too sweet for me, so I am going to try a batch with every thing but the brown sugar and see how it turns out. I think the rum may be a good thing though.

Hobie

---

I prefer honey to sweeten fish for the smoker, especially in marinades. I think it works better with the fish than brown sugar, which I think works better on beef or pork. I use honey or white sugar on chicken as well.

Hey SeaDog, when you say "cloves" are you talking about clove cloves, or garlic cloves, or ?

Many thanks,

Ben