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Smoked Steelhead Trout
from
Joyce’s Kitchen

Depending on what type of smoker you have, your smoke time will very. I have a Big Chief Electric Smoker from Luhr Jenson which does not produce a lot of heat. I also have to consider the air temp. I try not to smoke with temps below 50 degrees and sometimes we make a cardboard shield around the smoker if it is a bit on the windy side just to help maintain some of the heat. Refer to your instruction manual for more tips. For the following recipe I smoke anywhere from 8 – 10 hours depending on the thickness of the fillets. I put my chips on to soak the night before as well. I use Hickory, Alder, or a mixture of 2/3 Apple mixed with 1/3 Cherry. They are all good.

Brine
1 1/3 cups of sugar
1 cup of non-iodized salt
8 cups of soy sauce
4 cups of water
1 Tbsp. each of onion powder, garlic powder, pepper and Mrs. Dash “Table Blend”
1 Tbsp. Tabasco sauce (optional)
4 cups of dry white wine

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6 fillets with skin – I cut each fillet in thirds depending on the length of the fillets. If using skinned fillets, line smoker racks with foil. Rinse fillets pieces and pat dry with paper towels.

Mix all ingredients well making sure the dry ingredients are dissolved in large plastic bowl or container. Soak fillet pieces 8 hours or more in brine, making sure each piece is covered with brine and refrigerate.

After soaking overnight, I rinse each fillet, and lay them out skin side down in a single layer on cookie sheets lined with several layers of paper towels. Blot fillets well with paper towels and let sit at room temp until the flesh appears to have a glaze. I usually let mine sit about 3 hours.

Spray smoke racks with Pam spray and load racks with thicker pieces on the lower racks near the heat source and the thinner ones closer to the top. Typically I use about 4 pans of chips for smoking.

We usually snack on it right from the smoker. Once your fillets are done, let cool and refrigerate. I leave a couple pieces out to eat fresh and vacuum seal the rest to freeze. It freezes well and is excellent in a dip.