Smoked Mackeral

[TonyE]

I am heading off to Chesil Beach on Monday 4th June, hopefully to catch Mackeral, and then smoke some of them in my Bradley.

The last time I did this I over cooked them during Hot Smoking, can anybody remind me of the following please.

1) Brine strength, I think I used 80% last time
2) Brining time, (2-3hrs I think)
3) Smoking Time and Temperature <--- The Crucial Bit
4) Fish 'filleted' or 'left whole' (I left mine whole last time)

This time I will keep a diary of what I do, and add it to my files.

Anybody care to join me at Chesil, you would be welcome

Regards - Tony

[royt]

Hi Tony, there was a thread I started on smoked mackerel about a year ago in this section that might help you.
Roy

Ps Found it ! It was dated 17 May 2006

Mod edit: Here in fact:
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=1650&start=0

[jenny_haddow]

Hi Tony,

There's lots of info in the fish curing section, including a recommendation not to brine mackerel if it's to be hot smoked. Also, if you are going to brine I think 2-3 hours is a long time for such a small fish, especially if it's filleted, but then I don't like things too salty. I only left the haddock and trout I did at the weekend in the brine for 10-15 minutes. 80% brine with half as much brown sugar to salt. The trout was fantastic.

Hope this helps

Jen

[TonyE]

Thanks for your help Jenny and Royt


I will see how many Mackeral I catch (if any???) if I get enough I can try experimenting.

I quite like the idea of minimal brining, that is an interesting thought Jenny. Although I believe the idea of brining is to extract water, and assist smoke penetration. I still have a few days to decide my smoking strategy.

Many thanks for your suggestions, it is all 'food for thought'

Regards - Tony

[Fallow Buck]

Tony,

You will be surprised how quickly thin seafood will take on a brine. I brined some king prawns a while back to a recipe that said 3-5 minutes. I tried them at 3 mins and they were nice, but at 10 minutes, (I forgot them...) they were really very salty!!

I was surprised at the rate at which they took on the salt. I would think thin fillets of mackerel wouldn't need much longer than a few minutes.

Keep us posted,
FB

[jenny_haddow]

Keith Erlandson's 'Home Smoking and Curing' is a useful read. He suggest a brief brining time for smaller fish, and the forum linked to the Bradley site has a lot of good input to browse through.

Mackerel, being very oily, could probably stand a little longer brining time, but haddock for me is 10 minutes max or it's only fit for kedgeree.

Hope you have a good catch this weekend to experiment on.

Cheers

Jen

[welsh wizard]

Hi FB

Did you cold or hot smoke your prawns?

I have been asked to smoke some prawns for one of the old game keepers in the village so have purchased a Lb of cooked prawns and intend giving them a go later on. I was undecided weather to brine them or not in the first instance but I suppose half and half would be good for a first attempt.

No problem with it being too hot to smoke today - its peeing down here at the moment................

cheers WW

[jpj]

we hot smoke cooked prawns/crevettes/mussels from frozen
no need for brining
we don't re-cook them
they just defrost and take on the smoke and colour during the time taken

[Hobbitfeet]

It is recommended that a gutted mackerel of average size and fat content has to remain in the usual 80� brine (use 275g salt per litre of water) for up to 5 hours. This ensures a salt penetration of the flesh to a level of 3 percent - acceptable to most consumers.
However, if the mackerel are filleted, the immersion times rapidly decrease. An average fillet takes about 3 minutes in 80� brine.

As to smoking, I use a Bradley so can only give suggestions for that. First set the thermostat to 30�C for � hour. Then raise the temperature to 50�C, which should be kept for another � hour. For the final cooking stage the thermostat is reset to 80�C for 40 minutes or so.

Good luck!

[TonyE]

Thanks Hobbitfeet


I will print out your reply, and keep it for future reference, for when I next get some Mackeral, to smoke in my Bradlkey. I went to Chesil Beach in early June targeting Mackeral - did'nt catch a thing...........


Regards - Tony

[Hobbitfeet]

I have heard they are in at the moment in the Southwest. Let us know how you get on.

[saucisson]

Do you get mackeral off the Suffolk coast at this time of year? (End of the month is when I am going)

Dave

[Hobbitfeet]

Corton, Dunwich have some good sole at present, Kessington some good chance of bass. Felixstowe should be getting mackerel soon.

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[saucisson]

Thanks , we will be just south of Felixstowe.