Home-Smoked Fish

This recipe uses a procedure that allows you to create smoked fish at home without using a smoker. Though it takes approximately 6 hours to brine, marinate, and bake the fish, it does not require considerable effort. The secret ingredient is hickory-flavored liquid smoke. Leaving the bones in the fish keeps it firm while it’s “smoking.”

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

4 lb. fresh trout, salmon, or mackerel, cleaned and gutted
1 cup kosher salt dissolved in 4 cups water
1 cup olive oil
1⁄4 cup hickory-flavored liquid smoke
Lemon slices as garnish
Rock salt (optional)
Fresh herbs (optional)

Procedures

1. Leave the fish whole or cut into 1-inch-thick steaks, skin and bones intact.
2. Place the fish and the saltwater brine in a large stockpot or bowl and soak in the refrigerator for 3 hours. Remove fish, drain, and pat dry. Discard brine.
3. Combine fish, olive oil, and liquid smoke in a large plastic container. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight for a whole fish, 1 hour for steaks.
4. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Bring fish to room temperature, reserving the marinade. Place fish directly on oven rack. On the rack below it, place a baking sheet lined with foil to catch fish drippings.
5. Bake fish at 250 degrees for 21⁄2 hours, basting with the reserved marinade about every 20 minutes.
6. Increase temperature to 300 degrees and cook fish until the skin is golden brown and the flesh is firm, about 30 minutes.
7. Place fish on a platter and garnish with lemon slices. If desired, decorate platter with rock salt and fresh herbs.

FOODTRIENTS
Oleocanthals
Omega-3s
Selenium