Fishy, Fishy!

6/13/13

We've been running down to the end of the runway twice a day at low tide to try to catch some fish and got enough today to get the smoke house going. 

Step one: (after catching the fish) Fillet them out.  They fillet things a little differently here int he village.  They cut down the back bone and cut down towards the belly until they are almost all the way through and then rip the rest of the fish off of the ribs.  It's pretty impressive to watch someone who's been cutting fish all of their life as they fillet these out.

Step two:  Cut the fillets into strips

Step three:  Tie together any lose strips.  Mike and James cut a lot of strips so that two were attached at the top, so they did not need tying, but a fillet does not always come out to be a neat, even number of strips.

Step four:  Brining.  Every one's recipe is a little different, but the basics are water and salt and the best way to tell if you have enough salt in your water - float an egg.  If the egg doesn't float in the brine, than you add more salt until it does.  A lot of people add some extra flavors into the brine with molasses or brown sugar as well.

Step 5:  Hang them up in the smokehouse

Now all that has to be done is tend to the fire to keep it smoking for 10 days.  These strips will have a cold smoke, so the fire will be kept to a minimum so it won't produce enough heat to effect the temperature of the smokehouse much.  After the 10 days is up, they'll take them down, freeze them, and enjoy throughout the year.

You can also smoke for a 2 or 3 days and then can them which is called kippering and makes for yummy salmon spreads.

If you want to make suqiak (spelling may not be correct), then you smoke the strips for one day, cut them into strips, and bake in the oven with olive oil, garlic, and worchestershire sauce.  I've not had salmon prepared this way, but hear it is very good.