Prepare Fish:

Fillet fish, remove skin and remove pin bones.

Rinse filet in cold water to clean.

Slice into jerky thin pieces, about ¼” or less. Should be sliced like gravlax, but a little thicker.

Brining:

Add fish pieces to cooled brine in a food-grade bucket.

Cover and place in a cool place (fridge or fruit cellar).

During brining, stir gently about every 3-4 hours to ensure uniformness.

Brine for 24 Hours.

Drying:

Remove fish from brine (DO NOT RINSE).

Lay fish on drying racks.

Place racks in a cool place (fridge) with something underneath to catch the drippings

We use the fridge and stack our racks (stack one long, one short way alternating, so they are spaced).

Dry for 24 hours until the fish is dry and tacky to the touch and has taken on a reddish translucency.

Smoking:

Preheat the Bradley smoker to 120ºF.

Remove fish from drying racks, spray smoking racks with nonstick spray (Bradley jerky racks work the best).

If you use the same racks for drying and smoking, remove fish from racks after drying, clean racks and spray with nonstick spray before smoking.

Sprinkle red pepper flakes on the fish before going into the smoker (optional).

Put fish into the smoker.

Smoke with Bradley discs of your choice. Alder is preferred.

Smoke with below times and temps (total of 5 hours).

20ºF – 2 Hours

145ºF – 2 Hours

165ºF – 1 Hours

Remove a test piece at about the 5-hour mark and test. If it’s done to your liking remove it. If it’s not dry enough, go in half-hour extra increments until done.

Remove from smoker and allow to cool before packaging.