Recipe for Smoked/Canned Shad

[Fred N]

With shad season coming up soon, thought I would share my

Recipe for Smoked and Canned Shad
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http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/5776shad.jpg

Items for smoker:

*Little/Big Chief Smoker
*Little Chief Chips for smoker (I prefer Apple chips)

Items for brine:

*2 Gallon Brine Container (preferably stainless steel or plastic)
*1/2 Cup Sugar
*1/2 Cup Non-Iodized Table Salt
*1 Quart Cold Water
*4-5 lbs. of shad fillets

Recipe:

*Mix Sugar, Salt, and Water in the Container
*Place Meat Fillets in Container; make sure meat is completely covered with brine
*Store in a cool place for 12 to 24 hours
*Rinse brine off meat & dry meat with towel
*Place meat on Smoker racks & place in Smoker
*Plug in Smoker & smoke with one pan full of chips
*Smoke no more than one hour (you want a layer of smoke on the fish, but still want the fish firm for the next step)
*Take the racks out of Smoker with the lightly smoked meat and cut the fish into pieces to be put into 1/2 pint Kerr/Ball glass jars
*Fill the jars up to one inch from the top with the fish, then add a 1/2 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar, and lightly tighten down the boiled in water lids
*Place the jars in a Pressure Cooker and cook the Shad for 100 minutes at 10 pounds
*Remove the jars and let them cool, make sure all the jars are sealed and retighten the lids

This fish is great all by itself, but is even better with crackers and your favorite beverage!

[Fred N]

This is a repost as the original photo got lost!

Recipe for Smoked and Canned Shad
------------------------------------

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/505/shad.jpg

Items for smoker:

*Little/Big Chief Smoker
*Little Chief Chips for smoker (I prefer Apple chips)

Items for brine:

*2 Gallon Brine Container (preferably stainless steel or plastic)
*1/2 Cup Sugar
*1/2 Cup Non-Iodized Table Salt
*1 Quart Cold Water
*4-5 lbs. of shad fillets

Recipe:

*Mix Sugar, Salt, and Water in the Container
*Place Meat Fillets in Container; make sure meat is completely covered with brine
*Store in a cool place for 12 to 24 hours
*Rinse brine off meat & dry meat with towel
*Place meat on Smoker racks & place in Smoker
*Plug in Smoker & smoke with one pan full of chips
*Smoke no more than one hour (you want a layer of smoke on the fish, but still want the fish firm for the next step)
*Take the racks out of Smoker with the lightly smoked meat and cut the fish into pieces to be put into 1/2 pint Kerr/Ball glass jars
*Fill the jars up to one inch from the top with the fish, then add a 1/2 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar, and lightly tighten down the boiled in water lids
*Place the jars in a Pressure Cooker and cook the Shad for 100 minutes at 10 pounds
*Remove the jars and let them cool, make sure all the jars are sealed and retighten the lids

This fish is great all by itself, but is even better with crackers and your favorite beverage!

[Duane Doran]

This sounds great. I have a question though: I normally vacuum seal my smoked fish. I bought a pressure cooker to preserve a bunch of pickled Steelhead I made. I put it in the jars, etc. but when I took them out of the pressure cooker the meat was burnt. How do you stop the pressure cooker from over cooking the fish?

[DRUNK COWBOY]

I would not pressure cook the pickled fish. I do not like my pickled fish cooked :sick:

If you are smoking and canning fish then the above information is how I do it. Pickling is a different process. If I were you, I would either use the jar sealer that came with your vacume sealer, or seal them with the brine in vacume bags and get the air out. You should be able to keep the pickled fish for a while because of the salt and other ingredients in your brine.

[Mikeymoto]

Luhr Jensen has a tech report for this.
MM