sugarless brine for fish

Help! I'm a new diabetic and need a near sugarless brine to smoke salmon. Share your recipe with us diabetics.

Welcome to Ifish Steven. I think using Morton's curing salt close to a 100% solution and adding some of the ingredients you find in Johnny's Seafood Seasoning would work well. You could experiement with a lot of differnet spices for sure. Try some cherry wood in place of the common alder and mesquite chips too.

[Ramstrong]

You might want to hit up Pilar for the specifics, but at the party he had the most wonderful smoked albacore and the only thing he used to cure it was rock salt. The fish should stand well on its own, and as RT said different woods will impart different flavors. I like alder, cherry and apple. Pilar holds the secret to your question though, I'd E-mail him.

[Fishhead]

Does apple juice count as a sugar? I use that along with other stuff but then I'm not diabetic.The guy that lives across the street from me gave me some apple wood chips that make the fish taste sweet, that might be your answer......Good luck....Fishhead Vic

[dummy]

cover each peace with pickling salt and place in a bowl let juice up for 45 min in the fidge then rinse off twice and towel dry.place on racks, add seasonings and smoke. this is the easiest quickest cure there is and it taste great.

[smilesforu]

Sprinkle Straight Rock salt over fillets and let sit over night. Then rinse fillets so excess salt is washed off. Pat dry and smoke to desired firmness.

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Marty M
Steelheader.net

[This message has been edited by smilesforu (edited 12-21-2000).]

[Tanner]

The wood you use to smoke with makes a huge difference. I personally prefer to use particle board or plywood. Prefinished 2 1/4 MDF colonial base molding will add a nice flavor also. Remember to remove all nails before hand.

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Work is for people who have an expensive fishing habit to support.

[This message has been edited by Tanner (edited 12-22-2000).]

[dummy]

good idea tanner and the formalgahide will help preserve your fish.

[dawhunt]

I don't think leaveing rock salt on for very long is a good idea at all esp.if its been frozen first.If it has maybe 60 min max.I'm not putting down the guy who said overnight at all but maybe you should start out with a couple hrs and work up or down from there.Unless you want it really salty.The same for pickling salt,no offense meant to anyone but start out easy and work your way up or down.
Bob Dawson


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Bob Dawson

Thanks Bob I agree with you. I've smoked a lot of fish in the last 20 years and started out with a soy sauce base. Way to salty and rock salt for more than 1 hour would be too. Have a good recipe that is brown sugar based but do to diabetes I need to change the brine. Heavy garlic, pepper, onion salt on top of the 1 hour rock salt will likely be the one, a little red chili pepper too.

[Trout,myster]

Steve-

There's a book on smoking that may help you out. Called "Smoking Salmon & Trout" by Jack Whelan. Check Frank Amato publications for a copy (Salmon, Trout & Steelheader mag.). He offers some great recipes including salt-only using natural berries and such for sweeteners.

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Troutmyster

[dummy]

steve the purpose of the salt ist to suck the mosture out of the middle. rt and mine are not brine methods simply cover in salt. what you are looking for when the fish has got enough salt is the feel the fish should feel tougher harder usualy with 45 min for pickling salt slower for rock. if you dont like salt then rinse them of more but do not soak that defeats the process.

[dummy]

steve the purpose of the salt ist to suck the mosture out of the middle.marty and mine are not brine methods simply cover in salt. what you are looking for when the fish has got enough salt is the feel the fish should feel tougher harder usualy with 45 min for pickling salt slower for rock. if you dont like salt then rinse them of more but do not soak that defeats the process.

[DanS]

steve,

I doubt that you'll see much difference in your blood glucose whether you use a sweet brine or a salty brine. Not much of the sugar in the brine stays with the fish, just enough to give it s slight sweet flavor. Keep in mind that as a diabetic, the salt may be as much of a concern to you as the sugar.

Try your old brine and eat a fair sized piece of fish. Wait a half-hour and test your blood sugar. You might be surprised to see how little the effect on your glucose level is.

Fish on...........

Hey Dan thanks for the input! The thing is with the brown sugar brine is the fish is quite sweet after smoking. Not sure that it would have a great effect on glucose levels but it is sweet. After a overnight bath in the brown sugar and spices it's a bit too sweet but that was the way we always xured it per instructions.

[Pilar]

Mr.Donaldson, I don't know how I missed this thread. The secret is to use fresh fish. It really doesn't need much help. As others have mentioned I use rock salt and nothing else.

Not for long though. Cut it into hand sized pieces and pack in rock salt for 30 minutes in the fridge. This makes it feel kind of rubbery when you rinse it off. Make sure you wash the fish thoroughly to remove all of the salt. Smoke as cold as you can using alder, no more than 110 degrees.

Smoke the hell out of it at first. One pan after another for the first four hours. One more pan after that when its almost done. Flip the individual pieces after 6 hours. I use a little chief top loader so I rotate the top and bottom trays then too. Go 10 to 12 hours but it's up to you when it is done. If you plan on keeping it awhile leave it somewhat underdone and moist. It will harden with age.


And that's it. I've wasted much time, money and effort on foofy brines and nothing works better than quality fish and rock salt. Good luck!

The bend is your friend!