Salting and smoking - kippers got too salty!

Hi Folks,

I've recently set up a small cold smoker and have had some initial successes. I've done a side of smoked salmon, smoked cheeses and most recently some smoked mackerel. All have been really tasty, and enjoyed by the family.

The mackerel, however, ended up full of flavour but really salty. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to salt stuff prior to smoking. This time I sprinkled the filleted fish quite thickly with a layer of 3:1 salt to brown sugar, for about 12 hours in the fridge. Lots of liquid came out - more than when I did the salmon.  It was thoroughly rinsed off with lots of cold water before further air drying and smoking for 12 hours. It was quite a crude process - chuck lots of salt at it and see where it ends up.

Does anyone have tried and tested processed for salting fish to mitigate against an overly salty final product? If not, are there ways to use it that remove some salt at the end, without losing all the flavour?

From ; salting and smoking mackeral
Coat your cleaned fish inside and out with rough sea salt and leave in a dish for about 45 minutes.
This helps to dry the fish out slightly so it's not too mushy when cooked.
After 45 minutes, wash the salt off with cold water and dry the fish again.

I can't answer how to make them, but I eat kippers, and when they are too salty, I dump them in soup. Makes excellent soup base.

the salt draws the moisture out. the only way I ever smoked fish was to first soak the fish in a brine overnight or at least a few hours. there are lots of all kinds of recipes  but the basics are a liquid, water or juice, apple juice is popular, even maybe coka cola, can even be coconut milk or pineapple juice if you want to expierment and mix in sugar and salt, for sugar, brown sugar is most popular I like raw sugar, brown sugar is usually white sugar with molasses added back in and raw sugar is usually like it says sugar with the molasses still in it, something salty, salt, sea salt, pink Himalayan but soy sauce probably adds the most pleasant flavor, for me anyway..

soak overnight, drain and if you like sprinkle with cracked pepper and put in smoker

John C Daley wrote:From ; salting and smoking mackeral
Coat your cleaned fish inside and out with rough sea salt and leave in a dish for about 45 minutes.
This helps to dry the fish out slightly so it's not too mushy when cooked.
After 45 minutes, wash the salt off with cold water and dry the fish again.

45 minutes seems really short. I had it salting for nearly 12 hours. With that light salting do you treat it as nearly fresh fish - eat quickly, and cook it  - after smoking?

Michael, this note is from the site I referenced;
"Coat your cleaned fish inside and out with rough sea salt and leave in a dish for about 45 minutes. This helps to dry the fish out slightly so it’s not too mushy when cooked. After 45 minutes, wash the salt off with cold water and dry the fish again.
Place a foil tray on your BBQ charcoal rack, underneath where the fish will go and fill it with water.
I show how to make a simple tray out of foil on my post about how to smoke tofu.
For this fish, my tray took up about two-thirds of the available grill area.
Fill the remaining space with charcoal, open the vents underneath this area, then light the charcoal.
Keep vents under the foil tray closed.
Leave the BBQ to heat up until a gentle heat has spread across the coals.
When ready, place the fish on the grill above the water tray and place a small handful of the soaked chips on the hot coals.
Remember that you can always add more chips, so don’t go crazy with them at first.
Put the lid on the BBQ and close the vent above the coals, but keep one above the fish open.
Leave this to cook for about 45 minutes.
There should always be a gentle trickle of white smoke coming out of the top vent, you don’t want a heavy torrent, nor do you want to see nothing coming out.
If it stops smoking, you might need to add a few more chunks of smoking wood to get it going again, or if the charcoal looks like it’s burning out, add a few more pieces.
When finished, the meat should be white throughout, fall off the bone and taste amazing.

So, to recap, here’s what you need to do in the right order:"

Ah!

I see the issue. You are describing a HOT smoking process. Cold smoking is, as it sounds, done cold and for a long time. The system I use generates smoke for about 12 hours from a single burn, but doesn't heat up at all. So the smoking process does not cook the fish, hence you need a stronger brine.

Hot smoke does cook it, while also adding the smoke flavour. As it is cooked it doesn't need to be smoked so heavily.

Basically, I duplicated the process I used successfully with smoked salmon but ended up with a much saltier finished product with the mackerel than with the salmon.

I would suggest either soaking the fish to remove the salt (as you would with salt fish), or maybe try a Cullen Skink type soup, which is pretty salty but delish!
I use smoked mackerel in a kedgeree type dish, which I sort of made up. My mackerel is hot smoked, but cold smoked would probably work too:
Coarsely grind 1/2 teaspoon each cumin, fenugreek, 1 teaspoon each coriander, and about 8 peeled green cardamon pods and add together with 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon ground chilli to a heated dry saucepan. heat over a moderate heat for a few minutes shaking occasionally till the spices start to smoke a little. Add a couple of tablespoons rapeseed oil and stir to mix. If you want add a chopped onion and cook it, but I don't tend to use onion much these days so don't bother (maybe a chopped spring onion would be nice added at the end of cooking).
Add about 2 small mugs of brown long grain rice, stir to coat in hot spices and oil and heat for a minute or so. Add sufficient water to cook the rice (I do this by eye - but you could add a bit less than you think and top up if neccessary as the rice cooks) cover the pan and bring to the boil, simmer to cook the rice (about 35 - 40 minutes) add more water if you need to, and stir occasionally. When the rice is nearly cooked add a small tin of sweetcorn, a large cup of frozen peas, and three or four smoked mackerel fillets torn in pieces. Stir and heat the veg through for about 5 minutes and serve (about 4 portions). You could have a green salad on the side if you wish. The dish reheats well and is rather tasty cold too.
If you don't want to bother with the separate spices, I daresay you could use a masala mix, or even a mild curry powder and get an acceptable result.