After dipping my toes into the water last week with a small piece of haddock, this week we upped the volumes, brining and smoking times. First off the brining. I used the same brine as last time - 2l of water, 240g salt, 40g sugar, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and a tsbp of pickling spice. The pickling spice was initially put into a cup and then just enough boiling water to cover the spice was poured in. After 10 minutes or so, i.e. after it had cooled down it was added to the rest of the ingredients. During this 10 minutes the other ingredients where whisked to make sure that everything dissolved. We did try and add a twist, the juice of half a lemon. It needs a better palate then mine to detect this once the haddock had been smoked!
The haddock was left in the brine for a couple of hours, held down by a sieve so that all the pieces of fish remained immersed below the surface of the brine. Once brined the haddock was removed, dried using paper kitchen towel and then placed skin side down on a tray. The tray was then placed in the fridge for about 10 hours to allow it to dry and form a sticky layer on the surface.
Last time I used Beech which produced a lovely mild taste. Yesterday into the smoke generator went some whiskey oak dust - looking for a stronger taste. I filled up the whole of the CSG, lit it and then left it to do its business overnight.
This morning we had kedgeree and it was very tasty indeed. There's some of the freshly smoked haddock left over for tomorrow evening's meal. It will be interesting to see how the taste has developed.
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