Smoking Pike: The Best Tips and Tricks

Smoking pike: ingredients and preparation

In addition to the most important utensil when smoking, the smoker needs the right ingredients and good preparation.

• Gut the pike with a sharp knife and wash them thoroughly inside and out. Leave the skin on the fish.
• Now prepare a curing layer consisting of 70 g of salt per 1 liter of water. Depending on the size and number of pike you have to mix appropriate quantities. Place the fish in deep bowls or pots with the brine. The pike must be completely submerged in water.
• Add spices such as bay leaves, peppercorns, or juniper berries to taste.
• Alternatively, you can buy a ready-made smoke brine, stir it up and use it to pickle the fish. The smoked liquors are available in numerous flavors.
• The fish are now pickled in the brine for a period of ten to twelve hours. Thicker specimens should be stained longer than thinner ones.
• After this time, rinse the fish thoroughly and hang to dry on smoking hooks for an hour. The place should have fresh air available. After that, the fish are ready for smoking.

Use the smoker correctly

Once you have completed the preparation, you can smoke the pikes. Smokers with temperature gauges are beneficial.

• Three types of wood are available to you. Oak provides an intense smoky aroma, while alder is milder and even tickles sweet notes from the fish. Last but not least, apple wood is recommended, which creates a fruity-tart character when smoking.
• Hang the pikes safely in the interior and fire to a temperature of 100°C to 115°C. The fish remain there for a period of up to 40 minutes.
• Then set the oven to a temperature of 50°C. Smoke the pike again for two hours.
• Alternatively smoke at 150°C for one hour.
• The two different types of smoke provide different aromas. After one hour at 150°C, pikes have an extremely strong smoke aroma. With the lower degree method, the flavors come out stronger.
• After smoking, you need to let the fish cool down a bit. Also, don’t burn yourself when you take the pikes out of the oven. It is best to wear oven gloves.