Use only fresh, good quality fish for the canner. Clean the fish, removing all traces of blood. Remove the scales, or skin the fish if desired.

Fillet the sides of the fish from the backbone. Small bones can be left in or removed as desired.


Using a pint jar as a guide, cut the fillet into pieces that will fit vertically into the canning jars, but about an inch shorter than the jar height. Try to keep the pieces close to the same thickness so they'll cook evenly when smoked.


Before smoking the fish, it needs to be brined in salt water. Use a concentration of one cup salt in 7 cups of water per each 3 to 4 pounds of fish pieces. Thinner pieces, up to 1/2 inch thick stay in the brine 5 to 10 minutes. Over 1/2 inch get 30 to 45 minute of brining time. The salt water brining is important because it prevents spoilage.


Remove the fish from the brine, pat dry with clean towels, and allow to air dry on a cooling rack until the outer surface dries a bit. When it feels just
barely tacky, it's ready for the smoker.


The smoker temperature needs to be low enough that the fish can be in the smoker long enough to get the desired flavor, while being minimally cooked. A temperature in the range of 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal fish going into the canner.

The popular Big Chief and Little Chief smokers operate at about 170 degrees on a calm day of 70 degrees or so, which would be fine for smoking fish for canning. If it's colder outside and the smoker runs cooler, that's ok too. Smoking time will be a bit longer.


Fill the pan with the desired amount of your favorite wood. Follow the smoker manufacturers' recommendation for amount of wood for best results. A favorite wood for smoking salmon is alder. Smoke the fish until it's ready for the canner.


How do you know when your smoked fish is ready for the canner? Instead of going by internal temperature, as you would for ready to eat smoked fish, it's determined by weight loss.

Weight loss is moisture loss, and as the fish dries, its texture becomes more suitable for canning. For good quality, moist canned smoked fish, a 10% loss of weight is what you're looking for. If a drier fish is preferred, shoot for a weight loss closer to 12.5%.


To determine the percentage of weight loss, start by weighing the fish right before smoking fish. Small kitchen scales are fine to use. Steps to determine weight loss percentage are:

    1. Weigh a piece of fish before it's smoked and record the weight.

    2. After a time in the smoker, remove the piece and weight it again.

    3. Subtract Step 2 weight from Step 1 weight. This is the weight loss.

    4. Divide the lost weight by the starting weight.

    5. Multiply by 100 to get the percentage of weight loss.



Here's an example.

    1. 8 ounces - (pre-smoked fish weight)

    2. 7 ounces - (weight after smoking)

    3. 8 minus 7 = 1 ounce (weight loss)

    4. 1 ounce divided by 8 ounces = 0.125

    5. 0.125 x 100 = 12.5% (total weight loss)

    This smoked fish would be slightly dry after canning.


One thing to remember about smoking fish for canning is that the oilier the
fish, the more moist it will be. An oily fish, like good salmon, will be more
moist when dried to 12.5% weight loss than a less oily fish would be. Fish that have a lower oil content are generally drier in texture after canning.

 

More Canning Meat Recipes

Venison Ground
Venison-hot pack
Venison - raw pack
Chicken
Homemade Chicken Broth
Homemade Chicken Soup
Fish
Smoked Fish


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