Go to the Recipe: Smoked Trout Purée
I love how you chose to use a zip-loc. Do you feel that the liquid smoke is better for this app than the smoking gun?
Yes, a smoking gun is not going to have time to imbue the food with the same complexity you'll get from a high-quality smoke condensate.
What about the choice of a zip-loc ? I've seen you guys use it every now and then, but with all the fuss surrounding leaching chemicals and using "safe bags to sous vide" etc. I'm getting a little confused.So any particular argument for the zip-loc? Or you simply ran out of the other bags !?
Ziploc brand from SC Johnson are known to be safe at temperatures up to (and likely beyond) 90C.
Made it with salmon and it was amazing. Skipped to strain it through a #40 sieve - I'm not such a sieve-fascist like some of the ChefSteps chefs!
Is there a particular brand of liquid smoke you guys like to use in recipes, or can recommend?
What liquid smoke are you using? The one's i have tried are okay for a extra punch in a burger or stew, but don't really match up to smoking with wood . If you chill the smoking container and fish properly can you get a good natural smokey flavor without compromising the protein to much?. Cool recipe, must try!
I made this a few times and I always seem to get a bit of a bitter taste. I've tried omitting the liquid smoke, tried to be extra careful to remove all skin and grey/silvery parts, but the bitterness persists. What could be the reason for that?
Followup: I finally have it figured out - I have always cooked whole trout instead of clean fillets and the bitter taste was coming from the blood/veins near the spine. After filleting the fish prior to cooking and making sure that there were no remnants of the blood, bitter taste was gone.
I've tried few different liquid smoke woods (Hickory, Mesquite and Apple), and found out that mesquite goes best with this recipe. I use Colgin Mesquite and Wrights Apple and Hickory brands, however i think that you could freely double the amount of liquid smoke as even 2 grams you can't really feel with 400g of fish, but on the other hand, cut the salt in half, 4 grams is way too much.
white trout?
