Smoked Northern Pike

We are enjoying cottage life in northern Ontario and recently caught a very large Northern Pike.
An easy but delicious recipe for smoked fish.

We have been working away at our northern Ontario island cottage; clearing brush, painting and this year we built a “skirt” around the front deck. That’s what cottage life seems to be for most people – a continuous but never fast paced lifestyle of poking around, doing odd jobs and maintenance. Generally we like to get our chores out of the way before noon and then take advantage of whatever the day has to offer.

One of our end of day pleasures is to cruise around our neighborhood (around our island) enjoying the breeze, sightseeing (often seeing bald eagles), giving the odd wave to a vacationing neighbour, and of course – watching the sun set.

My husband will often set a fishing line out while we slowly maneuver around the islands and will claim that if a fish were to bite, it would spoil the moment. Well that’s exactly what happened…..

The other day, while we were winding down and about to head back to our dock, my husband had a bite (a hit as he calls it) and for the next 10 minutes he wrestled with a very large (12 to 15lbs) Northern Pike. When he finally got the fish to the boat my husband gasped as this fish had completely engulfed the lure deep into its throat. My husband is a seasoned outdoorsman and conservationist and rarely keeps any fish, preferring to practice catch and release – he goes so far as to pinch all the barbs on his hooks and has all the tools to properly handle fish – big or small.

But after working on this fish for about ten minutes, he sadly exclaimed that he could not save this monster, broken hearted he vowed to make good use of the meat.

Northern Pike is an undervalued great eating freshwater fish and some would say better than walleye but with one caveat, they are particularly boney and unless you know how to fillet and debone them, they are no fun at all.

Here’s what we did with our catch:

First we filleted the fish and removed all the bones including that extra bone found in a Northern Pike – the “Y” bone. The best way to describe this is to show a video

Then we soaked about 2/3 of the fillets in a brine for about an hour, basted the fillets in honey, seasoned and finally smoked the fillets for about an hour and fifteen minutes in our Smoker…….

We shared this tasty treat with our neighbors, a horderve served on crackers with cream cheese or a dab of my homemade blueberry jam ….wonderful. It also went very well with my homemade beer or a nice chilled Pinot Grigio. Needless to say, we were very popular that day…..

Smoked Northern Pike Recipe

We use our Bradley Smoker but any smoker will do.

Note: This recipe can be used for any fresh water white flaky fish meat.

Ingredients:

This fish was large so we used about 2/3 of the fish for smoking, saving the rest to be fried or cooked in a silver foil pouch on another day. We made 10 pieces of fish – 2 to 3 pounds.

• 6 cups water
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sea salt
• 1/2 cup liquid honey or more
• 1 1/2 tablespoon pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

Note: All ingredients are approximate – scale the ingredients, the fish should be covered in the brine.

Preparation:

• Make a Brine Solution
• Add water to a large bowl
• Add brown sugar
• Add sea salt (we only had regular table salt which works fine)
• Mix the ingredients well to completely dissolve

Marinate fillets in brine solution

• Place the fillets in the solution – the fillets should be submerged
• Place into the fridge for 1 hour
• Take the fillets out of the brine and rinse thoroughly – this step is important otherwise the final smoked fillets will be very salty
• Place them in a colander to drain most of the liquid
• Place the fillets on a tray and pat dry with a paper towel

Prepare grill and smoker

• Place the fillets on a pre-greased smoker grill. It is important to grease the grill to prevent sticking – I used a non-stick spray

Honey and Season the Fillets

• Brush all the fillets liberally with honey – (I microwave the honey for 15 seconds to better liquify)

• Season the fillets with pepper and garlic powder

The Smoker

• Set smoker to 225 to 250 degrees F. (Should be generating smoke)
• I used Bradley Sage bisquettes in the smoker – but you can try other varieties.
• Place the fillet tray(s) into the smoker when it has reached the temperature and is generating smoke.

• Smoke for 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes. My smoker loses a lot of heat when opening the door and takes a bit of time to get back up to heat – so I try not to open the door until I think it is done.

• The fish is done when it is golden brown and flakes easily with a fork

• Let the tray of fillets cool for 30 minutes

Enjoy your smoked fish!

For storing, wrap the fillets individually in plastic wrap, place in a sealable plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days or store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Below is a printable recipe card from RecipesGenerator. Please give it a try!

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