Here is what I did.
Made up a 30 degree brine using
1 gallon of well water from a certified organic well
3/4's cup of organic canning salt (7.7 oz) orginated from the dehydrated inland sea of Utah.
1 cup organic brown sugar
2 TBS Black Pepper (Organic. Picked solely by one legged blind Sherpas on the east side of the Himalayan Mountains and only in the morning hours when the oil is at its highest)
1 tsp of Cayenne Pepper (Organic. Picked solely by drunken Mexicans in the Guadalajara desert on a full moon)
Soaked the free range catfish and one free range salmon in the brine for about six hours. Took fish out and let dry at room temp hoping to form a pellicle for smoking. After taking them out I dusted them lightly with black pepper and chipotle pepper. Ok, maybe it wasn't so lightly. I like things zesty.
Got impatient and stuck them in the smoker at 170F under heavy pecan smoke.
I also did an experiment by leaving the skin on some of the cats as well as taking the skin off. Found taking the skin off is the way to go since the skin seems to want to stick worse than flesh.
Cooked till meat was flaky.
Ended up with this. I will be doing this again and can't believe I've bought into the idea that you cannot smoke catfish. This stuff is beyond good. Especially once its had time to cool and rest. Its sortof like kippers only much better. Next time I will be using PAM or some other non stick spray. I can see some limb lines on the Ocumulgee river in the near future. Need some big flatheads. Free range of course but I ain't about to stick my hand up in no holes.
Some Jowl Bacon and other stuff I worked on last night.
