As many of your know, Discovery Channel came here in May 2017 for their reality show Homestead Rescue with the Raney family. For anyone who hasn't watched it, the son, Matt Raney focuses on hunting, preparing and preserving wild game.
Smoke Tent
For our episode, he and Ini went bowfishing for carp and were very successful! That day Matt set up a primitive style smoke tent using straight stout branches, canvas, and some twine in a Teepee style. He had it up in no time and cooked the carp he had marinated overnight - needless to say it was delicious and many minds were changed that day as to whether carp was an edible local, food source! It was fantastic!
Now we had a primitive smoke tent on our hands and it was our task to catch fish and smoke them!
We love to float the rivers in the warmer months with our friends. My dad passed down flyfishing to me (Wren) and I love to do it, but unless I'm wading, I have better success using a regular fishing pole!
This day on the water was beautiful! We were especially excited because, due to the recent 100 year flooding incident, a nearby Trout Ranch had overflowed and many of their fat farm fed Rainbow Trout had overflowed into our local waterways! These rivers are too warm for the trout to survive for many months, but it was good eating for us while they existed there (and I should say lasted as many many fisherpeople flocked to catch them!).
These weren't the smart trout that do exist perennially in one of our local waterways, the North Fork, but stupid trout that were easy to catch! The trout in the North Fork have seen it all and will spot a fisherperson miles away. These escaped farm trout were begging for a lure!
We had some luck that day! My good friend was catching them right and left and while we stopped for lunch at a prime water hole, I didn't give up. And SUCCESS! Caught my first Rainbow Trout, and a big one at that!
The next day, by pure synchronicity, the filming crews were back (this was about a month after the show was filmed and we didn't know they were coming until we got a text that day). We had some fish to show them! So of course, Ini being the "hunter" of the family, we had to pretend he caught it ;) ;)
He was filmed processing the fish and then putting it in the primitive smoke tent. Ultimately the footage didn't make the final cut, but I took some photos of the day.
Here's how to smoke a fish in the tent
1) Filet the fish.
2) Depending on the size of the fish, about palm size is a good cut.
3) Make a small incision in the middle of the filet- cutting about half way. This is so the filet can lay across the branch and not fall off.
4) Marinate the fish for 5-12 hours in a salt solution or be creative and make a special brine (usually acid base like lime, vinegar, tomato, etc mixed salt, pepper, chili, and other spices adds excellent flair. Let your creativity shine.)
5) Prepare the smoke tent by lighting a fire and building up a good bed of coals. Add the coals to a small depression in the middle of the smoke tent.
6) We cut down some fresh Cherry Tree branches, but Hickory or Apple (or other fruit wood) also make excellent smoking wood. If using dry store bought chips, make sure to smoke them first. And of course, make sure there is no poison ivy growing on your smoking wood!
7) Lay the filets on the branches and put the smoking wood on the bed of coals. You can also add garlic into the smoking tent (it's excellent smoked!).
8) Close up the flaps and smoke for about 6 hours adding coals and smoking wood as needed.
This is considered a hot smoke and it should be pretty hot in there. You're looking for dramatic color and texture change in the fish. Cook it for at least 6 hours to make sure it's thoroughly cooked.
We tried this as a preservation technique, but would advice eating the fish within a day or two and keeping it under cold storage. If you want to preserve the fish, you'll need to research more detailed preservation techniques. This technique does make some extremely tasty fish!!!