Kitchen Hacks & Cooking Tips: An Ideas Thread

[tragabigzanda]

Why not keep the catch? Any logic to this?

Filleting definitely ain't easy, especially on tiny ass Blue Gill.

It's because guided tours, and tourism in general, are an enormous part of the state economy. "Every fish taken is a tourism job lost" goes the thinking. I find it patently nuts considering that many waters are stocked to a high capacity, but that's not the predominant view here.

I would destroy a little blue gill, I'd have better luck smashing it with a hammer and separating out the edible parts.

[tree_]

Why not keep the catch? Any logic to this?

Filleting definitely ain't easy, especially on tiny ass Blue Gill.

It's because guided tours, and tourism in general, are an enormous part of the state economy. "Every fish taken is a tourism job lost" goes the thinking. I find it patently nuts considering that many waters are stocked to a high capacity, but that's not the predominant view here.

I would destroy a little blue gill, I'd have better luck smashing it with a hammer and separating out the edible parts.

I'm no expert but from what I've heard there's an art to a well stocked water, which has something to do with taking a portion of the fish out once in a while, and that it's, yeah, not good to be overstocked...

I'm not doing a great job. I would cook with bone in but wife is a princess and doesn't do bones.

[tragabigzanda]

I miss salmon fishing and then smoking them that day or the following.

what was your technique?
hot or cold smoke? time & temp? whole fish or filleted?
it looks like i'm going to inherit a Green Egg from a buddy, so i'm eager to start smoking my own fish.

[tree_]

Green Eggs are finnnnne... father in law has one

[E.H. Ruddock]

I miss salmon fishing and then smoking them that day or the following.

what was your technique?
hot or cold smoke? time & temp? whole fish or filleted?
it looks like i'm going to inherit a Green Egg from a buddy, so i'm eager to start smoking my own fish.

Usually filleted. Pear or hickory, usually used my charcoal smoker but occasionally the electric one. But I swear it was better with the charcoal

[tragabigzanda]

I miss salmon fishing and then smoking them that day or the following.

what was your technique?
hot or cold smoke? time & temp? whole fish or filleted?
it looks like i'm going to inherit a Green Egg from a buddy, so i'm eager to start smoking my own fish.

Usually filleted. Pear or hickory, usually used my charcoal smoker but occasionally the electric one. But I swear it was better with the charcoal

Interesting that you prefer the charcoal over the wood.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I miss salmon fishing and then smoking them that day or the following.

what was your technique?
hot or cold smoke? time & temp? whole fish or filleted?
it looks like i'm going to inherit a Green Egg from a buddy, so i'm eager to start smoking my own fish.

Usually filleted. Pear or hickory, usually used my charcoal smoker but occasionally the electric one. But I swear it was better with the charcoal

Interesting that you prefer the charcoal over the wood.

No I always smoke with wood, charcoal is just the heat source. I still use wood chips. I prefer the charcoal heat source over the electric. For fish, anyway

[tragabigzanda]

ah, got ya

[E.H. Ruddock]

And if you can get your hands on it, pear is a very underrated wood. It was plentiful in Yakima, though, with all of the orchards around

[wease]

Pecan is my favorite.

[doug rr]

Pecan is my favorite.

me too..been using it mostly now for a couple years

[tragabigzanda]

Didn't even know pecan was commercially available for smoking...I've got some learning to do here.

[doug rr]

i'm not going to lie but at first i thought tree's pan was full of spätzle

[washing machine]

i'm not going to lie but at first i thought tree's pan was full of spätzle

[wease]

As far as fruit woods, peach is my favorite.

[tragabigzanda]

As far as fruit woods, peach is my favorite.

now you're just yanking my chain

[tree_]

Here's what it looked like when done and seasoned

[wease]

As far as fruit woods, peach is my favorite.

now you're just yanking my chain

I most certainly am not. It gives the meat almost a sweet flavor. It’s hard to find, tho. I’ve been looking and looking for people with peach trees so I can just get a small branch or two.

[Balki]

Sometimes, when I need something for a meal that I don't have, I re-purpose other things.

Examples:
I need some chicken stock...Instead, I'll open a bag of raman (yea, I still eat it from time to time, whatever) and use the packet of seasoning with some water
I need some mozzarella....If there is anything frozen and stuffed with mozzarella (mozz stick), I'll use a paring knife to slice off the outside breading while still frozen, and chop up/grate the cheese
I need some garlic...I'll use some of the spice mixture at the bottom of the Vlasic garlic pickles' jar
I need some bacon...I'll chop up some deli ham and fry it till crispy

[wease]

Deli ham is NOT a substitute