I wanted to start this thread as I have had numerous requests on "how to prepare steelhead". I thought it was a great sharing opportunity. My 2 favorite steelhead recipies are as follow.
Smoked steelhead:
1. Make a salt water brine dense enough to float an egg.
2. Totally immerse fish in solution. overnight.
3. I preffer steak style with bone in and skin must be left on. The skin keeps the meat together. The thicker the chunks of fish, the less salty they will be.
4. Give meat a quick rinse but don't over do it. Just get salt off the outside is all.
5. Smoke em up. This is the tricky part. You want the temp very low and the smoke very thick. If you do it on a weber style grill, just light about 25 charcoal briquets all the way to one side of the grill and just up the side of the grill a little, let them burn to the point they are all ashy, place wood chips of choice on coals and put the grate over the coals and place fish on grate but not directly over the coals. You might have to adjust vents to keep smoke rolling. You just have to play with it and you will need to add wood every 20-30 minutes to keep smoke thick. Smoke them for 6-10 hours. If you see cooked fat coming out (it looks foamy) it is too hot. Target temp is 150f. Just play with and sample. If you need it more done, leave it on longer.
6. If you like flavor on your smoked fish, you can add cracked pepper, red pepper, teriyaki, tobasco etc near the end stage.
Dill steelhead
This one is great!!!!!
1. keep the skin on again and prepare a fillet and dab it dry with paper towell.
2. sprinkle sea salt over the top, and squeeze a little lemon on fillet.
3. preheat a nonstick pan to about 200 degrees and spray a little nonstick (pam) spray on it.
4. place fillet in pan and under broiler for about 6-7 minutes
5. make a sauce using sweet cream and dillweed. you can't go wrong. Just add dill to desired taste and warm it in a sauce pan. You can also add seasalt if you desire.
6. remove from oven, place on warm plate, pour sauce over and serve.
Let me know what you think
