Fish Preserves
How to cure each morsel deliciously.
Northern Nevada is a haven for freshwater fishing. Myriad lakes and rivers teem with trout ready to be caught then released or taken home to eat.
Among the most mouthwatering preparations of any type of fish, whether caught locally or purchased from a market, are smoking and making jerky. Both methods begin by flavoring the fish, then drying it through a heat-driven dehydration process to make it shelf stable and easily transportable for snacking any time.
Drying foods by sunlight was first evidenced around 12,000 B.C.E. in Asia and the Middle East, making it the world’s oldest method of food preservation. Today, foods often are dehydrated with the help of outside heating sources, such as ovens, versus by the sun, yet the principle is the same: Removing moisture from food reduces the chances of bacteria, fungus, or other naturally occurring enzymes permeating the food and making anyone who eats it ill.
When making jerky, dehydrating the fish allows its natural flavoring or any seasonings or marinades used during preparation to shine. Smoking it during dehydration simply adds an additional flavor component.
Making Jerky
Timbo and Dianna Brown have been in the jerky business for nearly two decades. Their company, Tahoe Truckee Jerky, cures various proteins in a 17,000-square-foot Carson City plant, then sells them online, under a private label, or at Jerky Junction in Truckee, an eye-catching red caboose from which its employees have been selling Truckee Tahoe Jerky for about 19 years.
While Timbo doesn’t share any proprietary recipes, he shares some basics for making your own fish jerky.
First, he suggests purchasing jerky racks at a local sporting goods store such as Cabela’s. Then, decide if you’ll be curing the fish in a dehydrator, oven, or smoker.
Next, clean and slice the fish into filets of consistent thickness. Then, choose your flavoring. Brown recommends marinating the fish filets in teriyaki sauce for a sweeter flavor profile, or coating them in lemon pepper for a bit more zest. He also suggests experimenting with combinations of your favorite seasonings and light soy sauce.
Whatever flavors you choose, marinate the fish for 24 hours in your refrigerator, then evenly space out the delicate portions on the jerky racks you purchased. Place racks in your oven, grill, dehydrator, or smoker, and cook on a low temperature — Brown says fish requires a lower temperature than beef to make jerky, but the temperature his company uses is proprietary info — for two to three hours, or until the fish reaches the United States Department of Agriculture-recommended internal temperature of 145 degrees F.
“When it comes out of the oven still warm, you can’t stop eating it,” Brown says.
Up in Smoke
Former director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife and current ranch consultant Ken Mayer of Sparks has been an avid fisherman his entire life. Eventually, he learned how to smoke the fish he caught locally, with his friend Denis Isbister, outdoorsman and host of TV show Wild Fish Wild Places, claiming it’s some of the best smoked trout he’s ever tasted.
A frequent fisher of Pyramid Lake, Mayer says, “They are some of the best-eating trout in the world. The meat is orange … there’s tons of fat, and the fatter the fish, the better for smoking; it doesn’t dry out … It will melt in your mouth.”
To smoke the trout he catches, he begins by purchasing smoking trays — he prefers the Shore Lunch brand — from a fishing shop or sporting goods store. Mayer explains that a 24-inch trout will produce three nice steaks when cut into thirds, or up to eight smaller pieces. You can leave the skin on after descaling it, which keeps the fish moister, or remove the skin if preferred. If skin is left on, it will easily peel off once smoked.
Then, he creates a brine for marinating the steaks overnight; he explains that bringing all of the ingredients to a full boil then letting the mixture cool immediately are vital steps that meld all of the flavors together harmoniously.
Mayer then places the steaks in a bowl or tray, ladling the brine over the filets slowly until each is well coated. After a good 24 hours, he removes the marinated fish from the refrigerator, pats the filets dry, and sometimes presses some black pepper into the flesh of the marinated fish because he likes them a little spicier.
Mayer uses a Green Mountain Grill to smoke the trout, stacking the smoking trays in the grill, then laying the fish out with enough space between each filet to allow the smoke to circulate around them.
“Then I smoke it low and slow, somewhere around 175 degrees F, for about three to four hours,” Mayer explains.
After about two hours, he rotates the racks, for instance placing the top rack in the bottom position and vice versa, so everything gets smoked at an equal rate. He does this a couple of times during the remainder of the smoking process. He’ll taste test the fish after a few hours to see if it’s done enough to eat.
Whether you’re feeling a bit jerky or a bit smoky, following these tips will result in delicacies worthy of your own fish story.
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