How to smoke Goldeye

After my first not quite so successful attempt on smoking Goldeye  a few weeks ago, I bought a smoker from Cabellas. A Masterbuilt Electric Smokehouse with digital controls at the top and a meat probe. I smoked 4 Goldeye today and they turned out great.
I took the frozen Goldeye out the freezer yesterday. After they were thawed out, I put them into a brine and kept them in the fridge for 10 hours. After that I washed off the brine with clean water, dried them and left them on a grill in the fridge for a few hours, mainly because my smoker wasn't ready yet.
When I took them out of the fridge, they had glazed over nicely and were ready to be smoked.
After preheating the smoker for about 20 minutes at 275F I put the 4 Goldeye onto the rack in the smoker. The Apple chips were already smoking nicely. I had to add some chips after about one hour.
I smoked the fish for 2 hours at 200F. After the smoker shut off I still left the fish in the closed smoker for another 20 minutes, then I removed them from the smoker. Unfortunately, the skin stuck to the grill and it took some doing with a knife to pry them loose, but that was okay, because we only eat the meat. They were done and the skin just peeled off the meat.

This is the brine I used:

1 liter (or quart) of water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of apple juice
1/4 cup pickling salt
1/2 cup light soy sauce
a dash of black pepper
a dash of onion powder
a dash of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Hy's seasoning salt (some people use Lawry's)
a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Even though they tasted good, I'm always on the search for a better recipe. I used to get smoked Goldeye from an acquaintance once in awhile and I liked the way they tasted. When I called him up and asked him for the recipe, he told me he couldn't give it to me, because the recipe has been in his family for 100 years and it took him 38 years to perfect it. I was a bit peeved about it, but I have to respect his reasoning. My thoughts are different on that. If I have something I enjoy I like to share it with other people.
When I told a friend of mine about my brine and how I smoked the fish, he laughed and said "Never use sugar on Goldeye". This is how he prepares and smokes fish, using a dry-rub:
He rubs them with pickling salt, pepper, garlic powder and real garlic. Then he leaves them sitting for a couple of hours. After that he washes them and lets them dry. Then he smokes them. He assures me they taste great. He promised to smoke one for me. I may just use his recipe the next time.
Here is a picture of how the smoked Goldeye looked:

 Note: (November 17, 2013)
I couldn't get the results I received here after this again. The fish split in the back and the bellies opened wide. I'm only using the dry rub now. It is faster and less messy. Here is the link to the way I smoke my Goldeye now and they turn out fine. (Most of the time anyway. (^_^):

Smoking Goldeye - again.

My first reviews have been published

My reviews of the Best Western hotel in Hill City and the Comfort Inn in Bismarck have been published on Tripadvisor. If anyone is interested here are the links:

Best Western Plus Golden Spike Inn Suites, Hill City, SD

Comfort Inn, Bismarck, ND

The Black Hills. A trip to remember.

I’ve been absent for over a couple of weeks now, but I’m back. By back I mean back from a short holiday we took. Went down to the Black Hills and the Badlands in South Dakota. We left Sunday, September 2 and came back Monday, September 10.

The weather was great and the trip went well. The last time we were in that area of the US was in 1968. A long time ago. Things have changed from what we remember. The heads of the American Presidents in Mount Rushmore are still the same impressive sight, but they’ve erected a huge parking house and an elaborate construction for viewing the heads. And we had to pay to get in. That’s one of the somewhat disappointing things. It is expensive to see all the attractions. We also went to see Crazy Horse, another huge and impressive project, but it cost twenty bucks admission. Fifteen Dollars to drive through Custer Park and another similar entrance fee to drive through the Badlands. I believe it was Fifteen Dollars also. I’m not sure.

We stayed in Hill City, pretty much the center of the Black Hills and close to all the attractions. Our stay at the Best Western Plus Golden Spike was pleasant. Nice place with a comfortable King size bed and great continental breakfast in the morning. In the evening we dined in various restaurants, had great steak ($11.95 for a 9 oz steak) at the Alpine Inn, and fine foods at other nice restaurants. The prices are quite reasonable and the portions large. Perhaps a bit too large sometimes. No wonder people gain weight eating those large meals, especially for lunch.

Our first visit was to the Museum in the Black Hill Institute in Hill City. It features skeletons of dinosaurs. The largest attraction is Stan, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, one of the skeletons discovered in the Black Hills. Also many impressive geodes and other beautiful rocks on display.

Another attraction we visited was the Rushmore Caves, and we were treated to an exclusive tour, because my wife and I were the only ones going at that particular time. We had a nice time with the guide and were able to ask many questions which he answered. Quite an experience to see the natural caves and squeezing through some narrow passages. When we asked if they advised corpulent people about those narrow passages, we were told they don’t want to offend people. I’d say better offend than have them getting stuck.

Keystone was another interesting town. It is one of the oldest cities in the Black Hills. Half of it is old and the other half new. We went to a Western Show in a pub, which was quite entertaining and funny. One of the three players was Seven feet two inches tall. His name was Big Dave Murra. The other player was Michael Paul. The third one was Jerry Allan. He said he appeared in various Western Movies. He sang two songs and I wished he would have sung more. He had a great voice.

On our way home we stopped at the Reptile Gardens in Rapid City. It cost $11.00 a person to get in, but there were plenty of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes in addition to huge crocodiles and alligators to see. Many of these places are privately funded so we can’t really complain about the high admission fees

After we passed through the Badlands we stayed overnight in Kadoka. Not much there, but we had supper at Club 27 Steakhouse. The prime rib was a nice size and tasty. Paid $17.50 for a 10oz steak (including the salad bar). Yes, there was a bit of fat on it, but that’s what gives it the taste. We can’t get a 10oz prime rib for that kind of money here were we live.

Sadly, not all the food was great. I had the worst sandwich at the Rising Bread Co, located in the West Acres Mall in Fargo. $6.99 for a half sandwich w/soup. I had the bacon/lettuce on pumpernickel. Not much room to put anything on the tiny half sandwich, and it was so greasy my stomach was upset for the rest of the day. It was an awful sandwich that was overpriced.

But everything was forgiven and forgotten when we had lunch in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks the next day. If you ever visit Grand Forks and you like Chinese Food eat at the Grand Forks Magic ChopStix. One of the vendors in the Mall. Reasonable prices and good food. We ate there last year and liked it. This time didn’t disappoint either. $5.68 for a Combo. We pay at least $8.00 here for the same Combo.

I kept a diary and I’ll be doing reviews on tripadvisor for every hotel we stayed in and also for every restaurant we ate lunch or supper. Most of the reviews will be favorable. I’ll be posting the links here as they happen.

Unfortunately, when you have a good time everything seems to move much quicker. One week is too short and it passes too fast. Now over a week has passed already and we’re back into our old routines. There was so much to do when we came back. The garden needed attention. With the temperatures dropping to around Zero Celsius and even lower at night I was forced to pick all of the tomatoes and peppers. And there were plenty this year. We made Salsa enough to last us through the winter. But it will be nice to eat hot Salsa in those cold evenings.

More next time.