Crappie Smoking?

I love to smoke meats and fish. And I love smoked fish, (almost as much as pan-fried) has anyone tried smoking crappies? I own a little Indian electric smoker and get by fine using it. I've only gone so far to smoke salmon, trout, and the occasional whitefish. As well as jerky, steaks, venison and the like. even tried bacon (great for a couple of days, but the fat goes bad quickly). I will be testing this out when I have some fresh crappie fillets, just wondering if anyone has tried this before?

If you can keep the fillets from falling apart it should be good. Let us know how it goes. I've thought about trying it too. Maybe scale them and leave the skin on to hold it together.

Bacon would hold them together great! :biggrin

Bacon fish sounds great!
I assume it would be easier to smoke like whitefish, in whole sections so the skin and scales protect the fragile flaky flesh.

I smoke my crappie whole.Attachment 164108

That is exactly the way I smoke whitefish, wonderful! Those look very tasty indeed. Now i need to get some crappies so i can smoke em.

Make a "boat" out of aluminum foil so the fillets won't fall through the grates. We do this with crappie and catfish fillets. If you have big slabs of fillets, take a lemon slice and lay on top of each fillet. The crappie fillets won't take very long to cook -- just watch for the meat to get flaky and it's done. Just don't oversmoke them -- they'll dry out and be tough.

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Originally Posted by Michigan Man86

even tried bacon (great for a couple of days, but the fat goes bad quickly).

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Sounds like you aren't curing he bacon before smoking it. Get some pink salt/curing salt and rub that on the pork bellies and put them in ziplock bags an in the fridge. Let the bellies cure for 10 days (flipping the bags each day). Rinse the meat, pat dry with paper towels then leave on racks in the fridge for 3 hours. Smoke at 150 degrees for 5 hours with hickory wood. Pull from the smoker, wrap in cling wrap and put in the fridge for a day (the smoke flavor will soak into the meat more). Put the meat in the freezer for an hour before slicing.

Curing the meat will keep the fat from going bad.

Lay the fillet out and season it with whatever seasoning you prefer. Roll it up and wrap a piece of thin sliced bacon around it and secure it with a toothpick. Stand them up on end on your grate and smoke them to your liking. :biggrin