One of the great things about Ucluelet...no, the greatest thing, is the fish. Though it is hard to see initially, Ukee is about fish the same way Tofino is about surfing. One way or another, the fish in the sea (and the lake, river, and creek) drive this town. Even if you aren't excited about eating fish (such as my friend Dean), there is a lot of fun to be had looking at fish...the mini-aquarium, the fish plants, the boats, or even just staring off the dock or bridge.
Me, I love fish. I love eating fish, I love looking at fish. I love catching fish. I even love communing with fish...I can hang out all day staring at fish in an aquarium or during a dive. And my job involves fish...counting, identifying, sampling...fish!
When we moved here, we went looking for a fish store. That is what one does in every other place I have lived. We couldn't find a fish store in Ucluelet (there is one, but it is only open seasonally, and it isn't really all that great.) and we went more than a month trying to figure out how one goes about getting a halibut or salmon or rockfish without going out and catching one yourself. Lacking, as we did, any fishing gear or a boat, catching our own was a bit of a stretch.
But, as we got to know people around here, fish started to flow our way. The most glorious, fresh, lovely fish ever. And since we cannot eat fish as fast as it flowed, our freezer started to fill. Halibut, Sockeye, Spring salmon (what they call King salmon in Alaska), Yelloweye, Quillback, Sablefish, Albacore Tuna...it goes on. That's what is in my freezer now, along with some spot prawns. And now freezer space is becoming an issue, even with two freezers! And it is compounding, now that I have got back to trout fishing in my spare time...
And that got me thinking. About smoking. Smoking fish. When my father lived in Ottawa, we used to go to this fish place in the Byward Market. They sold this amazing smoked trout...rainbow, brown, cutthroat, and Golden trout (looks like a trout-shaped goldfish). They also had arctic char, but I never got to try that. But I remember loving it. Big treat. Not to mention that lox is impossible to find around here...though salmon candy and heavily smoked salmon is pretty prevalent. As I was doing all this thinking and dreaming, there was a defunct hot water heater in the driveway, waiting to be taken to the (tiny, on the border of a national park) landfill. The more I looked at it, the more it looked like a smoker. Until one day I knocked the cover and all the insulative foam off of it (big job! took all day!). Then it really really looked like a smoker.
Another couple of weeks went by until I mustered up the courage to take a recip saw to it...a la van (long story)...and clean it out. The next thing was smoke.
Going online, I found that making smoke comes in two main flavours (ha ha)...the one that appealed to me was using an electric element to make heat, and burning chips. The lovely assistant offered up her old electric steam cooker, and I pulled it apart to find the perfect little cast element in the middle. A quick test fire on the hearth confirmed it got hot enough to make smoke, so I rigged up a tomato juice can and an old stainless travel mug as a smoke injector. After attaching it, I filled 'er with maple chips, and fired it up! Yay! smoke! Only the unit started to look a little weird. As I was moving in for a closer look, the aluminum casting around the element sagged and splashed onto the pavement. Wow! I took a photo as it burst into flame, and I decided that I was happy it wasn't making steamed broccoli anymore.
Unfortunately, even after cleaning the remaining aluminum off the unit, I wasn't able to make it work. So I went to internet plan B, which involved spending money (damn.)
I went to a Pet Smart and bought a nineteen dollar aquarium aerator. After looking at photos and videos of products such as the Smoke Daddy and the Smoke Bullet, I fashioned my tomato juice travel mug smoke injector using a small bucket, a lid, a cheap pizza tray, and some plastic tubing...and liberal amounts of silicone RTV gasket maker.
Today I am using the smoker (which we have dubbed either the Fumarole or the Fumigator, I'm not sure which...I might paint it green with teeth) for the very first time....there is salmon, ling cod, and sable fish in there. It is a cold smoker, and the temp probe hasn't gone above 17* C since I started the operation 4 hours ago. I can use it as a hot smoker simply by putting a heat source (which I would rig up with a Johnson 419 temperature controller) in the tank, and still using aquarium injected tomato mug fume injector 2010! Next post...smoked fish taste tests!
