Buy the Best Smoked Fish in the Upper Midwest

Off to hunting camp, snow-mobiling in winter, summer touring, gambling excursions, fall color tours, or a Mackinac Island Lilac Festival all have one thing in common: smoked fish. It's a staple Up North and my fish wholesaler even gets calls from Alabama, begging for a shipment of freshly smoked whitefish.

Unlike the Alaskan smoked salmon trade, Great Lakes whitefish is more of a regional specialty. Oh sure, our whitefish (herring, salmon, trout, and menominee) gets shipped off by the ton to New York City, and Chicago. Even the eggs work their way over to the West Coast and the Far East ...where they're coveted as golden caviar. But mostly it's just a tasty regional offering, fairly easy to come by, for the Up North camping and fishing crowds that descend every summer. If you're near the Canadian border, and in the Great Lakes basin, you've probably seen or heard of whitefish. Most tourists, especially those that come back, have actually ventured into the local fish markets and retail stores to buy some smoked fish.

Whitefish is the King of Smoked Fish up north. In fact, the Native Ojibwe (Chippewa Indians) here were called Attikamekw, which translates to "whitefish people." They're harvested throughout the summer, with big runs in the late summer and early fall. Native fisherman lift tons of whitefish and sell them to tourists or wholesalers. From there, they're processed for fresh filets served in restaurants and for home-cooking (or campfire grilling) all over. But other fish are processed to sell from fishmarkets and restaurants and other regional outlets in the smoked manner. Have you ever had ham? Well, smoked fish is like that, but we're using fish in lieu of hog.

The fisherman (or wholesaler) brines his fish in large tubs filled with spices, herbs, salt and water. Each fish demands its own brine, at least if you're doing it right. The whitefish does not absorb salt like salmon. So if you use the same brine for both, you've either got bland whitefish or salty salmon. Some fish are chunked or sliced, especially the larger ones. Others (including whitefish, menominee, or chubs) are smoked in the round, or whole. You clean out the guts, but the fish is left with his head, tail, and even the eyes to stare you down. A decent sized whitefish is about two pounds, but chubs (a small schooling fish that's pretty hard to find) are 4-6 inches at best. There are as many brines as you can find fish smokehouses. My guy Kenny uses garlic and of course his recipe is my own personal favorite.

The fish sets in his brine overnight, or about 12 hours, in a cooler. The next step is the day long smoking process. You have to be careful at this point. Traditionally, fish were smoked dry and heavily salted. You actually could carry them around on your back, for long periods of time. They were soaked in water to refresh them, and eaten as needed. It was more like a fish jerky than the fish you see today. Through modern day processing, refrigeration, and government regulation, today's smoked fish is best eaten within 2-4 weeks. There's a big disagreement over methods and rules, so a smoked fish in Wisconsin is good for longer periods than Michigan. My wholesale fish baron, Cameron, is constantly at war with the Department of Agriculture. The USDA wants more salt and drier fish. Tastes have developed over the years and a moister, more delicate flavor is greatly appreciated. Further, most people want LESS salt in their diet. But heavily brined fish that is smoked longer will last in more extreme temperatures. Pick your position.

Sometimes you can get lucky and obtain a fish right from the smokehouse. That's fairly rare anymore. For one thing, the fish retailer wants to move out his stock. More importantly, the fish cools most effectively within a consistent cool-down process. Fish must reach a certain temperature and maintain that temperature for a specific number of hours, in order to be sold to the general public. Hot fish placed directly into a refrigerator will "sweat," and smoked fish and water DON'T go together at all! So usually the smoked fish is relegated to a well-ventilated cooler for the night. The next morning the fish is sorted, shipped, boxed and sold.

Now we're to the point where the fish is on the shelf. You understand the process, now how do you obtain the best smoked fish in your area? It's all a matter of taste and experience. Consider the wine snob, and how he tastes a variety of wines before he decides on his best or favorite wine. Which bottle offers the most "bang for the buck?" You can be a whitefish snob, and no two palates are exactly the same. Even so, there's certain fish you want and others you may want to leave on the shelf.

The first key point is your favorite smokehouse. You'll have to taste a few fish and decide on your own personal favorite. My first experience was with Manley's smoked fish and I bought my fish from old man Manley himself. He was a great old character, Manley Pomeroy, and I knew him for years. He bought his fish locally, and smoked them himself, in small batches right next to the fish store. He lived in the adjacent home and ran things right up until he was hospitalized in the local nursing facility. Even then, he visited the operation during his "outings," and the store still retains his general recipe and definitely kept his name on the frontage!! It's a small fish place on the north side of Saint Ignace, simply called "Manley's Smoked Fish."

Across the road from where I lived was Fred Frasier, who used the imaginative store name "Fred's Smoked Fish." Fred actually caught his own fish, processed smoked, and sold it himself. If he was out fishing, there'd be a bowl with some change and you served yourself, believe it or not. Most people were totally honest, and often he came away with more money than he should have. He was a cool old guy, and I still get people, 20 years later, asking for Fred and whatever happened to him. His widow (Helen) maintained the property for many years, and used to walk up and down Rabbit's Back Trail until she aged and died. A whole generation disappearing, but remembered well.

Down the road (US-2 West) and out to the little village of Brevort lies Gustafson's Smoked Fish. I always recommend their jerky and tip off customers who prefer a drier fish than the Hagen Family's recipe . They run a big smoking operations and do quite well, year around. I've even carried their jerky up to Alaska, at the request of some friends from town. The highway that passes by their convenience store and gas station is the main artery out west and the traffic is pretty dense at times, yet consistent year around. You can count on them having smoked fish, smoked at least a few times each week, even in the depths of winter. They don't do any wholesale, so if you're wanting Gustafson's smoked fish, you have to go to the Gustafson's Smoked Fish place in Brevort.

I'm partial to a moister smoked fish, and I like Kenny's the best. As mentioned above, he brines each fish separately, and religiously measures the salt content in the brine. He smokes the whitefish to a golden hue, and even the owner of the operation is hesitant about interfering with Kenny Ranville. He is the funniest, most quirky guy I know. If you can get him talking, you're sure to come away with a great one-liner and a wonderful smoked whitefish. He always harrasses me while I am buying and wrapping his fish, because it usually means an extra day in the smoke house, at least in the off-season. I ask him if he's running a fish museum, and are the fish artifacts or what? We've stuck with Kenny for 13 years because he consistently produces the best quality smoked fish and always has a great variety on his shelves. Many of the other wholesale fish markets minimize their operations in the winter months.

About two years ago, the owner of the Big Stone Bay was hurrying a fish order for a demanding customer. He stoked up the wood fire and we had moderately "blackened salmon" for the next week. The funny thing was, it sold out even more quickly than is normal. It must have been because it was so different, but they never did that again. The darker salmon is usually cooked longer than normal, but you don't want it too pale either. You can have the exact same temperatures and fire levels, but one day the fish smokes more quickly than another. Kenny watches it like a hawk, and the results are worth the wait.

The second key, once you've found your favorite smokehouse, is your smoke date. This is also a tricky business, because you want to get the fresher fish out of the back room. Your fish monger is like your favorite butcher. If he's busy, you're not going to get him to leave the front, where there's fish available for all the customers. Even if it's only you and the clerk in the front, they're hesitant to dig in the back for today's batch. Develop a relationship and hope for the best. But you have the right to ask for the smoke date, and the expiration date is stamped onto the front of the package at check-out. Just be polite and ask, and if you don't like the date, you don't have to buy. Usually, there's someone else selling fish, somewhere down the road.

Always look at your fish and evaluate the fish house and the workers. Some places just smell bad. You may have come on cleaning day, when all the guts are cleaned out of the drains, but they might just be a bit less clean than others. Fish guys tend to be pretty crusty, so cut them some slack. Most of them have hard jobs, fileting and moving huge crates of fish all over the country. Local restaurants run short and are screaming for more fresh fish. Just make sure the counter clerk washes his hands and follows general health and safety rules. They're inspected by the US Department of Agriculture and wholesalers or food preparers must be also evaluated by the Department of Health, whenever they serve food to the public. Still, you can see alot by the way things look. Counters should be reasonably clean, windows into where the fish is refrigerated should be clean, and hands should be washed. When they serve certain items, gloves should be worn. But do they use the same gloved hand to count money and in between customers? You might want to ask about that, or at least consider it. You don't eat smoked fish skin, so it's protected, much like a banana. However, if someone is serving fresh fish filets to one customer, he needs to wash his hands before offering smoked fish to the next.

Well, that's smoked fish in a nutshell. Over in Wisconsin, you'll fine sugar smoked fish!! I've only heard and read about it, but they use brown sugar or maple syrup in the brine and on the skin. It produces a mildly sweet flavor. Some guys are partial to liquid smoke. You can even find whole trout once in awhile. There's lake trout, brown trout, and rainbows. You don't often see rainbows smoked, but once in awhile they show up. There's nothing the matter with trying new things, and keep on working to get smoked fish and find the one you like. It's one of the most economical meats available. You'll pay a bit more in Chicago, but you can still find trout on sale for around $3 per pound, even in the Mackinac Straits area, where prices are competitive with Alaska!