🙂
Brine is good by mixing Kosher salt (purchased in any grocery store—blue box)–add water, and tarragon leaves or powder. Makes for nice brine. Also, you can just use kosher salt and water. Make sure to use the brine with carp inside non-metallic container. Big 5 gallon pickle buckets are great. If you cant find pickle bucket, just buy one at Menards or Walmart. I like to get mine from the cooks by being nice. Please, thank you and chocolcate works well. Anyhow, place the carp in the bucket after having cut all the scaly side off and gutting the fish. I keep the scaly side and when smoking place the fish on the skinned side. Works great.
You want to place the 5 gallon bucket in the fridge overnight to let the brine cure work its magic. Same as for using brie on turkey—salt and water.
Next day fire up the grill, get the wood in the tender box and when ready place fish in the smoker. Smoke at low temps and smoke longer, but works better. Lot of guys will use cheap spritezer bottle to spritz the fish with apple juice every so often or just slather brown sugar on top as it gets close to done.
Make sure to pull when cooked and remove all the bones. This is the part that sucks. Every carp species has lots of bones. Once removed the carp meat is really good. You can mix it with cream cheese and herbs placed on crackerss. Nice little snack. You can freeze the carp that is smoked and pull out 2 months from now. Nice to have for little snack with adult beverage.
So go to the Gavins PPoint dam and the bow fisherman will give you some speared carp. Two weeks ago they were smoking them from the bank and boast. Tons of carp. Some of those guys have platforms on the front of jon boats and big plastic drums in center of boats. Makes me wonder if they are going commercial. Good Luck and have fun smoking some carp. Just make sure to clean the grill grates or it will stink to to high heaven. robbie
