Tips for Smoking Fish & Sea Food: Not too Hot, Not too Cold

Hot smoking is done at temperatures from 200°F to 250°F, while cold smoking is generally done at temperatures less than 90°F. The best results when smoking fish seem to come from somewhere in the middle, from 150°F to 180°F for most fillets, to as hot as 225°F for whole fish.

For oily fillets such as salmon, your smoker should be prepared for cooking at 150°F to 160°F. It is necessary to stay in this range the entire time to prevent the white fat from seeping to the surface. A nice incremental smoking method I use with salmon fillets is to smoke the fish for two hours at 150°F, then at 160°F to finish. When the thickest part of the fish begins to flake, it is done. Non-oily fillets like mahi-mahi or whole fish such as trout can be smoke cooked at 210°F to 225°F.