Wow no bellies. I would rather have nothing but bellies off the yukon kings in my smoke house.YUMMY. They are truly Yukon Gold!!!!!
Just have to cut them thin.
Personally I have never tasted a strip that I like as much as mine and the Superintendent at St. Mary's, whom I taught my method of doing it. They are just darn good.
To me there are two things that turn me off of some ones strips more than anything.
1. Fishy tasting.
2 Cut too thick and not adequately dried inside.
To combat any fishy taste you can't beat getting off the stuff that imparts the fishy taste. Fish slime!
I start by scaling my kings. It is quick and in the process of scaling you remove 95% of the slime on the fish. Clean rinse. The lack of scales is nice as well. Makes for a lot easier job of cutting them, less mess, and just a better product in my opinion. We just drop the fish off at the beach and scale with a knife prior to loading them back in a cooler. For years I cut with a knife. Last year I tried an ulu. An elongated blade actually. It was awesome. I have the pattern some where and want to make one.
Cutting the strips thin really aides in the drying time and ability to deal with damp weather conditions. The fatter the fish the thinner the strip needs to be. And there isn't anything better than belly strips.
I made the mistake of trying to dry fall silvers too fast with a fan. It was wet weather so I turned up the heat and used a fan and I dried some too fast and they would not dry inside well as the fan caused a crust. So be careful about trying to drying to fast.
I like strings. Extra hassle in some respects but it makes it easier in others. If you put your meat over the wood it is always prone to mold an is the most commonly spoiled part of the strip. Slip knot gillnet string and we use them for years. Don't cinch all the way to the meat as many more will drop as they slip off the skin easier. Just cut the meat and and stop. No waste this way.
You will always get a percentage that will drop. Maybe 3-4%. We just always put a clean tarp down the first day to catch. After the first day they will rarely fall.
I had some tutorial video but I can't find them.
I also use a potato float method but we soak for about 7-10 min if I remember right.
But the key ingredient I like to add is this as it imparts a slight sweetness.
After soaking we soak/roll/submerse in Yoshidas Gourmet sauce briefly and then slightly strip off the excess.
I use nothing but dry alder. Bark and all.
About two -three weeks in the smoke house and if there is a better strip I haven't tasted it in the last 26 years on the Lower Yukon.
