Ducktrap searches the world for the best tasting, and best harvested, seafood that can be found. One of the most important steps in preparing our products for smoking is finding the best mix of seasonings to compliment the basic flavors of the raw seafood. By using only all-natural salt, evaporated cane juice and high quality, fresh dried spice seeds and leaves (which contain many more subtle oils and fragrances), Ducktrap River has developed the best combinations used to brine the seafood before it is smoked.

Smoking seafood is an art…

Our seafood is brined one of two ways: wet or dry. Wet brining is done by mixing salt and spices with water, Dry brining is done by sprinkling the fish with a dry mixture of salt and spices.

Brining, whichever way it’s done, draws water and moisture out of the seafood, and replaces it with a small bit of the salt and spice mixture – this begins the curing process. Each type of seafood is brined its own way.

There are different ways to smoke seafood, too. Hot-smoking refers to the smoking process when the temperature reaches 145°F for a specific period of time. Seafood that is hot-smoked is generally flaky in texture and does not slice thinly. Cold Smoking is a process of smoking seafood in a smoker where the air temperature does not exceed 90°F. During this process, the smoke is used to enhance the flavor of the fish rather than cook the product. Cold-smoked fish tend to slice thinly.

There are no timers on our smokers (imported from Europe , where smoking salmon is an art); the products aren’t ready until we decide that the proper balance of smoke and moisture content has been reached. Nothing affects the flavor as much as the balance of smoke and salt.

The quality of the wood used in the smoking process is very important. We draw from the natural mix of wood found in the Maine forests; cherry, apple, oak and maple. Most of these woods are easy to obtain. For example, wild cherry grows like a weed around Belfast. Ducktrap River insures its steady supply of wood is uncontaminated by construction or cabinetry materials (paint, glue, etc.) by milling its own chips right before those chips will be needed in the smokehouse.