For glaze

• Add honey, orange juice salt and pepper to a small bowl.
  2 tablespoons Juice from orange, 1 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt, ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper, ¼ cup honey
• Cover and refrigerate until needed. If the honey is really thick, microwave it for about the 30 seconds.
• Add all ingredients for dry brine to a large bowl. Grate orange zest directly above the bowl.
  6 cups brown sugar, 1½ cups coarse kosher salt or sea salt, 2 tablespoons dry mustard, 2 tablespoons garlic, granulated, 2 tablespoons onion powder, 1 tablespoons cracked black pepper, 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper or chili powder, 1 orange zest
• Mix well. If the brown sugar clumps up, get it there with your hands to break it apart and mix. Add a generous layer to a plastic or glass container, large enough to fit the fillets.
• Slice the steelhead into chunks. Leave the tail end larger than the rest so that it cooks in about the same amount of time. Add a layer of fish, skin side down on top of the brown sugar & salt mixture.
  2 steelhead trout fillets
• Cover with another generous layer of the brine mix. Continue until all pieces are covered.
• Place the fish in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight. Notice how the fish lose some of their moisture?
• Rinse fillets off well with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. Place them on a cooling rack. Dry the pieces in a cool place, or the fridge for a couple hours to develop a pellicle. The fish will feel slightly tacky after the pellicle forms. This will keep moisture in the fish as it’s smoking and increase the smoky flavor. A small fan will help the fish dry faster.
• Spray the skin side with non stick spray to make clean up easier.
• Place the fish skin side down on the smoker racks. Brush with the honey glaze.
• Smoke at 180°F / 80°C for about 4-5 hours until internal temperature measures 140°F / 60°C with an instant read thermometer. We like to smoke fish with a light smoke of fruit wood. Apple and cherry work well.