G's Smoked Fish

Earlier this week I posted about my adventures in the backyard smoking ribs and cornish hens. G was also busy. He had gone deep sea fishing the previous day and caught much of nothing. With a freezer full of his previous fishing adventure catches (chunks and fillets), he decided to smoke what he had. This included primarily tuna, yellowtail and a barracuda. The fish was brined overnight in a mixture he puts together which has rock salt, brown sugar and bourbon (I think). In the past when he smokes fish, he takes it out of the brine, pats it dry and hangs the fish to air dry in a cool area. With limited time, he skipped this step on this run.

He got out his New Braunfels Smoker, loaded it with charcoal, alder wood chunks and rosemary with a water bath. The fish was smoked at a very low temperature (200-210)for about 8 hours. He is not looking for moist fish. The result is not what you would expect from the process. G and friends describe it as very good tasty smoked fish (I'm not a fish eater). It is not meant to be served as a main course, but rather as an appetizer, snack, in salads or some of the smaller pieces are like fish jerky and are meant just to nibble on. It does make very good tuna salad.

He vacuum packs serving portions and then he's good to go.