Kezza wrote: sorry Team Tagit but your spearfish appears to have turned putrid in the last couple of hours, so I've taken liberty and biffed it in the offal pit to save you guys from a visit to the chemist for extra strength dia-stop!!.......
In all seriousness - Boulder and I will vacuum pack and will be distributed on the morrow - so make sure you have in your respective larders Vogels toast bread, vine ripe tomatoes, some kind of waaanky cheese, cracked pepper and some garlic!!
PS: just to make this relevant to the thread - spearfish has a very similar texture and density to the striped marlin I've smoked using the same method as above.... |
Boulder wrote: It shall be delivered hot off the bagging plant Dave |
Marligator wrote: Welcome aboard Karl, I was wondering whether this thread would be the one to finally get you to start participating on here. Weighmaster, I was not meaning the length of fight time more the type of fight from the blue marlin. My suspicion was that blues that went crazy may not smoke up as well as one which fought a more dogged fight i.e didn't expend large amounts of energy in a short period, hence possibly less lactic acid build up, only a theory no proof on this, but is logical I feel. |
ILEX wrote: A few tips for smoking marlin or any fish firstly waterblasting or scrubbing is important the slime and bacteria on all fish has the potential to give you a crook guts we have used a recipe for years 1kg of plain salt (not iodised) 2kg of brown sugar to 35 litres of fresh water brining bins are 120 litre new wheelie bins which are hygenic and easily cleaned 1 bin holds approx 1 average marlin note -important that super dry white tea tree is used as wet wood or green wood when burnt creates black creosote (bad for you) fish are left in brine in chiller for 24 hours any longer makes no difference can be left for 5 days when gutting make sure to remove dark blood line in spine starting wood is usually old dry totara fence post a moderate fire in our smoke house seems to take approx 3-4 hours to cook fish check often if meat peels off skin fish is cooked best left overnight in smoke house to cool before packing preferably vacuum packing |
Kezza wrote: smoking up Team Tagit's spearfish today - never done one of them before but don't foresee any issues. Dry rubbed chunks with Bradley Maple Cure (anyone wanting a fool proof way of curing fish/meat this is the product for you - even a hack like me has gotten it 100% right) yesterday
Left in the chiller over night
rinsed chunks under a medium nozzle flow this morning
dried chunks with paper towel
put racks in Bradley and set to 60degrees without smoke for 1 hour
dried chunks with paper towels
rubbed chunks with maple syrup
and is now smoking away at 80 degrees with maple bisquettes
will add some photos as this progresses today.
in the meantime below is some scungy ol' albacore I did last week with the above method:
The key I believe with albacore is to de-gill and gut them through the gills as they come on board and liberally pack the gut cavity with salt ice.....you'll be surprised how "warm" the gut cavity is of a fresh caught tuna and will begin to deteriorate very quickly if left in even in a salt ice slurry.....try it this way next time you get some albacore - superb!! |
Kezza wrote: Reel Magic - I've never done Mako or actually ever eaten it, so sorry i don't know but have heard the the texture and flavour is akin to striped marlin? cerantly doesn't sound 'right' thou. as far as brine vs dry rub - I've only used brine method on pork hams and bacon where it requires a long time to cure - all fish I've done has been a dry rub. If anyone bowls over a small mako and is willing to risk me having a go at smoking it please let me know....keen as!! |
That looks great can almost smell it.
Kezza wrote: Roy - a couple of striped one's might be a bit taxing on resources but if you are slabbing up a fish our two and you put aside around 40-50 'chunks' around the same size as the above pixs I'll be more than happy to do them for you. |
ILEX wrote: ]A few tips for smoking marlin or any fish firstly waterblasting or scrubbing is important the slime and bacteria on all fish has the potential to give you a crook guts we have used a recipe for years 1kg of plain salt (not iodised) 2kg of brown sugar to 35 litres of fresh water brining bins are 120 litre new wheelie bins which are hygenic and easily cleaned 1 bin holds approx 1 average marlin note -important that super dry white tea tree is used as wet wood or green wood when burnt creates black creosote (bad for you) fish are left in brine in chiller for 24 hours any longer makes no difference can be left for 5 days when gutting make sure to remove dark blood line in spine starting wood is usually old dry totara fence post a moderate fire in our smoke house seems to take approx 3-4 hours to cook fish check often if meat peels off skin fish is cooked best left overnight in smoke house to cool before packing preferably vacuum packing |
the demon wrote: Just a couple of questions,Once vaccy packed what is the expected shelf life in the fridge,and what temp is it inside the smoker at the time of smoking . Kezza ,did you do a mako in the end ? |
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