We scored a few Albacore this weekend and I was really keen to try them smoked, so I dragged my poor man's hot smoker box out of hibernation and deployed it on the gas BBQ.
The Fat Al Berts were treated well, as in; bled, gutted and headed... for the small ones. (after they were stood down from live bait duties
)
Whereas the bigger one was: bled, gilled and the guts were removed via a small cut under the throat (meaning belly still intact) and then packed with SALT ICE in the internals and then the fish placed in plastic bags with more salt ice wrapped around their carcasses.
About 12 hours or so later they were dutifully;- sliced, filleted and cut...off bone and the beautiful dark red sprint muscle removed (strong and iron like tasting).
I first tried a small albert with some special spiced smoked salt and garlic with a drizzle and gentle massage and smear of maple syrup and cranberry sauce.
The smoker box was bought slowly up to temp on the BBQ, once it was starting to smoke I put the rack in and turned all of the burners down to low and gave it 20 mins.
The end result was; I had perhaps overspiced a little, over cooked a little, but the neighbours loved it and we all agreed it was like smoked chicken.
The next session I did with bigger chunks of Fatter Al Berts and I just sprinkled a wee bit of ground rock salt (sea salt) and then a wee smear of maple syrup and topped it off with a sprinkling of Chilli and Lime Seasoning (Greggs - Sorry not the Masterfoods...
)
I let it sit for about 20 mins only.
I then put new Manuka (tea tree) sawdust in the smoker, put the lid on, got it up to the best smoking temp and when it started to smoke, put the rack inside, turned all burners down to low again and this time gave it exactly 10 mins ONLY.
And this time it was absolute MINT and it came out PREMO...
... As they say... Albacore Tuna...The Chicken of the Sea
20 minute sit...
Ready to rock and roll...
...End result...Well the pics make it look boring and ho hum... but the taste was absolute mint and indeed excellent.
Overall, a damn good experiment which turned out very worthwhile and was very easy to do.
"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau