Recipe 1 comes from an old fisherman through my “fisherman” (in his own mind) brother in law.
It’s very easy: Place two bricks on hot grill and heat them until they are red hot. Put the bluefish on the bricks and cook for 20 minutes. When done, throw the fish away and eat the bricks.
Bluefish doesn’t get much respect when it comes to taste. It’s dark, oily and strong tasting. Just about everything people don’t want in a fish. This is why it’s so good for smoking.
I will admit, I have never paid for a piece of bluefish at the market. If I was going to buy bluefish I would buy it cooked and ready to serve. We live just 2 miles from Narragansett bay where they are abundant. They get caught just about every time a weekend fisherman goes out on the bay. Most are thrown back.
One of my neighbors occasionally brings one home for me. The only thing I request is he filet it so I don’t need to deal with that.
Smoking the fish is a labor of love. More and more people now have smokers in their backyard, so it’s not as big of a deal as it once was. I’ve actually used my grill to smoke fish in the past. It’s a matter of putting the chips on the hot side, fish on the cool side and keeping the temperature as low as possible.
Then comes the prepping. It literally takes an entire day. If you want to serve it at a 7 pm party, you will need to start the process by 7 am.
- First the fish must be brined for three hours in the refrigerator.
- Then it needs to dry for four hours in a clean environment. I typically use a small fan to speed up this step.
- Then is cooks in the smoker for two to four hours. This is dependent on the thickness of the fish and temperature of the smoker. I would say 2½ hours is normally fine.
So you can see, you have 9 to 11 hours of prep and smoking before you take your first bite. Most times, I’ll do this the day before. Getting it ready to serve is just a matter of letting it come to room temperature.
The actual Smoked Bluefish recipe is in The Net Gourmet database. Click here for Recipe 2.
