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Old 05-22-2003, 08:16 AM   #21
Steel Shootin'
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 6,836
Here is what happened with my AJ:

Financial Advis told me to not worry about adding extra ingrediants to the brine. All you need is water, brown sugar, and salt.

I had a lot of amberjack, and my goal was to make a huge batch of fish spread for neighbors, business contacts, and family. I used a giant pot that I used to use in college for breweing beer. I had about a gallon of water, 1.5 cups of salt, and probably three cups of brown sugar. I was not really following any recipe, just using the 3 magical ingredients in the approximate portions that FA described.

I then rearragned my fridge to fit the giant pot in there, and allowed the fish to soak in the brine for 24 hours.

I have a green egg smoker, which I will never part with. Anyway, I had soaked Hickory Chips over night, and used real lump coal for my fire. I got the temp down to a consistent 260 degrees, added the wood chips, and did the fish for 3.5 hours.

One thing unorxadox: I had a total brain fart and when I had cleaned the fish, I skinned it too. You normally leave the skin on fish you will smoke, and place it skin side down on the grill.

Result: This is the best smoked fish of any kind I have ever had. Next time, I will keep it to one cup of salt, as it was slightly too salty. However, after I made a batch of spread, the salt was reduced enough to allow the great smokey flavor to come through more. I added some finely chopped onions. When I give it away , I will give salt free crackers, also.

I'm telling you, this spread is so good I said "to hell with the crackers" and was eating it by the spoonful.

I still want to try Stringers recipe, but this worked out well as I had everything on hand.
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