With the warm waters this summer (2015) we have been seeing many tuna venture north much earlier than normal. There have even been reports of fishermen catching Blue and Yellow Fin tuna withing one mile of the Oceanside, CA coastline. Fortunately I have a few friends that have small refrigerators and need to offload some of their catch.
If not overcooked smoked tuna can be moist and one of the better fish to smoke.
Ingredients
- 10 lbs of Tuna cut into 1.5 to 2 inch sections (remove bloodline)
- 1-2 C water
- 2 C apple juice
- 1 C Brown Sugar
- 1/8 C Molasses (brown sugar)- did not use
- 1/4 C Honey
- 1/4 C Soy Sauce
- 1/4 C Salt
- 2 TBS garlic powders
- 2-3 TBS Sriacha (4-6 hotter)
- 6 Bay Leaves
- Optional Orange Juice
- Optional Black Pepper
Process
- Combine all ingredients (except the tuna) to create the brine and heat at a low temperature to dissolve ingredients, cool with ice cubes.
- Add the cubed tuna and brine in fridge for 1.5-2 hours. Make sure the tuna is fully submerged.
- Air dry for 1.5-2 hours with fan to create the pellicle. What is a pellicle? Click Here
- Smoke with 2-3 batches of apple wood smoke for about two hours. Make sure you don’t overcook the tuna as it can dry out.
Time (some of these tasks can be overlapped and some don’t require constant attention)
1/2-1 hour to prepare fish and brine
2-3 hours brine
1/2 hour to lay on racks and clean up brining gear
1-2 hours to open air dry
1/2 hour to get smoker ready
1.5 – 2 hours to smoke
1 hour to clean up
1/2 – 1 hour to vacuum seal (depending on amount of fish)
Remove the blood line. This is optional, but recommended. Cube into 1.5-2″ pieces.
Heat to dissolve all the ingredients and mix the flavors. Cool with ice.
Letting sit for 1-2 hours at room temperature with a fan moving air over the fish will help create the pellicle which is critical to the smoking process.
Most smokes do not smoke/cook evenly so rotate your selves from top to bottom and 180 degrees.
Smoke until a nice golden light brown color. Of course test throughout the process to make sure you do not over dry the fish.
Vacuum seal the product to keep in the flavor and freshness. Refrigerate.