Antonio's Notes

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.

Here’s another one of my favorite smoking recipes. It can be done with any type of salmon, however I prefer wild caught Sockeye and tend to do it when it’s on sale for around $10 per pound. (click on any of the photos to zoom in on the images)

Ingredients
*3-4 lbs. salmon
*1 cup of brown sugar
*1/3 cup of salt
*1 TBS of black pepper
*6 bay leaves
*1 bottle dry white wine
*Greek Mediterranean seasoning (World Market)

Process

*Mix all the ingredients except the salmon and the Mediterranean Greek seasoning to create the brine. I usually heat up the solution to make sure everything dissolves and all the flavors mix.  Adding a little ice to cool it down doesn’t hurt.
*Brine for 2-4 hours (a longer brine tends to soak up more salt)
*Add Mediterranean seasoning
*Let air dry for 1-2 hours to form the pellicle (important step)

A pellicle is a skin or coating of proteins on the surface of meat, fish or poultry, which allow smoke to better adhere the surface of the meat during the smoking process. Useful in all smoking applications and with any kind of animal protein, it is best used with fish where the flesh of, say, salmon, forms a pellicle, the surface that will attract more smoke to adhere to it than would be the case if you had not used it. Without a pellicle the fish would be inedibly dry from enough smoking to produce a tasty finished product.

*Smoke with alder for 2 hours
*Finish in oven if needed

Time (some of these tasks can be overlapped and some don’t require constant attention)

1/2-1 hour to prepare fish and brine
2-4 hours brine
1/2 hour to lay on racks and clean up brining gear1-2 hours to open air dry
1/2 hour to get smoker ready
2-3 hours to smoke
1 hour to clean up
1/2 – 1 hour to vacuum seal (depending on amount of fish)

One of my favorite places to shop, Frazier Farms, always a great selection of quality products.

Make sure there are no rib bones in the meat, if there are use tweezers or needle nose pliers to pull them out. (If you click on the close up photo you can see the row of rib bones)

Cut the fish in strips depending on the thickness of the filet. Thicker the filet, the thinner the strip. Heat the brine mixture at a low temperature to mix all of the flavors and dissolve the salt and sugar. (I think I put a few too many bay leaves in this batch. Either way it was fine.)

Cool the brine by adding ice.  Pour the brine over the fish and make sure all of the fish is submerged. I use a plate or utensils to hold the fish down.

Spread the fish on the drying racks, add the Greek Mediterranean seasoning and let air dry for 1-2 hours to create the pellicle.  I put a fan near by to keep the air moving.

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Smoke until there is a nice smoke ring around the meat.  Make sure you rotate your racks from top to bottom and 180 degrees to get even smoke over the product.

I like to vacuum seal the meat to keep the flavors in and the product fresh.  It’s really not to preserve the meat because it doesn’t last long. Refrigerate.

Update – 2015 San Diego Fair 1st Place (also won 2014)

I’ve been experimenting with smoking meats (mostly fish and beef) for some time now. Through much trial and error I have come up with a pretty good beef jerky recipe.  Some say the best they ever had, so I thought I’d let an officially sanctioned organization give it a try and entered my concoction in the 2014 San Diego Fair.  Guess what I took first place! Here’s some proof, the process and the recipe (well most of it).  I can’t give up all my trade secrets, plus most of the fun is in the experimentation.  😉

How to make this award winning beef jerky.

Meat

• 5lbs of Top Round/Beef Round London Broil steak
• Trim all fat off
• Wrap in plastic wrap and put in freezer for a 1-2 hours to make firm while cutting.
• Cut across grain in 1/4″ wide or a bit less strips

Marinade

• 60oz teriyaki sauce
• 2tsp garlic powder
• 2tsp onion powder
• 2tsp black pepper
• 4tsp brown sugar
• 4tsp Tabasco hot sauce (regular flavor)
• 4tsp fresh finely grated ginger

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. I use an immersion blender. It also picks up some of the ginger fibers which is great b/c they look like hair in the finished product. You could also strain the marinade.

Put the meat into the marinade making sure all the meat is covered. You can add a little water if needed. I use container that I can shake up and rotate. I soak the meat for minimum of three days all the way up to a week. If you need to do less, you probably can get by, just make sure you shake up more often.

After marinading, I pour the meat in a large strainer to get most of the liquid off of it. DO NOT rinse with water.

Lay the meat on your smoking/drying rack without overlapping. Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours with a fan blowing over it. This will form a pellicle (film that traps in flavor).

Slow smoke for 1.5-2hours with your favorite wood chips (I used apple, alder, cherry, hickory – I don’t use mesquite as I think it’s too strong). Keep the meat in the smoker under low heat to continue to dry it out. I make sure I’m at 165 degrees or hotter but not much more. I smoke for two hours and then keep it on heat for another 4 hours depending on the outdoor temperature. I know it’s done when it just starts to snap instead of bending. With my smoker I rotate the racks from bottom to top and turn 180 degrees to get even smoke and drying.

After that I let sit at room temperature for 12 hours with a screen over to continue to dry out.

Enjoy!