Thanksgiving smoked bluefin belly & loin

[backman]

I've been freezing any tuna belly caught in Oct or Nov for the past couple years and smoking it up as appetizer for thanksgiving.

This year I took one side of a 120# fish's belly as well as the upper more meaty piece of the quarter. Cleaned all blood and belly lining but left the skin on. Since this was a cold water bluefin the belly had a good 1/2" of fat as well as gorgeous marbling. I cut the toro and otoro into seperate pieces; each about 5# and maybe 3-4" thick.

I made a brine of a half bottle of white wine; a bottle of premium soy sauce and a small container of Vermont maple syrup. I added pepper, a smashed head of garlic; an entire grated ginger root as well as perhaps a teaspoon of cloves. I heated the brine in the microwave to warm to mix the flavors and then put it on the 30 degree porch to cool.

Once cool I soaked the belly and loin in the brine overnight, turning a couple times.

Wed AM I fired up the smoker; got her to 350 with regular charcoal then started adding wet apple wood. Once the temp dropped to 250 I put both pieces on and for the next 6 hrs maintained a 150 to 200 degree temp in the smoke chamber using wet apple tree prunings as well as some store bought cherry chips.

End result was a juicy moist and rich belly with the maple flavor predominating. We served it with a butter knife. The loin turned out like a ham; I sliced it like prosciutto or Virginia ham and the soy and cloves predominated.

[Tenacious]

OMG that sounds good!!!

[Squidnation]

man that sounds good. I will try that this week.

[Fish Biz]

Man that sounds awesome, I smoke fish for our market. I usually do a straight brine, cause most people just want a mild smoked fish, but I think I'm going to have to try this for personal use. It sounds great. Thanks Tim