Weekend Warrior Smoked Fish Dip

[Kahi]

This is a pretty easy way to make smaller servings of fish dip.

As you might know, I live in a condo on Miami Beach. This makes smoking fish at home a difficult prospect, and slightly illegal. So after some investigation, I found a successful way to make smaller portions of smoked fish and meats, without smoking my neighbors out of their apt.

The Cameron Stovetop (or grill top) Smoker is a really cool little invention...and it costs less than $50, with a sampler of starter wood chips. I've written about this before on sportfisherman.com.....

Cameron's Stovetop Smoker w/ Dry Rub Recipe

Smoked Swordfish Dip

I start by wet brining my fish fillets for 3 hours to overnight (7 hrs.)

The brine is simple, and there are a bunch of recipes online but I like:

1/2 cup of Brown sugar
1 cup of Salt
1/4 cup of Spice Mix...try Tim's (sportfishstaff) rub

Dry Rub, good for venison,ducks, hearty fish, King Mackerel, Black Drum

This rub is for meat that you have brined it has no sugar or Salt to it

2Tbsp Paprika
1Tbsp Garlic Powder
1Tbsp chili powder
1/2tsp white pepper
1/2tsp Cayenne pepper

This has a nice kick to it.
Attachment 184322

I make a wet brine, put the fish in a non-metallic bowl and place in the fridge..




I add a few spoonfuls of Alder wood shavings to the bottom of the smoker pan..




After the fillet has soaked in the brine, I take it out and add a dry rub (as per Sportfishstaff's suggestion). The dry rub is basically brown sugar and healthy addition of spice mix...no salt added, as the fillet has been soaking in a salt based brine. I now allow the mix to dry under a fan or any cool dry place till the outside of the fish starts to look like I glazed it..takes about an hour plus, so watch the dog, cat and the fat kid..





My stove top smoker fits perfectly on my Meco grill...if you don't know about this portable electric grill...well, look into it.....All I can say it's the best non-wood grill I have ever used...heats up hot, sears and adds serious grilled flavor..perfect for the boat. I crank up the grill and wait till smoke starts to come out from the smoker. I then close both the smoker and the grill's lid....and about 1.5 hours later.......





You have hot smoked fish....This is only a demonstration, you could fit more fillets on this thing...





Remove the fillet from the smoker and allow to cool...

For the dip....mix sour cream, mayo, chopped scallions, lemon juice, Worchestire and a hit of hot sauce..I also add Salt and Pepper.

I remove the skin and mix all the ingredients by hand with a fork...I prefer to keep the fish chunky, as apposed to pureed.




and serve it......

[SportFishStaff]

Man,
Looking good buddy.
How'd you like the rub? To bad you live so far we could do some serious food parties.

[Kahi]

Man,
Looking good buddy.
How'd you like the rub? To bad you live so far we could do some serious food parties.

I did like the rub...good amount of heat. I added brown sugar to the final rub, which helped absorb some smoke but also burned a bit, which happens with sugars if you don't control the heat properly, like in my case. My set up basically has one temp...and its hard to adjust to the low and slow smoke like you would get on a proper smoker.