# smoked blue fish



## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

just smoked some blues and they are horrible. The meat is mushy and they just aren't setting up well. These were all 6.5 to almost 10 pounds. Is this just the way this size fish is or did I do something wrong? I brined them in salt, brown sugar, and molasses for 24 hours. Then rubbed them with brown sugar, old bay, and a little bit of mace. Smoked them for about 3 hours and pulled them off. Now I'm a kick butt BBQ cook and know my way around a smoker. In fact, I'm a certified BBQ judge. And I've smoked taylor blues the same way before and they were fantastic. But these are not good at all. Is this just part of the deal with this size blue or should I have done something different?


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## perchnut (Feb 8, 2008)

I generally 'cold smoke' my fish...that is, lower heat and for a longer time....smoked for only 3hours, unless your heat was pretty high, id almost say they werent done....fillets or steaks? Ihavent smoked blues in quite some time, but i remember i steaked em soaked em and smoked em a good 12 hours....just my .02, and im not the expert by any means....


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

I've heard the bigger blues aren't good to eat because of what you said, the meat is gray and mushy. Haven't ever tried them myself. Also they might not have been fully cooked?


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## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

they were fillets and smoked at 250 so they should have been done. No translucent meat remained in them. This is the same temp I've smoked other fish and they came out great. Maybe lower heat and longer time is needed for the chompers?


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## Rockfish1 (Apr 8, 2005)

maybe not enough salt... I use a 3 gallon plastic bucket, filled 2/3 full... enough salt to float a raw egg, then add your brown sugar and peppers... brine for at least 12 hours, rinse in cool water blot dry and smoke for at least 8 hours... I cut my fish into 3" steaks, skin on, and they always come out fine being done like this...


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## Chugg'n & plug'n (Jul 3, 2006)

try not brining as long. 24 hrs may suck every bit of life out of the meat. i try to keep mine to around 8 hrs max depending on the fish. more for oily fish such as blues. furthermore, the big blues do have a ruined taste much like all fish when they get too big


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