Smoked bluefish spread

[RU shooter]

Thought I'd share my first attempt at a fish dip/spread . Did some ocean fishing a week back and caught a fairly big 22" blue. Not the best table fare fish so decided to make fish spread the same can be made outa any fish I imagine. Seasoned2 big fillets with old bay and my regular red rub I use on everything . Smoked for about 2.5 hours Till fairly dry . 2 bars of cream cheese , tub of sour cream and a half cup mayo . One packet of knorrs veg. dip seasoning and a bunch of diced green onion . Crumble up fish after cooled into the bowl add it all together and mix well chill for a few hours and your done . Turned out real good for my first go.

[redhawk0]

Oh man...you're killing me. That sounds good. I'll bet it would work with smoked salmon too.

redhawk

[gwpercle]

Sounds Good .
I believe in Florida I've seen / eaten a smoked fish dip made with Smoked Mullet . It was a popular appetizer at some of the restaurants ...eaten with crackers . I forgot how good the stuff was .
This is probably a good recipe to use with any fish that is slightly oily , the smoking dries it out and imparts the smoky flavor ... mixed with the cream cheese and sour cream turns it into a good dip.
Thanks for posting,
Gary

[marlin39a]

I remember trolling rigs behind a boat back in the 70’s in Cape Cod Bay. Catching several Blues at the same time. I loved the dark, oily meat. Bluefish pate was a favorite. Oh, how life has got by me!

[bangerjim]

I buy the smoked fish spread Costco sells her in AZ. Wonderful taste and easy snack! No prep, just pop the top and grab some Town House crackers.

Yours sounds delicious!

banger

[RU shooter]

Glad I made a big bowl of it I've got about half left and I gotta say the longer it sits the more the flavors all mix better tonight than it was the first day . Gotta figure out a good fresh water fish I can use as I make it to the ocean only once a year if that

[gwpercle]

A easily available fresh water fish around here is catfish , just about every store that sells seafood sells catfish . Good fried it should be great smoked .
Check local markets . Around La. Freshwater Drum (gaspergou or gou ) and Buffalo can be purchased and would smoke up nicely . Those invasive Asian Carp would also be a prime smoker candidate .
Pa. has to have some kind of "rough fish " that could use a smoking ... I don't venture much North of Shreveport , La. so not familiar with what fish are up in the North .
Gary

[super6]

Smoked blue is one of my favorites been salt water fishing for 20 + years. Tastes like chicken..LOL

[farmbif]

I love smoked fish, don't matter what kind its all great stuff

[RU shooter]

A easily available fresh water fish around here is catfish , just about every store that sells seafood sells catfish . Good fried it should be great smoked .
Check local markets . Around La. Freshwater Drum (gaspergou or gou ) and Buffalo can be purchased and would smoke up nicely . Those invasive Asian Carp would also be a prime smoker candidate .
Pa. has to have some kind of "rough fish " that could use a smoking ... I don't venture much North of Shreveport , La. so not familiar with what fish are up in the North .
Gary

Channel Catfish is my favorite fish to eat , yeah we got carp and suckers and bullhead cats for our rough fish we do have some fresh water drum but few and far between . I tried smoking a big red horse sucker I caught up in quebec Canada a few years back , thing was aweful tasting fed it to the coons . Still have a few sea mullet and pompano fillets maybe I'll try them

[Wheelguns 1961]

In my younger days, I worked as a mate and later a captain on charter fishing boats. My work found me fishing all up and down the east coast. Plenty of smoked fish dip has past these lips from a number of different species. In Florida, the smoked fish of choice was the king mckerel. Most restaurants had a smoked kingfish dip on the menu. It is excellent. We would also occasionally smoke sailfish. Normally we would release all billfish, but every once in a while, you would bring in one that was already dead. They are good smoked and in dip.

Up in the midatlantic, boston mackerel smoked very good. We caught these in the early spring, and smoked, they are great. We also caught large chopper bluefish in the spring. As the original poster found out, these are excellent smoked and in dip.

You have a good recipe there. It sounds close to my wife’s recipe. As to freshwater fish to smoke, I will be interested in your findings. The only freshwater fish that I eat is crappie and large bluegills. Please give us an update if you find a good one.

[MaryB]

I have smoked carp, drum, suckers, catfish, northern pike... all are awesome smoked. Brine overnight in the fridge, rinse then place on a rack to dry in the fridge, when the surface is slightly tacky feeling toss on to smoke

[RU shooter]

I have smoked carp, drum, suckers, catfish, northern pike... all are awesome smoked. Brine overnight in the fridge, rinse then place on a rack to dry in the fridge, when the surface is slightly tacky feeling toss on to smoke

maybe that's why it went bad with that sucker . What do you use for brine solution Mary ?

[MaryB]

Water, salt to taste... keep it simple because I want to taste the fish not the brine. On all rough fish you MUST remove the mud(blood) line! Or it makes them taste like crap.

[gwpercle]

Water, salt to taste... keep it simple because I want to taste the fish not the brine. On all rough fish you MUST remove the mud(blood) line! Or it makes them taste like crap.

LIKE !

I'm hitting our like button !
Most suckers , carp and other rough fish tend to taste "muddy" ... removing the blood line and brining should be just the ticket !
Gary

[Pinger87]

Water, salt to taste... keep it simple because I want to taste the fish not the brine. On all rough fish you MUST remove the mud(blood) line! Or it makes them taste like crap.

This is exactly it! I also like to give mine a bit of a milk bath too.

[Fishman]

White bass (sand bass) are good smoked and used for a dip as you describe. Striped bass likely are too, although I can never get past just marinating them and grilling them. They are as close to saltwater fish as a freshwater guy can get, in fact stripers are found in saltwater and freshwater both.