Catfish - our little whisker buddies!

Fuzzybear · February 18, 2004, 09:55:18 PM

Title: Terrine Of Smoked Catfish
Yield: 20 Servings

Ingredients

--------------------------FOR SMOKING---------------------------------
4 ea 5-8 oz catfish fillets
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1 ts dry thyme
1 ts dry basil
1 ts cracked black pepper
1 ds pepper sauce

--------------------------FOR TERRINE---------------------------------
4 ea 5-8 oz smoked fillets
1 c heavy duty mayonnaise
1/2 c sour cream
1 tb diced garlic
1/4 c chopped parsley
1/4 c diced red bell pepper
1/4 c diced yellow bell pepper
2 tb cracked black pepper
1 tb lemon juice
1/2 oz sherry wine
1 tb worchestershire sauce
1 ds pepper sauce
1 salt to taste
2 pk unflavored gelatin dissolve
1 in 1/4 cup cold water.

Instructions

FOR SMOKING: Preheat homestyle smoking unit according to
manufacturer's instructions. Pre-soak any wood chips such as pecan or
hickory in root beer for a unique flavor. Combine all the above
ingredients, blend well and pour over catfish fillets. Allow to set
at room temperature approximately thirty minutes. Smoke fillets for
approximately thirty-five to forty minutes or until flaky. Remove and
allow to cool. FOR TERRINE: Coarsely chop smoked catfish. In a two
quart mixing bowl, add all remaining ingredients, blending well to
incorporate seasonings into the mixture. Adjust salt and pepper if
necessary, and pour mixture into a terrine mold. Place in
refrigerator covered overnight. When serving, remove from mold and
garnish with French bread or garlic croutons. To enhance the
presentation of the smoked terrine, you may wish to color two cups of
mayonnaise, one with red food coloring and one with green. Using a
pastry bag with a star tip, pipe colored mayonnaise around the base
of the terrine. You may also wish to garnish the tip of the terrine
with a small amount of the colored mayonnaise and a fresh tomato rose.

Peppered Catfish
from: Smoke & Spice
Ingredients:
Three-Pepper Catfish Rub

3 tablespoons coarse-ground black pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons coarse-ground white pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Six 8-ounce catfish fillets

Catfish Mop (optional)

2 cups seafood or chicken stock
½ cup oil, preferably canola or corn oil
Juice of 3 limes
1 to 1 tablespoons remaining Three-Pepper Catfish Rub

Golden Mustard Barbecue Sauce (optional)

1 cup white vinegar
¾ cup prepared yellow mustard
½ medium onion, minced
1/3 cup water
¼ cut tomato puree
1 tablespoon paprika
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Makes about 2 cups
(Recipe for making the Golden Mustard Barbecue Sauce:
Mix the ingredients in a saucepan and bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the onions are tender and the mixture thickens, 20 to 25 minutes. Use the sauce warm or chilled. It keeps, refrigerated, for a couple of weeks. Variation: Add a tablespoon or two of mayonnaise or brown sugar for a different level of tang.)

Recipe for Peppered Catfish:
At least 2 ½ hours before you plan to barbecue, or preferably the night before, mix the rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover the catfish lightly and evenly with the rub, reserving at least 1 to 2 tablespoons of the mixture if you plan to baste the fish. Place the fillets in a plastic bag and refrigerate them for 2 hours or overnight.

Prepare the smoker for barbecuing, bringing the temperature to 180 degrees F to 200 degrees F.

Remove the fillets from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

If you are going to use the mop, mix the ingredients together in a small saucepan and warm over low heat.

Place the catfish in the smoker on a small grill rack as far from the fire as possible. Cook the fish for approximately 1 ½ hours, dabbing the catfish with mop every 20 minutes in a wood-burning pit, or as appropriate for your style of smoker.

When cooked, the catfish will be opaque and firm, yet flaky. Serve warm. If desired, accompany the catfish with Golden Mustard Barbecue Sauce.

Taken from the section on, "Smoking Slow and Low" and the chapter entitled, "Fishing for Compliments" in the book, Smoke & Spice by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. Publisher: Harvard Common Press in Boston, Massachusetts
HOT-SMOKED CATFISH

[1] Skin any size "cat" and remove its entrails.
[2] Make a brine solution of 1 pound salt to each gallon of water and immerse the meat in the liquid overnight.
[3] Place the catfish in dry salt for 1-3 hours. Then wash it thoroughly.
[4] Dry the fish outdoors for 1-3 hours.
[5] Hang the meat securely in a smoker so that the pieces don't touch and aren't overcrowded.
[6] Stack wood at the entrance of the smoker tunnel and start a small, steady fire. Ideal fuels are seasoned maple, birch, oak, hickory, sweet bay, river mangrove, palmetto roots, buttonwood, orange, cypress and apple . . . or corncobs or coconut husks(!).
[7] When the fire is smoldering steadily—not blazing—close the smoker door. The desired smudgy combustion can be maintained by dousing the coals regularly with sawdust, etc.
[8] After a few hours of hot-smoking (100-150° F), your fish is ready to be eaten or kept for up to—roughly—four weeks, depending on how long it was cured.
[9] Wrap the meat in paper and store it in wooden boxes in a cool, dry place.

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

Cold Smoke · February 18, 2004, 10:07:22 PM

Fuzzybear: Thanks for the recipes- hope you feel better soon. I've just recently ordered the Smoke and Spice book- not yet received it though- and anxious to try a few of their recipes. I guess I'll pull the whiskers out of the deep freeze and give them a blast of hickory in the next few days. I'll keep you posted.

Cold Smoke

Fuzzybear · February 18, 2004, 10:53:38 PM

Good luck!

Looking forward to the results and pictures!

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

Regforte · February 19, 2004, 05:59:54 AM

Looks like a fantastic recipe. I really like terrines. I'm doing some seafood sausage this week, which is very similar.

One comment: you might want to heat the water after you bloom the gelatin in it. Gelatin needs to be warmed a bit (around 120 F) in order to attain it's gelling power.

After it cools a bit you can add it to the mix.

trout · February 19, 2004, 04:38:37 PM

I have also used several recipes from the "smoke and spice" book. I bought the book when I still owned my Cimmaron offset smoker. The book is more tailored to that type of setup, but I rarely had the free time to tend the firebox on that smoker (takes lots of babysitting). Now I am finding the book still very useful for the great rub, mop, and sauce recipes it contains.[^]

Let your trout go and smoke a salmon instead.

Chez Bubba · February 20, 2004, 12:36:35 AM

Reg,

Seafood sausage is something I've been toying with in my head for a good time now, just haven't got the plan all the way there to commit to doing it. Mind posting a recipe?

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

Regforte · February 20, 2004, 07:32:19 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Chez Bubba
 
Seafood sausage is something I've been toying with in my head for a good time now, just haven't got the plan all the way there to commit to doing it. Mind posting a recipe?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Sure thing. It's been moved here to it's own thread:

http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=155

Chez Bubba · February 21, 2004, 02:01:47 AM

Well, dammit!

Here I had Saturday all clear with nothing to do so I decided to try the recipe for "Dungeness Crab and Pine Nut Lasagne" that just came in the recent copy of Saveur.

Now I'm going to have to decide between the two.[:D] (Or figure out if I can manage both!)

Thanks Reg,[:)]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

Kummok · February 21, 2004, 03:13:16 AM

".....I decided to try the recipe for "Dungeness Crab and Pine Nut Lasagne....."[:p][^][:p][^][:D] ?!?!?!!

You ARE planning to cook at least once during the June trip, AREN'T you?!?!?[:p][:p][:D][;)]

Kummok @ Homer, AK USA

Regforte · February 21, 2004, 04:31:29 AM

Hey Kirk, that lasagna sounds amazing. I didn't know you midwesterners ate stuff like that! When you get the time post the recipe for us.

Bassman · February 28, 2004, 04:10:51 PM

This is my first attempt at catfish.I used a recipe from the book "smoke & spice" called peppered catfish. The fish came out good.I smoked them for 1.5hrs at 200F with hickory.They were a little too spicy for my taste but my wife loved them.They were nice and moist on the inside yet flakey.[:p]

Jack

Fuzzybear · February 28, 2004, 05:23:02 PM

Hey Bassman - great job! Looks like someone couldn't wait for them to finish cooking though - you got rats inside that smoker??[:D]

Oh, by the way...was that farm fish?

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

Regforte · February 28, 2004, 05:51:20 PM

Thumbs up, Bassman. That looks fantastic.

Bassman · February 28, 2004, 09:12:13 PM

Thanks guys,
FB, yes they were farm raised fish, I am all out of catties that I caught. Last fall I caught a nice 23" channel cat in Lake Wallenpaupack. Northeast PA.I really didn't notice a taste difference between the two.

Jack

Fuzzybear · February 28, 2004, 09:19:39 PM

Cool Bassman...I bought some farm cats this a.m. and we'll probably pan fry them to get a feel for the taste before I smoke them - just in case we don't care for the flavor you know...I've got 3 large farm trout I'm going to put in the smoker - no cure, just hot smoke till done - about 1 - 1/2 hour just cuz we like em' that way...that will be the precursor to preheating the smoker for the salmon!

Alder for the trout and maple for the salmon...

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!