Monkfish and Cod... could use some advice

[Hackk]

So Im new. Im doing what I guess most of you have done, and I picked up as much meat as my fridge could hold. I grabbed spare ribs, butt, belly, monkfish and whole cod.

I did a first test while seasoning the smoker and smoked up the butt, and it came out great! I did a variety of different pucks just so I can get a feel of taste, smell, and smoke output. I used cherry, maple, pecan, and jack daniels (which I believe are oak?), put it in a soak of apple cider, soy sauce, garlic, green onions, and cilantro. For a first run, I cant expect more.

So now I want to give a try at fish. I dont have a cold smoke adapter, but could easily build one if the need absolutely was necessary. This is my first run at fish in general, and I've spent the last 4 hours reading up on fish, yet I CANT find anything specific to either Cod, or Monkfish. If any of you could point me in the right direction I'd be greatful. I've never worked with cod, and only poached/sauteed/grilled monkfish. Are there any special things I should be aware of? Will it work without a cold smoke?

I dont think I need to explain further, Im guessing you all get my point. So what things should I try, and what things should I NOT do? And last question, can it/will it work with both fish in the same brine and/or same smoke?

Thanks, I had to take a long drive to get all this stuff, so I dont want to mess it all up...

[manxman]

Hi Hackk and welcome to the forum.

See link below for information relating to smoking whitefish, you can use cod, haddock or pollack by this method and it is also the method I used when trying monkfish:

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=2134.0

I have smoked monkfish in the past but personnally don't think smoking it brings anyhting extra to the table ,having said that I have tried smoking my favourite steak (rib eye) and don't think that brings anything extra to the table either and there are plenty here who will disagree!  :D ;)

To me smoking does nothing to enhance the subtle flavour of monkfish.

Suggest do a small batch to start with and fine tune smoke time etc for personnal preference before you put a bigger load in, not the cheapest of fish!  ::)

The cardboard box method works well, I bought a Bradley cold smoke adaptor because I do way more cold smoking than hot smoking but the cardboard box is fine.

Hope this helps?

Yes you can do cod and monkfish together.

[Hackk]

Thanks manxman, I got kinda lucky with the monkfish, the seafood guy must have been new, but it was labeled wrong at $2.99/lb headless, so I grabbed it up!

and as for ribeye, I will have to disagree with ya there. My very first attempt at smoking was a ribeye, and I, my girlfriend, and friends I had over died for how good it was. So I will say try it again, but use a mop (at least thats what I did), and you wont be left unhappy.

As for everything else, thanks for the advice. Ill start brining tomorrow, and should hopefully have results soon!

[manxman]

Interested to see how you get on with the monkfish. It currently sells for about £9.50 / $15 lb fillet around here but I am fortunate to live in a fishing port and pick up directly off the boats for nothing. For $2.99 headless you can't go wrong though!  :)

As for the rib eye I am sure I am in a minority, for a prime steak I would just add some freshly ground sea salt and black pepper then cook ....... rare!  ;) :D

Good luck with the fish.

[3rensho]

Well, I'm another purist that likes a good piece of meat, blood rare with a sprinkle of sea salt.  But, that's what makes horse races.

[Hackk]

dont get me wrong, I am VERY proud of my rare/blue steaks. But I feel if you're gonna smoke a steak, make it a ribeye, and you will be pleased you did...