Milk smoked fish? Beech wood?


 
R

Rob O

TVWBB Pro
No this is not a joke.

I'm having some work done on my trees and I was talking with the arborist about letting me have some of the wood he gets from his jobs. No problem he says. Lots of oak, hickory, apple, cherry, maple and beech.

Beech I say. Hand't heard of smoking with beech. He says certainly. Whenever he goes out to Montauk (very east end of Long Island) to fish he brings them a load of beech.

Says they smoke whatever they catch with milk and love to do it with beech. By "they" he's referring to multiple captains and local fishermen. This guy doesn't cook and he's proud of it but he's certain they use milk and his beech wood.

This sounds fascinating. Does anyone have any idea what prep or recipe he could be talking about?

For that matter does anyone have any experience smoking with beech wood?
 
milk... you mean they soak (marinate???) the fish in milk? or they soak the beech wood in milk?

never heard of using milk. very interesting. some folks a little while ago talked about beech wood. can't remember much about it though.
 
Rob--

Beech is great for smoking. While you can use it for anything it's particularly well-suited for white-fleshed fish. Burned, the wood makes good coals as well.

I am unfamiliar with smoking 'with milk' but there are a couple things that come to mind. Milk is often used as a poaching medium (great with halibut, cod, et. al.) and sometimes used to finish smoked fish. You smoke your fish (either cold-smoked fully or hot-smoked till half- or 3/4-done) then put it in a pan with milk to barely cover, cover the pan and poach the fish over medium heat till cooked through and flaky. The fish is often served in a deep plate with the milk, dotted with butter. Milk is often used in smoked fish spreads as well. You break up the smoked fish a bit and toss it with milk in a bowl, then allow it to soak for an hour in the fridge. Next you mash the fish a bit more with a fork while you work in the cream cheese, onion, etc.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks guys. Frankly, I'm not really sure what my tree guy was trying to describe other than what I wrote above. I'll cast out some lines with the fishing community (no pun intended) and see what comes up.


Kevin. Your idea about serving the fish in plate of milk makes sense to me now that I think about it. I had aunts of eastern european decent who used to serve smoked herring cold in a plate of milk with potatoes, and chives.


Learn something new every day I guess. This is the first time I have ever heard of poaching fish in milk. Can't wait to try it.

Thanks
 
Bluefish is the most common game fish off the tip of Long Island. Very oily and "fishy" in tast. The milk bath sounds like a way to minimize this.

Clausen
 
Originally posted by clausenk:
Bluefish is the most common game fish off the tip of Long Island. Very oily and "fishy" in tast. The milk bath sounds like a way to minimize this.

Clausen
Click to expand...

Yep. And you'd be amazed how many of them we catch off the north shore as well. Generally what I've done is hit the blues with hot hard spices and seer them. "Blackend Bluefish".

Gotta admit. this sounds really interesting with the milk.
 
Originally posted by ROB O:
Will do Adam, hopefully next weekend.

BTW, SW CT. Fairfield county by any chance?
Click to expand...
yup - Stamford to be exact. I've actually been looking for a commercial fishing boat to either charter or join in a group for a fishing trip of the Atlantic side of Long Island...
 
There are plenty of options for milk-poaching. A few ideas:

Because fish--even raw--takes only a few minutes to poach (smoked fish even less) you'll want to make any desired additions to the milk before the fish goes in. Onion (I'd suggest a fine dice or a mince) should be sauteed in a little butter, preferably unsalted, till either soft, lightly browned or caramelized--your choice. Garlic, finely minced or pressed, should be sauteed gently (put it in toward the end of the onion time) till soft, fragrant, but not browned. Minced or finely diced celery can go in with the onion; a little mashed roasted red pepper is a thought. Do all of this in the same pan you'll poach in. Another good addition is several cloves of roasted garlic. After the fish is cooked and removed mash the garlic with some of the milk and the other aromatics and spread it on the fish for serving.

After adding the milk: If the fish you're poaching is raw add it to the pan with cold milk to barely cover, bring to a strong simmer over medium-high heat, cover and reduce the heat to medium or medium-low (you just want a light simmer) till cooked through, 5-10 min, depending on the thickness of the fish. Do the same if the fish you're poaching has been smoked then chilled (it will take less time).

If the fish is fresh off the smoker heat the milk in the pan first to a simmer, then lay in the fish; cover and cook at a light simmer for just a few minutes. Bay is a good addition to the milk as is parsley and thyme. Lots of other possibilities.

You can serve the fish on a plate with some of the milk and aromatics, dotted with butter if desired, or you can serve it without the milk. If you load up the milk with aromatics and herbs you can strain out the solids and puree them with some of the milk for a sauce (as is or build from there) or you can use the milk for a mashed potato side.
 
Interesting ideas Kevin.

I was thinking about taking the smoked / poached fish and serving it on a bed of cooked spinach heavily sauced with the poaching liquid.

Sort of like a white (chaved) borscht w/smoked fish. If I do I'll be certain to repost in recipes .

We may be getting a little off topic here for the BBQ forum.
 
When they say "using milk" its not to poach but to soak the fish to remove the fishy taste and give a nice smooth flavor. In the case of blues Id guess it will also remove some of the oils. The old timers here soak the fish overnite then rinse and pat dry. It can be done with any fish actually. Im going out this wednesday for blues and stripers...I will try this and let everyone know.
 
Had completely forgotten about a great receipe my Grandmother prepared on a pretty regular basis. Poached Cod. What a wonderful dish. The fisth was poched in milk. She added finely chopped onion and a bit of garlic, butter and black pepper to taste and a pinch of salt. After poaching the cod she would thicken the liquid and serve it as a sauce. The sauce was poured over the cod and boiled potatos. Now I'm off to find her receipe book ... hope she wrote down all of the details. I'm sure I'm missing something ...
 
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