Smoke Tuna

[Richard F]

I have seen several recipes for Salmon, but does anyone have any good recipes for smoking Tuna? I have great access to tuna and dolphin and would love to smoke some up.

Thanks.

 

[Clark Deutscher]

I usually just brine and then smoke for a couple hours at low temp, about 200. I brine for one hour and then let air dry for two hours before smoking.

For brines I use one liter of water with 1/4 cup of sugar and salt. For Sugar I may use white or brown depending on the other ingredients.

TO flavor the brine it's pretty much as you please. Add 1/2 C of maple syrup. Or just garlic powder, peppercorns, onion powder and some rosemary or thyme. I also sometimes use ground chili peppers in the brine.

Clark

 

[Richard F]

Excellent, thank you.

 

[Clark Deutscher]

To be a bit more specific here is what I did last night (smoked 5 pounds of tuna).

Brine 1

1L water
1/4 c salt
1/4 c brown sugar
T garlic powder
T cracked white peppercorns
T thyme
bit of lime zest


Brine 2

1 litreswater
1/8 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup soya sauce
Tablespoon Ginger
Tablespoon Garlic
1 teaspoon ground ancho chili's
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Brine 3

1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 liters apple cider
1 liters water


Clark

 

[Richard F]

Why did you use 3 brines?

 

[Clark Deutscher]

Three brines for three different flavors. I also sprinkle them with rub or maple syrup before putting them on the smoker.

Clark

 

[Richard F]

I am sorry for being obtuse, but does that mean you put the tuna in brine #1 and then take out after an hour, towel it off, then put it into brine #2 etc...?
Or do you split your tuna up and put 1/3 of the 5 pounds of tuna into each separate brine?

Thanks for helping, but I have done so few of the things on this site it is pitiful. I never even new brining was a thing until this thread.

 

[Clark Deutscher]

Sorry about that I didn't follow what you were asking.

Basically you put the fish in only one brine. So I did 5 pounds of tuna the other night, I put 1.65 pounds in each bag for one hour. Then I towled it off and let it air dry for a couple hours. Before putting it on the smoker I dusted with a little of the rub that would have gone in the brine.

For example for brine number one the rub would have been a tablespoon of Thyme, a couple tablespoons garlic powder, a tablespoon or White peppercorns, and a bit of lime zest. Then I would sprinkle just a little bit of it on the tuna. Not as much as if you were doing ribs or something along those lines.

For Brine 2 I would rub it with a paste of roughly T ginger T garlic powder, t ground Anchos and a t cracked blakc pepper. To make the paste I would use a little soy sauce and olive oil. Careful with the soya sauce you don't want it to be to salty.

For brine 3 I would just glaze it with a maple syrup

Anyways I hope this makes a little more sense and if you have any questions just ask away.

Clark

 

[Richard F]

Nope, I think I've got it. I really appreciate you spelling it out. I will do one of these brines in the next week or so and post it here my results.

Thanks again.