Smoked Fish Dip (w/ King Fish) on the WSM


 
Ryan S.

Ryan S.

New member
So today was a good day fishing in Miami. We reeled in about 100lbs of fish mostly consisting of what we call King Fish down here. It's also known as King Mackerel. King Fish is a fish known in South Florida to be best prepared by smoking and usually used to make a killer smoked fish dip. I have never smoked King Fish on my WSM and this will be my first attempt at turning it into smoked fish dip. There are a lot of smoked fish dip recipes and they are all very different. So I'm going to try a combination of my favorite things from many of the recipes I've read and friends who have given advice. I wanted to start this thread and update it with my pictures and my process so you guys can follow along. Just know you can use another white fish because this King Fish is a southern mackerel and not common outside of Florida.


 
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The Fish and The Brine

The Fish:
Here are three healthy size King Fish filets with the skin still on. Approximately 5lbs worth of fish.





The Brine: I filled a large bowl with the following ingredients:
Kosher Salt - 1cup
Dark Brown Sugar - 1cup
Garlic Powder - 1/4cup
Paprika - 1/4cup
Old Bay Seasoning - 1/8cup
Then I filled the rest of the bowl up with cold tap water and whisked the ingredients together before adding the fish. I then covered the bowl and placed it in the fridge where I plan to keep it for the next 12 hours or so.

 
Nice fish! I've caught more than my share of Spanish Mackeral, but never got lucky enough to catch a Kingfish. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!
 
ChuckO said:
Looking good so far Ryan! Looks like someone caught a Cod too.
Click to expand...

No, no cod here. Most of the fish in the picture are Kings from 7lbs to 30lbs. The red fish is a Mutton Snapper. The smaller tuna looking fish is what we call Bonita or Bonito. We don't eat them, they're super oily, but they make great bait strips.
 
The Set-Up

Post Brine:
After 12 hours, I removed the fish from the brine. I did not rinse, just used paper towels to pat dry the fish until it had a tacky surface. I then let it sit out on the counter for about an hour while I prepped the smoker. Before placing it on the smoker I pat dried it once more.





The Smoker:
I'm using a WSM 22.5 with Kingsford Original Blue Briquettes. I went light on the charcoal (approximately 5 lbs) because I'm guessing this will only be about a four-hour smoke. I placed three chunks of Apple Wood in front of the lower vents. I then got it started and let the grate temperature get up to 200 degrees. I'm using a Maverick two probe wireless thermometer. I'm following the typical minion method for the smoker set up so I won't bore you with too many details. If you have questions, feel free to ask.





The Temperature of the Fish:
I wasn't going to probe the fish, I was just going to gauge it by look and feel. I'll be looking for the fish to flake apart and start to separate from the bone and skin. Since I have a free probe, I'm going to probe the thicker filet just to get an idea of where it is because I know it will take a little longer than the two thinner filets. I will be aiming for the internal temperature of the thicker filet to reach 145 - 150 degrees.



Fish On!:
After some time struggling to keep the grate temperature down around 200 degrees, the fish is on and we're smoking!





See you guys in a few hours!
 
So they don't just call 'em "Smokers" for the way that they peel line off yer reel, eh?

I've never eaten King Mackerel, but I've sampled some of their smaller cousins (Spanish) - my brother went to school at the U. of West Florida
I've heard that they're pretty oily, and oily fish are usually good for smoking

How would you compare it with smoked Salmon?
 
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