Smoker King Becomes Smoked King Mackerel Dip - Part 2


 
JPetermann

JPetermann

TVWBB Member
...continued from Part 1...

My buddy Max decided to join the smoking fun just before the fillets hit the grates

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Starting to get some color after an hour in. Both upper and lower grates are loaded full with some water in the pan.

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Looking good!

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Off the smoker and time to cool. Had to do a little taste test to be sure it's edible. ;) Holy smokes it was good!

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While the fish cooled, I got the staples ready and in place. The dip is cream cheese based with some mayo for moisture/flavor and you just gotta have some japs thrown in for heat. Added Old Bay, lime juice and the zest. I found a few recipes on line but ended up making up my own in the end. I tried using a food processor, but the cream cheese was still too thick even after sitting out to room temp. So I slapped on gloves and sent to town in a big bowl by hand.

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I did however use the processor to mince up some white onion, celery and green onions with a little S&P.

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After the onions and celery were right, I dumped them in the bowl with shredded fish, cream cheese and other ingredients for the manual blend. Half way through, it hit me! Holy crap! I gotta add some prepared horseradish or I risk losing my man card!! Phew! That was a close call.

OK. After roughly ten minutes (and two beers) of mixing, adding, tasting and adjusting I was done! I finally got the cream cheese to fully incorporate and the batch seemed like a fairly homogeneous. mix. I threw the bowl on a scale to get a final weight - 26 lbs. Time to portion out.

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The final tally: 22 quart and two pint containers full!!! Whoohoo! That's gonna make many quarantined friends happy in the coming days. Curbside dip delivery coming up!

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After the respectable fight provided by Mr. Kingfish, the boat clean up and fish cleaning, 24 hrs of brine, 2 hours of soak time, 2 hours of pellicle formation, 5 hours of smoke time and 2 hours of dip prep...I'm whooped! Think I'll take a few minutes to kick back and crack open a tub with some Crystals hot sauce and a cracker.

Cheers everyone! Hope all are well and staying safe during these odd and trying times.

~Jeff
 
KE Quist said:
Just outstanding! Lucky friends/neighbors. I could eat a whole tub in one sitting.
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Thanks! Tell me about it. That was lunch today. Already given out six quarts with six more being picked up soon. Going fast. It's one of those things you enjoy immensely when it's there, so you savor it slowly until it's gone. Guess I'll just have to get back out and social distance soon to replenish the bounty.
 
That is awesome. Your friends are going to love you.

Smoked tuna dip and crackers is popular in the beach towns in lower Alabama and the Florida panhandle. I always enjoy it when we are in the Florabama region.
 
Chris in Louisiana said:
That is awesome. Your friends are going to love you.

Smoked tuna dip and crackers is popular in the beach towns in lower Alabama and the Florida panhandle. I always enjoy it when we are in the Florabama region.
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Thanks, Chris. I've always enjoyed the varieties of tuna dip around the Panhandle, but I've never made my own. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to try w/ the mackerel. So far, it's getting rave reviews. May have to make this a semi-regular thing.
 
Cliff Bartlett said:
Well, you certainly know how to "pop back in". Looks fabulous and your friends and neighbors are lucky indeed.
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Thanks, Cliff. I haven't posted much since I first got started over a year ago, but I've been checking in now and then to enjoy other posts from this talented group. Every time I begin a cook, I think, "Grab the phone and document it for the Weber page". Inevitably, I get side tracked and forget or just don't make time to upload the pics I take. Trying to change that and become regular with post sharing. I'm liking the new website format. It was much easier to upload pictures and format the post. Kudos to whoever made the switch!
 
Awesome post Jeff! I've made a similar cream cheese/mayo dip with Smoked Salmon in the past. Caught a few Mackinaw Lake trout on Tahoe (nothing big though), at the end of February. Brought them home and smoked em. Love smoked fish!
 
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