Best Kept Secret: Smoked Spanish Mackerel

[pmorse36]

Hi guys,

We got into the Spanish Mackerel last night as they were in the sound chasing pogies in big numbers! After doing some fresh filets on the grill very simply yesterday, I took the other half and dedicated them to smoking. After a little research, I decided to do a wet brine with filtered water, sea salt, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, garlic, and light brown sugar. After brining over night, I let the filets set up on a perforated grill pan to drip dry in the fridge for a few hours then added to the smoker at 200 degrees as my ribs and chicken were finishing up. I decided to stick with the apple wood I had going for the other meats as it is a very mild smoke and wouldn't overpower the fish. This was a great decision. After 90 minutes, the filets were firm to the touch with a phenomenal texture.

I served 1/4 of the filets straight up with a little grilled lemon juice and then made the remaining 3/4 into a delicious smoked mackerel dip with a little cream cheese, onion, yellow bell pepper, chili powder, paprika, minced garlic, cumin and fresh cilantro. We also had a batch of incredibly mild garden fresh jalapenos, so I decided to try out smoked mackerel bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers and they were an absolute show stopper!

I expected a deeper color on the fish, but the texture was perfect, so I pulled them at 90 minutes and the flavor was incredible.

Mother-in-law with a platter of bacon-wrapped smoked mackerel jalapeno poppers!
Everything tastes better when you're cooking with a view like this!

[Spinaker]

Wow, what a cook. For more color, you might want to cook a tad hotter. That might do it. I love mackerel, but it is tough to find up north. I have to go to Minneapolis to find it at a seafood supply store. Apple wood sounds like it was a pretty good choice, I wonder if something like pecan might be something worth trying as well.


Oh.....and that view!!!!!!!!! Spectacular!

Happy Fourth! It looks like you are off to a great start.

[Obi-Dan]

Beautiful pictures. I just ate and this made me hungry for fresh fish.

[pmorse36]

Absolutely. I think if I was doing this as a stand alone cook, I'd do alder wood or even pecan at ~210-225. I was dealing with a little falling temps at the end of a long cook on the ribs, ect and honestly wasn't expecting much out of the fish. It was definitely a pleasant surprise that I hope to replicate soon! Heading out tomorrow for flounder, trout and reds, but hope to get a few more macks before the holiday week ends.

Have a great holiday, boys!

[Spinaker]

Alder would be a great choice. Why didn't I think of that? LOL. pmorse36

[EdF]

Mackerel is a very fine fish for smoking - one of my favorites, anyway!

[Henrik]

What EdF said :-)

[grantgallagher]

I caught a bunch of king mackerel recently and did wet brine then smoked em. Ate some as were and then shredded the rest for fish cakes. Amazing. The 4 other people i was on fhe boat with wanted nothing to do with them.

that does lool like a great cook!

[pmorse36]

I caught a bunch of king mackerel recently and did wet brine then smoked em. Ate some as were and then shredded the rest for fish cakes. Amazing. The 4 other people i was on fhe boat with wanted nothing to do with them.

that does lool like a great cook!

Unfortunately, that's a common attitude towards these fish and towards wild game in general. It's really unfortunate in a lot of ways, which is why we need to promote and share the awesome food we are able to make with it! Glad you had a great trip! Where were you>

[grantgallagher]

Went out of the outer banks in nc to the gulfstream. Between the 5 of us we got almost 300lb of tuna. Mostly blackfin but some really nice yellowfin in there too. Plus the mackerel. Was a great two day trip. Jigging for tuna is a trip, exhausting.

[Thunder77]

Mackerel is so underrated. I love it. That looks like a great cook! Where were you? I have seen a lot of views like that in North and South Carolina.

[McEDaddy]

Spanish macks a lot more mild than kings. I smoke Mahi frequently (live in south Florida). I agree on hotter temps for more color. Also increase the brown sugar in your brine. For fish I barely monitor the kettle temp, keep it reasonable, 1 chunk of apple, 60-90 minutes.
i suggest turning those Mack’s to dip, cream cheese+lemon juice+green onions. Eat it on a cracker with a pickled jalapeños

[EdF]

And if you get the opportunity to catch the bluefish run, smoke that too!

[EdF]

Have you tried it smoked? There are a bunch of places around that you can get a small tub of smoked bluefish pate / dip when they're in season. That will give you an idea if you haven't tried it that way.

[HorseDoctor]

What EdF said!!! Love smoked bluefish pate!!! HOnly problem is it's hard to find bluefish in central IA!!!

[EdF]

HorseDoctor You need a trip to Connecticut in the early fall. Mystic Seaport, charter fishing etc!

[grantgallagher]

This was the haul from the trip. Caught almost everything on day 2. We had some rough ass seas on day 1 and it was slim pickings.

[Troutman]

That sir was an excellent job of curing and smoking that fish. Also, like others, loved that final picture, scenes like that make life worth livin

[MeatMonster]

Mackerel are awesome! I was lucky to grow up in a part of Wales where we could fish for our own (I had a 14footer with 15hp mercury), nothing better on a BBQ than fresh caught and fillited mackerel, hope you have a great day!

P.S. on the view..... Here was my view back then!

[_JeffreyD_]

Just wondering, do you cook to a particular internal temperature, or just go by time and firmness?

[pmorse36]

I just went by firmness and time. I wanted it to have a little give to it still so it didn't dry out too much.