Sailfish

SteveWPBFL

Friend called, he got a Sail today and asked me to smoke it. I've only smoked Sailfish once and it wasn't great. I've had great luck with other fish. Need some help to make this one turn out right. I usually brine overnight, put on a rub, and smoke at low temp until the oils melt out. That's my plan for starters. Thanks ahead of time.

travisstrick

Sailfish isn't very good. Whatever you do, go heavy. Heavy rub, heavy marinade, heavy smoke. Basicly, the idea is to make it taste like something else.

Ellis

The sailfish & rooster fish is the reason behind catch & release. IMO 

SteveWPBFL

While Googling around for how to smoke Sailfish I run across " . . .sailfish urinate out of their skin . . . ". So obviously it'll be skin off! 

LongboardR

Good for Pics and a screaming reel! Now oily kingfish or mullet, thats a different story!

Griffin

Can't help you on sailfish, but looking forward to hearing about and seeing how you tackle this one. Good luck.

Cowdogs

Sailfish is very good smoked IMO. I would only keep a sailfish if it can't be released alive, but it's up to each angler to make their own decision ... as it is legal to keep 1 per trip (in Florida).

SteveWPBFL

OK, so this Sail was my co-worker's daughter's "first Sail", which is why they kept it. 99% of Sails in south Florida are released and by all accounts they appear to be plentiful and relatively easy to catch. (Even I've caught a few). So we're going to give it a go.

I've got the meat brining in the refrigerator overnight last night. Two racks worth. About half is two inches thick and the other half one inch thick. The skin is not readily removed with a sharp knife like many fish so on it stays. The brine is the usual salt-sugar-bayleaf variety. 

I'll try a couple of rubs, whatever I have in the cupboard: dizzy products, jerk, and some plain ol' garlic and black pepper. I plan to fire up the LBGE with the CGS rib racks when I get home from work tonight and get it to a stable low and slow temp around 225F dome indirect, put the fish on skin side down on the two racks, the 2 inch thick on top rack and one inch thick on bottom rack with plenty of alder mixed in the lump around 10:00 pm or so and let it go overnight. 

Then get up around 4 or 5 a.m. and check on it, and maybe pull it or let go a little longer. That's the going in plan. And we all know what happens to the best of plans. 

And actually, this is what's great about the Egg, trying different stuff. People seek you out and say hey, what about ....? And we do the same, always looking for another something to try.

Mike8it

Let us know how it turns out. I'm sure you will nail this cook.

nolaegghead

That seems like a long time at 225F.    Let us know how it comes out.

travisstrick

That is a long time. I bet it only takes about 2-3 hrs at 225.

jbates67

Curious how this turns out. I have a friend who smoked a sail he caught that died as a result of a tail wrap. I can't reach him to find out what he did, but it was very tasty and made a fantastic fish dip too. I agree with those thinking the amount of time is quite long. 

SteveWPBFL

Here's the rest of the story. First thing was to brine over night. Salt's the main thing. Threw in some brown sugar, didn't really notice it. And some bay leaf and some black pepper. Salt's the thing, though. 

SteveWPBFL

The plan was two racks in the LBGE using a CGS rib rack system. Trimmed the fish up and ended up with around ten pounds or so about half around one inch thick and the other about two inches thick. The plan included putting the thinner stuff on the bottom rack and the thicker stuff on the top rack since the top rack is higher in the dome and thought to be a little hotter. Here's the bottom rack pre-rub.

SteveWPBFL

Here's the top rack of 2 inch pre-rub. Notice the meat is not super red, soaking in the brine may have reduced redness. 

SteveWPBFL

The bottom rack got black pepper and garlic rub on the lighter looking ones and Dizzy Pig Raging River on the darker looking ones. 

SteveWPBFL

The top rack got Dizzy Swamp Venom, Dizzy Dust, and Raging River across from left to right. 

SteveWPBFL

Threw them in the Egg this morning at 4:00 a.m. as noted with a CGS rib rack set up.

SteveWPBFL

Dialed the Egg in at 250F dome.

SteveWPBFL

Smoke by alder. Chips. Plenty dispersed in the lump.

SteveWPBFL

Here's what turned out to be the kicker, though. It was about 6:00 a.m. and the I.T. on the fish was in the 170F's so I figured it was done. And Sailfish is not real real oily and it looked like it didn't need to sit on the grill much longer. But I gave the wife a sample and she thought it was good with just the black pepper and garlic. Except she mentioned the Bone Suckin' Mustard we had in the fridge. So I dipped some fish in it and it was perfect. So I brushed on the BSM on all the filets and let them go fifteen more minutes until the mustard set up and pulled them at 6:30. They were on the grill for 2-1/2 hours. 

SteveWPBFL

The bottom rack done. The skin by this time shrank up and was easy to pull off.

SteveWPBFL

Here's the top rack. Now, who doesn't like a nice top rack??

SteveWPBFL

Took the fish to work to give to my friend. I work with several hundred people in an engineering department and many of them tried it and it was a hit. Only had one 'so-so', most thought the fish itself was good, which it was, though it's still Sailfish. It was a bit chewy but not gamey, not over fishy. Smoke was just right. And the rubs were as you would expect, on the money. But the brushed on Bone Suckin' Mustard put it over the top! 

nolaegghead

Awesome! I really think brining help me with some types of fish (I don't brine most of them).  Sounds like it came out great.

LongboardR

Wow, looks great and glad it came out! Now on the lighter side, lets go get a manatee or tarpon and smoke em up.