need help with Amber Jack

Pig Tickler

The brother in-law and I went deep sea fishing this past weekend and cought two 50-60 lbs Amber Jacks. We would like to smoke some of it but I dont know where to start. What wood? What heat? How long? I realy dont know help please?
Thanks,
BB

schley

pigtickler,[p]I bet your arms are tired!!![p]I once asked a Capt. how to catch amberjack. He said bit up and hold on! He is right..

Pig Tickler

schley,
The one I hooked was the took about 30 min. to get him to the boat after that I was done for the day.

Unknown

pigtickler,[p]Depending on were you caught them, they may have parasites.
It may be still early enough in the season for them to be OK, parasites are more prevalent in the hot summer months.
If you already have them filleted, cut the filets in steaks and look to see if you have white looking streaks in the meat, if you do, look at the streaks to see if they separate from the meat easily, if they do, good indication of parasites, if not you are OK.[p]1.Smoked Amberjack
Coat with a rub of, sugar, salt and pepper, leave overnight in fridge.
Wash of the brine, dry fish, and use your favorite rub or just use a sprinkle of Old Bay seasoning (you have enough fish to do various ways).
I don’t wait for a pellicle to form to start smoking
Smoke indirect, at low temp.
a. Give some smoke fish away
b. Eat with hot sauce and crackers (and beer)
c. Make smoke fish spread
d. Vacuum pack, it will keep for a long time.[p]2. Grilled Amberjack
Takes pieces of filets, and cover in BBQ sauce let sit on sauce for a few minutes (10 to 15).
Put on the grill, and cook until fish begins to get firm on top, flip and finish cooking.
(Flip fish only once.)[p]Good luck

Unknown

pigtickler,
They like to fight all the way to the boat. They call them reef donkeys for a reason.
Before your next charter-go down to the dock where the charter boats pull in and watch what each boat hangs on the rack for photos. You will see a trend in which Capt catches what. We went last minute for a friend and we caught a boat load of AJ. There is a portion through the tail that is just loaded with worms-they will usuall remove it for you. I cut through that meat and went through it with a fine tooth comb. We still ended up frying it ust to hide the possibility of those little white worms. It tasted good but-find a better captain/mate
We did..and it payed off big time--I now have a freezer full of Mahi. The same captain had another nice catch of AJ's with a few grouper/snapper and 1 mahi.