Smoked Spanish Mackerel and Cobia

sprinter · May 2001

Hey all,[p]I've smoked a gob of salmon on the egg and have always been thrilled with the results. This weekend saw the egg smoking a couple of spanish mackerel and a big slab of cobia. I used the same dill/sugar/salt method that I use on salmon with the same temps etc. The cobia was about 1 1/2 inch thick slab, 14 inches long and about 11 inches wide. My guess is that it was about 7 pounds. It pretty well covered the grill of my egg. This is a slab of the 97.7 pound cobia caught a couple weeks ago. The spanish were about 1 pound fillets, skin on. I started the cobia first, indirect, then added the grill extender after about 3 hours and put on the mackerel. The timing was great and all of the fish came out perfect. I like it as well if not more than the salmon. Maybe just different but it sure was good. Cobia is not near as oily as mackerel and salmon so it flaked up real nice, had to be sure not to dry it out, mackerel has a very similar texture as salmon. Both are great fish to smoke and I want to try some others now.[p]Troy

Nature Boy · May 2001

sprinter,
Man that sounds wonderful. And a heck of a slab of cobia! I wonder if I can buy it around here.
What was your dome temp?[p]BTW, what does a "gob" of salmon look like? : )
Cheers!
NB

sprinter · May 2001

Nature Boy,[p]A Gob of cobia is just a bit smaller than a "gob wad" but not quite as big as 2 gobs. Pretty technical terms and I can understand your confusion. Sorry, just a bit of Southern IL slang slipping into my writing.[p]The dome temp of the cook was about 180 to begin with, and SLOWLY let it rise to about 225 at the end of the cook. Mackerel took about 3 hours, they were pretty thin. The cobia took just a little over 6 hours, it was a pretty good hunk of fish. Used Orange wood for smoke.[p]Unfortunately, Cobia is not a commercially fished fish if that makes sense. I've never seen it in stores other than fish markets in FL or the southern coast and even then its rare to see. I've occasionally seen it at restaurants in FL. It goes under a number of different names, Ling, Cobia, Lemon Fish, I think there are a few others but those are the most common. On the other hand, Spanish Mackerel is fished commercially and it was great smoked and is also great grilled. Very oily fish but still good eating. Get it fresh, all that oil causes a fishy taste if its old at all.[p]Have a great one.[p]Troy

Nature Boy · May 2001

sprinter,
Thank you sir. The Korean market down the street has gobs and gobs of fresh fish. Many that I have not tried...including Barracuda and Spanish Mackerel. Hope to do some sperimenting with different fishes, as the stuff there is usually very fresh. [p]Have a great one!
NB

Smoked Spanish Mackerel and Cobia

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