Smoking sturgeon

[mcbidding]

Need a good recipe for smoking sturgeon. I'm sure some of you old salts have done it many times. My son caught a 44" today at T6 and had many shakers to the boat. He fished with a business associate from Langley Air Force Base and he had never experienced west coast fishing - he was amazed and very pleased. Any information will be appreciated.

Go Beavers!!

[Joe]

Here is a real basic brine you can't go wrong with.

1 cup salt (3/4 if you don't want it salty)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 gallon water

Just don't cut it too thick and it taste great!

[STGRule]

My favorite is one bottle of Yoshida's gourmet sauce and one large pureed onion. Double and triple as needed. Marinade overnight.

[wetaline]

3 parts extra brown sugar
1 part coarse kosher salt
a couple dashes dry mustard

mix and spread over fish..... let give it 12-24 hours... take out of sauce to glaze and sprinkle w/ coarse ground pepper. let it sit out to glaze over for a couple hours... and smoke

[Fishplay]

My only suggestion would be that sturgeon has a much milder flavor than salmon so be careful with the brine or rub you choose and cut back the amount of smoke(chips) used. It's very easy to over power the flavor of the fish rather than accent it.
Experimenting and finding that perfect taste is rewarding.
Here's to a good batch.

[Pilar]

This recipe is a favorite of mine

(1) 16 oz bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce
8 oz brown sugar
1 lb clover honey
Lowries garlic salt with herbs
(1) 1.5 L bottle of cheap chardonnay
10 lb fresh or frozen sturgeon filets
(1) bag of alder smoker chips

Cut the fish across the filets in 1/2 thick slices. Sprinkle both sides of each slice with garlic salt to taste. Arrange in a layer in a deep glass or plastic tray that holds 2 gallons. The meat drawer (the one with no holes in the sides) from the fridge works well. To complete each layer, sprinkle on brown sugar and drizzle on some honey. Build the next layer the same way until all the fish is in the tray. Pour the soy sauce in each corner. Put the tray in the fridge and pour in the bottle of wine.

Let this sit overnight and agitate it a couple of times to mix things up.

The next day drain and let the pieces drip in a collander. Spray the racks with Pam and load the smoker. Use 2 to 3 trays of chips as fast as they will burn. After 6 hours flip each individual chunk of fish. It takes 12 to 16 hours. The fish is done when you can break a piece in half cleanly and it is white all the way through.

Peel off the rind from the edge of each chunk before eating it. The rind is the layer of fat under the fishes skin and it is bitter.

For best results slice the chunks into little slices and serve with cheese, hot sauce and crackers.

When I bring a tray to work there is a stampede every time.

[Biteme]

Pillar,
doesnt leaving the skin on give it a funky taste.
I use skinned fillets and cut them into about 2 inch strips if the fillets are real thick I split them so that no part is more than 1 inch or so thick
then I use my spiced dry cure that i posted sometime ago.
the basics are
3 parts brown sugar
1 part salt
garlic powder
onion powder
cinnimon
cloves
lime juice
cayenne pepper

mix into a dry mix
and layer the fish coated in the dry mix into zip lock bags. let sit for 24 hrs in fridge or ice chest
rinse allow to skin and then smoke with smoke for about 4 hrs then finish with just heat for another 4 or so. search the archives for the full blown detailed recipe.
Sturgeon is denser than salmon so it needs to soak longer in the brine. Salmon only needs about 8 hrs or overnight but with sturgeon you cant go wrong with even as much as a couple of days in the brine. Be sure to let the fish skin over completely before putting it in the smoker this will keep it moist.

[Pilar]

Biteme, no I skin all my gators. The 'rind' I am describing is the red-grey stringy fat layer that remains on the filet after skinning. You can cut this off before smoking but it is pretty hard.

BTW sturgeon filet with the skin still on it is pretty gross. Wont catch me eating that ever.

[chummer]

I use apple juice as my base, and add about a cup of brown sugar, some honey, 1/4 cup salt, and brine it over night, and smoke it with apple chips. use the same for salmon except alder chips instead of apple.

[OceanBlue]

I must concur - Pilar's recipe is FAB-U-LOUS!

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

I just smoked up a batch yesterday - mmm-mmmm GOOD!

Thanks John - for the great fishing, the great fish, the recipe and the loan of the smoker (okay, I could go on and on here, but I'll quit now)