Smoked bluefin tuna

FISH, OCTOPUS, PRAWNS, SCOLLOPS, CRAB, LOBSTER & CRAYFISH
Post Reply
Idofish
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:24 pm

Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by Idofish »

Hi All,
First off thanks to all who contribute, your wonderful info has helped me cook some awesome food over the last couple of months. I have the belly flap of a large bluefin tuna, about 2 kilos, and it looks very fatty like a pork scotch or neck. Image was thinking about smoking it as I've heard its very tasty. I have a weber kettle and would love to hear your ideas how to go about smoking it.
Thanks in advance Brent
Card Shark
Posts: 1240
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:10 pm
Location: Gold Coast, QLD
Contact:

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by Card Shark »

That's way too good to smoke IMO. Firm flesh, a bit of oil an salt and pepper would do direct for a few minutes here. Jamie did one a bit flash rolled in green tea but not that cut. CS
gindemon
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:07 pm
Location: Brisbane, QLD

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by gindemon »

slice that thing up with a nice one edged sashimi or carpaccio knife, add some soy sauce and pickled ginger in a bowl, some grated white radish, and enjoy raw tbh. Fatty tuna or tuna belly in Japan is the premium, special part of the sea beast!!! The fatty parts are the tastiest for sushi and sashimi
"The Meat Sweats" Competitive BBQ Team
Port Macquarie 2014 - 1st
Bangalow 2014 - 1st
2014 Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ - 19th/94 overall, 1st/20 international teams
Melbourne 2015 - 3rd
Port Macquarie 2015 - 1st
StoneX
Posts: 240
Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:33 am
Location: Mornington Peninsula

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by StoneX »

My mate has been going to Portland, VIC catching a fair few tunas and keeping the normal meat for sashimi and freezing it for other cooking later but gave all the bellies to a mate of his who smokes them all the time. I tried it and it was delicious broken up on dry biscuits with a beer. He has about 12 smoked bellies in his freezer and just pulls them out and defrosts them at footy time :D

Unfortunately I don't know the method used though.
Angryman65
Posts: 397
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:47 pm
Location: Batemans Bay

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by Angryman65 »

StoneX

Is your mates tuna it still rawish like cold smoked salmon or cooked like it's been hot smoked?

I hot smoke just about any type of fish (bream, blackfish, mullet, trevally, anything) by brining for a half an hour or so for fillets, letting dry and then either over charcoal in my mini kettle with a banksia nut or in the gasser to do a tea smoked (sweeter tasting smoke and works on scallops as well).

Otherwise Cold smoke it by dry brining for about 18 to 24 hours, rinse and soak, dry overnight then smoke with sawdust.

Depends what you're after.
Vegetarian is an old Indian word for bad hunter.
Idofish
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:24 pm

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by Idofish »

Thanks for the replies guys and I understand where your coming from in regards to eating it raw, but I have roughly 12-15kg of meat, I have cut the main fillets into steaks and vacuum packed for later consumption, and have already eaten a couple of kilos as sashimi - theres only so much raw fish I can eat. I think I will put it in the weber after a short time in some brine and smoke slowly for a couple of hours with apple smoke. Will let you know how it goes.
StoneX
Posts: 240
Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:33 am
Location: Mornington Peninsula

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by StoneX »

Angryman65 wrote:StoneX

Is your mates tuna it still rawish like cold smoked salmon or cooked like it's been hot smoked?

I hot smoke just about any type of fish (bream, blackfish, mullet, trevally, anything) by brining for a half an hour or so for fillets, letting dry and then either over charcoal in my mini kettle with a banksia nut or in the gasser to do a tea smoked (sweeter tasting smoke and works on scallops as well).

Otherwise Cold smoke it by dry brining for about 18 to 24 hours, rinse and soak, dry overnight then smoke with sawdust.

Depends what you're after.
They were hot smoked... Shrunken and flaked apart like cooked fish.

My mate said that one batch was brined overnight and another was only brined for a few hours and that the overnight brine was the nicest. I don't know what type of smoker or wood was used though.
Idofish
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:24 pm

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by Idofish »

Smoked till 160f with banksia pods after a dry brine in salt only. Also sprinkled a bit of brown sugar on before the smoke. Absolutely delicious :mrgreen:
Image
urbangriller
Posts: 9453
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:46 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by urbangriller »

That looks fantastic!

Banksia pods rule!

Chris
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!
matty83
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 7:52 pm

Re: Smoked bluefin tuna

Post by matty83 »

Looks good, the belly is the best part of tuna, and blue fin is the best kind. That 15-20kg of bellies would have been worth some good $$$
Post Reply