Thread: Smoked kahawai

After a recipe for what you put on your kahawai before you smoke them.

Was thinking about brown sugar and lemon juice.

all i do is salt them overnight then rub some brown sugar into them and it is off to the smoker

Brine overnight, rinse, brown sugar maybe some chilly powder smoke with manuka.
Works for me

Thanks guys got two to do so I will try both methods.

If you have a local market see if you can get some 'super seasoning'. Salt, garlic, chilli etc. once you smoke with that you wont want anything else.

Dried garlic, salt, teeny bit of chilli, mixed herbs and brown sugar and a few teaspoons of water. Apply to brined fish, sit while you dig smoker out etc and in she goes.

You won't catch me using chilli on any of my fish that is for heathens

ditch the lemon and use a orange instead it will take away the bitterness of the lemon but still have good taste

3L Water
1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Cooking Salt
Place in plastic container, I use rectangle one with a lid, put fish in & O/N in fridge.
Grab a towell & pat fish dry , I dont rinse any of the stuff off & smoke to your liking.
Used this base recipie for 30 yrs & had no complaints

You would be smoking crocs tho.... Not fish.

I strongly feel that you shouldn't put salt on a saltwater fish: trout yes, but not snapper, kahawai etc. MY recipe is : rub brown sugar and black rum on the flesh, and let it dry overnight. Bung it in the smoker. Eat with fresh white bread spread with lashings of butter!

50% brown sugar 50% salt...leave overnight or better still 2 nights being turned flesh down the 2nd so it can drain a tad then smoke and scoff.
bleed your fish asap after landing it and gill and gut soon after making sure to get rid of the bloodline/kidney area the same as for trout for same reasons.

Originally Posted by Ranger 888

I strongly feel that you shouldn't put salt on a saltwater fish: trout yes, but not snapper, kahawai etc. MY recipe is : rub brown sugar and black rum on the flesh, and let it dry overnight. Bung it in the smoker. Eat with fresh white bread spread with lashings of butter!

Yep dark rum always goes good with the brown sugar when smoking Kahawhai or trout.

Don't eat it, use it for bait

I’ve generally used Manuka for smoking but recently tried pohutukawa as the council trimmed a tree and did not remove the wood. I did! Even the leaves of pohutukawa will produce a golden brown finish to the flesh, when added to any smouldering wood for the last stages of the smoke.