I live in the south of France on the Med. I was teasing a friend about the small size of the fish they catch and keep. Mainly soup size. He just brought me a 3 pound sea bass that came in to one of islands during spawning season.
I rubbed it with dried dill and let it sit overnight. Smoked it hard for 1.5 hours with mesquite and almond at 200 F. I propped open the belly cavity with toothpicks to make sure the smoke got in there. Then wrapped it in aluminum foil for another 2 hours. At the end my charcoal was burning out and the temp dropped to 170.
The fish turned out great. It was swimming in its juices in the foil, so hadn't dried out. Firm and juicy meat with a good hint of smoke flavor. The belly meat was the best with more smoke flavor. Excellent with a dry white wine.
I probably could have smoked it longer, but even after 1.5 hours the meat was getting cooked and it would have been harder to move the fish to wrap it in foil.
Sea bass is a white meat fish, very similar to freshwater bass. Don't be afraid to smoke your fish!!
I rubbed it with dried dill and let it sit overnight. Smoked it hard for 1.5 hours with mesquite and almond at 200 F. I propped open the belly cavity with toothpicks to make sure the smoke got in there. Then wrapped it in aluminum foil for another 2 hours. At the end my charcoal was burning out and the temp dropped to 170.
The fish turned out great. It was swimming in its juices in the foil, so hadn't dried out. Firm and juicy meat with a good hint of smoke flavor. The belly meat was the best with more smoke flavor. Excellent with a dry white wine.
I probably could have smoked it longer, but even after 1.5 hours the meat was getting cooked and it would have been harder to move the fish to wrap it in foil.
Sea bass is a white meat fish, very similar to freshwater bass. Don't be afraid to smoke your fish!!
