Blue Hake Loins & Ribeye Surf & Turf: Q-view

[forluvofsmoke]

Hey all! Back again for an after work smoke for tonight's dinner.

I did some scrounging for smaller items I could thaw and smoke this evening and came up with 4lbs of Blue Hake and a couple bone-in beef ribeyes.

It took me about 10 minutes to realize that a brine would be a good way to get started with the fish. The ribebeyes will get a treatment with my red bell pepper rub.

2 boxes of these to help kill my smokin' urge:

Individually wrapped and frozen for the most part, with a couple of bags having two loins...:

Brining away:

Ribeyes ready to rock...er, smoke:

 

Steaks are going for a 180* ride with hickory for 30 minutes, then, I'll drop in some cherry and bump to 250* to smoke the fish.

---

I dusted the Blue Hake Loins with RBP rub as well, after rinsing and drip-drying...I smoked up a batch of Tilapia about 9 months ago with RBP, and was that ever good eating:

Hmm...I hadn't thought about it until 30 minutes after the fish went in, but I hope the ribeyes don't taste like blue hake from the drippings...

We'll see how that goes in a bit...fish have been in for 50 minutes, so I need to do a texture check in a bit to make sure they're not going to be overcooked.

Steaks shouldn't be much longer either.

Back with the results ASAP! Not to make you wait, but I'm having slow uploads in the extreme, so I'm posting in progress.

Thanks all!

Eric

 

[TulsaJeff]

Alrighty.. I think it's about time for an update on this delicious looking meal

{tapping fingers impatiently}

 

[boykjo]

Alrighty.. I think it's about time for an update on this delicious looking meal

{tapping fingers impatiently}

ditto, man that looks good..................

 

[smokermark]

I think that the uploading issue may have something to do in part with the fact that you're probably eating some of that savory fish and steak! Looking good.

 

[TulsaJeff]

I think that the uploading issue may have something to do in part with the fact that you're probably eating some of that savory fish and steak! Looking good.

It just don't seem right, does it?!

 

[forluvofsmoke]

You guys are crackin' me up!!!

Finish as promised...I've had plenty of ribeye steaks before, but never had the pleasure of smoking or dining on Blue Hake, so I went straight to the gold!

I left these for who ever wanted to fight over them, as my daughters are hard-pressed to eat fish...LOL!!!!!

I broke open one of the largest and one of the smallest to check doneness after a light squeeze test with tongs for texture. They opened up nicely with good seperation of the muscle sections. I tried to place the smallest pieces strategically where I had known cooler areas on the grates, and that seemed to balance out the cooking of the different sized pieces quite well:

Oh yeah, moisture abounds...lets eat!!!:

I wanted you to see the muscle sections here, and how they open up. The fibers are actually pretty coarse, which you can see if you look closely at the torn edges of the sections:

Just a couple different angles here so you can see what I'm talking about..:

Total smoke time for the blue hake was 1-hr, 20-min (+30-min @ 180* for the steaks)...could be a bit more or less depending on your smoker, but 250* seemed to work just fine for these fish. Oh, dry water pan the whole time as well, with ambient temps of 34* at start, and 30* when I shut it down for the night. The fish had a nice light smoke from the cherry, and the RBP rub mated up really well for the fish.

I really enjoyed eating this fish. Some ocean fish are just too neutral flavored, while some fresh water fish (especially farm raised) can have heavier flavors, but these blue hake seem to be a good balance of mild flavor, yet you know you're actually eating fish. It's not a super-strong flavor like a channel-cat (fresh water), but very smooth, and I love breaded or battered and deep fried catfish.

Anyway, since it was my first blue hake experience, I wanted others who may not have tried it yet to have an idea what it is like for eating (as many seem skittish about fish), and maybe tempt them into grabbing some. If you've had cod, this ranks right up there with them, IMO, and actually for the texture, I'd rather have blue hake now that I know what it's like. Cod seem much more flakey and light...hmm, almost too light?

Just remember, when hot smoking fish, is all about texture...when it's firm, then check the inside to be sure it will break apart easily...when the muscle groups/sections will distinctly seperate, they're ready...wait too long after that and they will start to get leathery like unfinished jerky...keep waiting and you'll have fish jerky. Hmm, never tried that (yet...LOL!!!).

I think I just found another favorite (fish) to smoke!

Thanks all!

Eric

 

[smokermark]

Hay hey those look great! Glad you made it around to finally sharing. :p The fish looks moist, tender and perfectly seasoned sort of buttery in appearance. I've never tried Blue Hake, sound good. And the ribeye....looks fantastic too.

 

[beer-b-q]

Man that looks good...

 

[chefrob]

looks great!

 

[TulsaJeff]

Looks delicious!!

 

[les3176]

Never tried blue hake before,but i have eaten alot of cod and the mrs. and i love the cod so i might have to try this!!! Have to wait for the schwans man to stop! That fish looks amazing!!

 

[fpnmf]

Looks yummie!!

  Craig

 

[boykjo]

Hake fish wiki,This is an Irish salt water fish, similar in appearance to the tom cod. In Galway bay, and other sea inlets of Ireland, the hake is exceedingly abundant, and is taken in great numbers. It is also found in England and France. Since the Irish immigration to America, the hake has followed in the wake of their masters, as it is now found in New York bay, in the waters around Boston, and off Cape Cod. Here it is called the stock fish, and the Bostonians call them poor Johns. It is a singular fact that until within a few years this fish was never seen in America. It does not grow as large here as in Europe, though here they are from ten to eighteen inches [250 to 460 mm] in length. The general color of this fish is a reddish brown, with some golden tints - the sides being of a pink silvery luster.

Looks like it has the texture of a haddock fish. I prefer haddock over cod because it is less flakier and has more flavor..........

Your feast looks deluicious....congrats..........

 

[fpnmf]

I have never seen the words Blue Hake before.

 Did a google search and found several interesting sites.

I don't always trust wikipedia. I think it's a tool of the chinese to dumb up Americans.

Here is what they wrote. blue grenadier, hoki, blue hake, New Zealand whiptail, whiptail or whiptail hake  

Mainly a product from New Zeland. Used by Mcdonalds in their fish sammies!!

The hoki is one of the species used in McDonald's Filet-O-Fish and McFish sandwiches.[sup][1][/sup][sup][2][/sup] It was previously served at Long John Silver's and Denny's restaurants in the United States, and continues to be served at Denny's in New Zealand.[sup]""  [/sup]

 

[porked]

Great looking meal and great post as usual.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Thanks everyone! That is a pretty darn good eating fish. I just had 3 more loins an hour or so ago for lunch...mmm-mmm-mmm. We're not big fish eaters here, mainly getting our protein from beef, then pork and poultry, but we do like to try something new now and then, and the blue hake was a great addition to our list. I'd like to re-open that list again for a re-match with the blue hake.

 

I have never seen the words Blue Hake before.

 Did a google search and found several interesting sites.

I don't always trust wikipedia. I think it's a tool of the chinese to dumb up Americans.

Here is what they wrote. blue grenadier, hoki, blue hake, New Zealand whiptail, whiptail or whiptail hake  

Mainly a product from New Zeland. Used by Mcdonalds in their fish sammies!!

The hoki is one of the species used in McDonald's Filet-O-Fish and McFish sandwiches.[sup][1][/sup][sup][2][/sup] It was previously served at Long John Silver's and Denny's restaurants in the United States, and continues to be served at Denny's in New Zealand.[sup]""  [/sup]

This is funny to see this, because I had little knowledge of this fish either, so I also did a search last night to find some pictures and general info. I hadn't stumbled upon the info about McDonald's, LJS and Denny's, but if they have or are still serving it, there must be a good reason for it. I guess after cooking the blue hake and seeing it without batter or breading, seeing the coarseness of the muscle sections, and eating it in a simpler form, I can appreciate this fish for what it really is. Good stuff!

Eric