Smoked sablefish...er butter fish..

[cmayna]

....er black cod.

Ok, been wanting to smoke some black cod so I thought today would be the day. Trying two different brines with the left side of the below rack is a wet brine with a bunch of different sauces, spices, etc. On the right is my basic Salmon dry brine, very boring as compared to the wet brine, but what if?........

When I pulled both fish out of their brine I was very worried with the very dull, white bleached appearance of the dry brine pieces. Didn't think they would darken as much as they did.

Smoke 3 hours with Alder and 1 hour with Cherry.

Oh and did I tell you I have yet to try either? Love teasing myself while the fish cools down. Maybe I'll try it tomorrow, while we decorate our Xmas tree.

left side, wet brine. Right side, dry brine, before smoke

wet brine, before smoke

dry brine, before smoke

Smoked

wet brined smoked

dry brined smoked

 

[SmokinAl]

They both look delicious to me, but the wet brine does have a nicer color!
Looking forward to hearing if they taste different!
Al

 

[tropics]

I'd like to know also,you could always send me a sample to taste test for ya. LOL
Richie

 

[cmayna]

Tomorrow, I'm taste testing them. Will report back with my findings.....or opinion

 

[cmayna]

Well surprising enough, I thought the darker batch was way too strong in brine flavor. Too salty, too spicy whereas the light colored batch which was done using my basic Salmon dry brine did not overwhelm the flavor of the fish.

But you know what? If I was stranded on a desert island with both fish..........belch!!