Sturgeon Smoke with Q-view

[adiochiro3]

A shout out and thanks to Davy for advice on smoking my sturgeon!  Glad to find his 2 year old post!

A friend of mine caught this last season and asked me to smoke some for him.  He told me to keep half of what he gave me for my own personal consumption!  SWEET!!!  I've never had sturgeon, so I am excited.

I used a half-recipe of Davy's marinade minus the ginger -- the wife does not care for it :-( .  The recipe he posted is:

2 cups Pineapple Juice
2 cups Teryaki
2 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup salt
1/2 cup wine ( Reisling)
1/4 cup fresh cracked black/white peppercorns
2 heaping tablespoons garlic powder
1 tblspn ginger
1 tsp homemade ground red pepper (hot hot hot)

Marinaded for about 5 hours and smoked with ash wood at 180* -- 200* degrees until the fish hit 150*.  Applied smoke for about 3 hours.  Some pieces were done around the 4 hour mark while 2 took until about the 5 hour mark.  Turned out fantastic!  Everybody really liked this marinade.  Hope to get a sturgeon of my own this season.

Thanks for looking!

 

[bmudd14474]

That looks awesome

 

[mballi3011]

Now the brine/marinade sounds  and looks good. The fish looks awesome thou. I'm also glad that everyone like the fish for isn't that what we do all of this for. 

 

[Bearcarver]

That looks really great!

Probably make my back feel better eating that! 

How big was that prehistoric monster?

Bear

 

[rdknb]

that looks very good

 

[justpassingthru]

Man, that looks awesome!

I smoked some fresh tuna once, I didn't brine it, we weren't to impressed with it that night, but a few days later I made a tuna sandwich from the leftovers and was it very good.

I'm surrounded by fish, but now I always grill it on the gas grill, do you think that brine recipe would work with tuna, mahi-mahi or swordfish?

Thanks,

Gene

 

[kevink]

Sweet mercy that looks so dang good.  Forgive a landlocked Texan, can you tell me more about sturgeon?

Kevin

 

[deannc]

That looks like perfections, beautiful coloring!  

 

[thebarbequeen]

I had some really great smoked sturgeon a while back, it had brined overnight in just brown sugar and salt (5:3 ratio), then hot smoked over apple. Very light in texture and subtle flavor. I don't know exact time and temp., it was at a wine tasting dinner.

 

[rp ribking]

Wow, That looks awesome!

 

[adiochiro3]

Yes.  I also applied it to halibut with phenomenal results.  Definitely a do over!

 

[adiochiro3]

Sweet mercy that looks so dang good.  Forgive a landlocked Texan, can you tell me more about sturgeon?

Kevin

It's a big, ugly, prehistoric bottom feeding fish found on river bottoms and here in our SF bay.  They freaking live a long time (80 - 150 years for females!!!!) and take a long time to mature.

 

[adiochiro3]

That looks really great!

Probably make my back feel better eating that! 

How big was that prehistoric monster?

Bear

I believe it was near the 66" mark.  My buddy caught it & I didn't get all of the details.  Out here we have a "slot" requirement for keepers: I think you can only keep them between 46 and 66 inches. 

 

[adiochiro3]

Man, that looks awesome!

I smoked some fresh tuna once, I didn't brine it, we weren't to impressed with it that night, but a few days later I made a tuna sandwich from the leftovers and was it very good.

I'm surrounded by fish, but now I always grill it on the gas grill, do you think that brine recipe would work with tuna, mahi-mahi or swordfish?

Thanks,

Gene

Yes.  I also applied it to halibut with phenomenal results.  Definitely a do over!

 

[Bearcarver]

That looks really great!

Probably make my back feel better eating that! 

How big was that prehistoric monster?

Bear

I believe it was near the 66" mark.  My buddy caught it & I didn't get all of the details.  Out here we have a "slot" requirement for keepers: I think you can only keep them between 46 and 66 inches. 

Great picture you showed.

I had one surface right next to my boat---Was at least 7'. I thought it was "Ole Nessy" coming to get me!!!  

  

PA's (Delaware River) size limit used to be 60".

Now it is "NO OPEN SEASON"-----PA Endangered Species List.

Maybe we should have had a slot limit a long time ago??

Bear

 

[kevink]

Thanks for the post!  If for some reason i ever come across it down here, I will definitely pick some sturgeon up and follow this recipe!

 

[meateater]

WOW that'a a beast! Thanks for posting that.

 

[arnie]

Looks good. I haven't smoked a sturgeon in at least 4 years. I gotta get back into it

 

[adiochiro3]

Looks good. I haven't smoked a sturgeon in at least 4 years. I gotta get back into it

Any added info from your experience would be appreciated.  Thoughts on sturgeon smoking were quite thin around here, so I kind of winged it, drawing on long smoking experience with lots of other things.

 

[arnie]

WOW! You have no idea how many brain cells ago that was.

I had to get a shovel to did that one up.

I had all but given up when I found the brine recipe written on the side of my food safe 5 gallon brine bucket.

Who would have thought to look there?!

We don’t catch them as big as you’re pulling them in, but when they are running we catch 3-4 pound sand sturgeons by the bucket load right in front of my cabin.

I got this recipe from a fellow I used to work with who got it from his uncle.

It’s a hand me down that worked well for us.

1 1/3 cup white sugar

1 1/3 cup brown sugar

2 gallons water

1 onion quartered

1 TBS garlic powder

1 TBS black pepper

½ cup canning salt

½ cup tender quick

1 cup white vinegar

1 TBS tarragon

1 TBS allspice

4 TBS vanilla

I brined overnight and smoked at 225⁰about 3 hours with a little bit of hickory.

Now you got me hungry. I better go check on the turkey brines