Smoked Fish Dip

Directions

I had never made a fish dip before, but I’ve had it at a couple of restaurants in Florida, so when I had leftover fish over the weekend I couldn’t let it go to waste. I looked up a good recipe and settled on this one, which I modified slightly, and it turned out great.

Start by brining your fish overnight. Fill a large bowl with cold water, then mix in a bunch of Kosher salt and brown sugar until it dissolves. Add a bunch of ice to make sure you water is cold. You definitely don’t want room temperature or lukewarm water. Now add your fish, cover the bowl, and stick in the fridge overnight. Also stick a couple of cedar planks in a pan of water and place a plate on top of them to keep them submerged.

When you’re ready to smoke the fish, take the fish out of the brine and pat dry with paper towels, then put them on a wire rack on top of a sheet pan, uncovered, back in the fridge for a couple hours to form a little pellicle, which will help the smoke stick to them. Fire up your smoker to 250-275 using your choice of wood. Once it’s up to temp, place your cedar planks on the rack and let them get warm. Rub your fish with a healthy dose of Lane’s BBQ Q-NAMI Rub, which is a fantastic rub for fish or seafood.

You want your fish to get to an internal temperature of 145-150, which will take about an hour or hour and a half as long as you keep your smoker temp between 250 and 275.

Once they are almost done it’s time to get your dip dressing ready. In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup of Duke’s Mayo (you can use whatever mayo you can find, but like everyone in the South I’m a fan of Duke’s), 1/2 cup of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of prepared horseradish, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons of mustard (I used spicy brown), 1 teaspoon of hot paprika, zest and juice of a large lemon (or two small lemons), 1 teaspoon of ancho powder, a few finely diced green onions, 1 finely diced celery stalk, and 1 finely diced yellow onion. Yes, it’s a lot of ingredients, but it’s worth is. You can also add in a finely diced jalapeno if you want. I didn’t, simply because I was feeding my kids and I already had the hot paprika in there.

Mix it all together and add salt and pepper to taste. Take your fish off the smoker and shred with your hands, wearing a pair of disposable cooking gloves. I like to use these powder free, latex free, black nitrile gloves from Gloveworks. You can shred with a fork if you want, but you get a better shred with your hands. Add the shredded fish to the dressing mix and stir to mix thoroughly. Finally, top with some Lane’s BBQ Sweet Heat Rub and mix in, then sprinkle some more on the top. Now, it’s ready to eat with some crackers. I prefer Club crackers, but you can use Ritz or Saltines too.

Obviously, make sure to store your fish dip in the fridge and it should stay good for a couple of days — if it lasts that long!

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