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I used to smoke white fish a lot but with none in the freezer I thought maybe trying one of those imported cheap fish they bring in. They are basically catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong and Chao Phraya basins in Indochina. These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labelled in North America and Australia as "basa fish", "swai", or "bocourti".
So I got 3 fillets for about 8 bucks. Thawed them out and made up a brine.
1\2 gallon of orange juice
1\2 cup of kosher salt,
1\2 cup of dark brown sugar,
and lots of garlic powder
2 TBS of hot sauce (I used Franks)
3 TBS of Soy sauce
Let it sit over night in the fridge.
Next morning just a fast rinse under running cold water and let dry to form the pellicle. Used a small fan to speed up the process.
Sprinkled lightly with cayenne pepper
Into my little Bradly smoker
1.5 hours @ 150F no smoke
1.5 hours @170F smoke rolling
At this this time they were coated with maple syrup
1 hour @ 200F smoke rolling
Turn out pretty darn good for a bottom feeding fish and costing 8 bucks
So I got 3 fillets for about 8 bucks. Thawed them out and made up a brine.
1\2 gallon of orange juice
1\2 cup of kosher salt,
1\2 cup of dark brown sugar,
and lots of garlic powder
2 TBS of hot sauce (I used Franks)
3 TBS of Soy sauce
Let it sit over night in the fridge.
Next morning just a fast rinse under running cold water and let dry to form the pellicle. Used a small fan to speed up the process.
Sprinkled lightly with cayenne pepper
Into my little Bradly smoker
1.5 hours @ 150F no smoke
1.5 hours @170F smoke rolling
At this this time they were coated with maple syrup
1 hour @ 200F smoke rolling
Turn out pretty darn good for a bottom feeding fish and costing 8 bucks
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