smoked shark

I don't have notes with me,but we always hot smoked them,around 180� cooker temp.

Garlic butter and some Cajun seasonings taste good to us.

You can marinate in zesty Ital. dressing for 1/2-3/4 hr,and use lemon pepper,cajun,etc.

Seems like we smoke to about 160�internal.

We don't use much mesquite,but Stuart taught us a neat trick.

Put in a chunk of mesquite and get the smoke rolling.

Let it burn off the funky ,yellowish smoke,before you put the seafood in.

This works well with shrimp,also.

Hope this helps a little.

j,
to get the ammonia smell off of shark is a 2 process deal.
1st-salt both sides and put in just enough water to 1/2 cover the meat. after 4 hours change that.
at eight hours drain and dry and put in just plain old milk till next morning.
as far as rub goes nothing beats penzeys northwoods fire.
oak is great for the wood altho oak and cherry would be good
hope it
helps some
jack
ps. if you could hold about 165-180 on temp i wouldn't go any higher

Are you a frequent consumer of shark meat? Reason I ask is because shark along with Swordfish are not even recommended for eating but maybe a meal every so often because of their high methyl mercury levels.

I love swordfish and used to eat it maybe once a month or two until I took part in a mercury study put on by the State of Wisconsin. My mercury levels were pretty elevated just from these meals.

Just something to think about.

Jamie

I second what prisonchef313said about the shark. I haven't heard of using the salt and the water, although I always clean my fish using sea water, as this is reputed to be the best way. An old crayfisherman told me about soaking the shark meat in milk overnight, so I tried it and it definitely gets rid of the strong ammonia smell. I live in Australia and we eat quite a lot of shark down here. Some guys I know gut the shark, remove the fins, chop up a bunch of onions and celery and stuff it into the body cavity like stuffing a bird, and then wrap up the whole shark in several layers of foil and cook it in the coals of a fire. I have never tried this method, but it sounds great.

"Fish and chip" shops are about as common in Australia as the hot dog is in America, and much of what they sell as snapper is really shark, so I wouldn't worry too much about mercury levels.

Cheers,

Micah

I fish here in S.California and we catch Mako and Thresher shark a lot.
Both are great eating and I've never had a problem with ammonia smelling fish, I believe it all depends on the type of shark. Blue sharks are known for the ammonia thing.
We got a 200lb'er 2 weeks ago, the neighbors are really happy

Neill

We have also been cooking mako here for 20 years and never had an ammonia problem.

Crafty seafood markets also cut mako to look like large scallops and the consumer rarely notices.