Extreme Shark Smoking Discussion

[chef jimmyj]

you should check into cooking the whole thing   i've heard sharks accumulate mercury much like barracuda do and the larger they get the more mercury is stored intheir body

 While Mercury is an issue with large predator fish, a single annual feed is no big deal just like a Tuna lunch or dinner a month is no issue but a steady Shark diet would potentially be bad business...JJ

 

[moikel]

We have just had a young southern wright whale wash up dead into one of our ocean swimming pools,Narrabeen Beach if your interested to check on youtube or whatever. A straggler ,probably died of a respiratory infection.  Main migration tailing off as they head to tropics.Must weigh 5 ton easy.Hazmat crew chainsawing it up as we speak,beach shut due to huge packs of sharks waiting just beyond the breakers. Hasnt occurred to any body down here to fire up the BBQ ,maybe its just us!

 

[arsenix]

What would you guys think about if we served it in stages?  We have a lot of people coming to this event, so there will always be people ready to eat.  We could serve the back 1/3 of the shark earlier and let the rest smoke longer.  I suppose we could also do some sort of butterfly on the carcass to make it a more uniform thickness.  Personally I have no idea how much of the shark is actually edible.

Here are some more pics of the smoker, along with our "dear leader" in a nose cast:

Its getting there!

 

[daveomak]

Arsenix, WOW.... an engineering wonder....  Great Job....  How about cutting the shark into sections....  Remove the thinner sections that are done to a serving table, finishing the rest on the cooker.... Of course you would need some BIG spatulas to remove the chunks.... 

 ...  You gotta take pics of this endeavor....   Dave

 

[moikel]

OK your serious I am heading to coast today I will ask the the pro fisherman who catch sharks about eating tips. They regularly get bronze whalers to 7-8 feet,makos & reef sharks that all get eaten somewhere some how. 

Nice bit of metal fabrication,really classy bit of work. 

 

[whittling chip]

I've caught a lot of shark and grilled a lot of shark. Not store bought packets of filets. I will tell you right now, if you do not catch that shark and immediately gut it, then let it swim for quite a while, your meat will taste like crap (actually cat urine). By gutting and letting it swim it will get the urea out of the meat through the skin. And yes, a fully gutted shark will swim behind the boat for a half hour on a line. That's why you can be shark bit at the dock when a shark was killed on the boat. It's all muscle memory. Remember, their brain is the size of a pea or a small walnut with very large sharks. They don't think, they eat.

The problem you will have is if you have chummed the water, other sharks will take a bite out of your catch and you wont end up with the length your speaking about. You wont have to worry about the last third of the shark because it will be eaten. That is why small shark is favorable for smoking/grilling.

Finally, the shark MUST be skinned prior to cooking or it will not be able to be eaten. In fact, no one will stand next to the smoker due to the foul smell.

WC

 

[moikel]

Its amazing what you can learn on this forum,really is! Gummy shark & school shark are popular here.Lot of people have eaten it without knowing in fish & chips,used to be labelled "flake".Figure they arent much bigger than   3 or 4 feet. I would rather eat that than farmed Mekong River catfish shipped frozen from Vietnam but the worlds changed a bit.

 

[arsenix]

I've caught a lot of shark and grilled a lot of shark. Not store bought packets of filets. I will tell you right now, if you do not catch that shark and immediately gut it, then let it swim for quite a while, your meat will taste like crap (actually cat urine). By gutting and letting it swim it will get the urea out of the meat through the skin. And yes, a fully gutted shark will swim behind the boat for a half hour on a line. That's why you can be shark bit at the dock when a shark was killed on the boat. It's all muscle memory. Remember, their brain is the size of a pea or a small walnut with very large sharks. They don't think, they eat.

The problem you will have is if you have chummed the water, other sharks will take a bite out of your catch and you wont end up with the length your speaking about. You wont have to worry about the last third of the shark because it will be eaten. That is why small shark is favorable for smoking/grilling.

Finally, the shark MUST be skinned prior to cooking or it will not be able to be eaten. In fact, no one will stand next to the smoker due to the foul smell.

WC

This is pretty interesting.  I had heard about the skinning but I didn't know it was necessary to gut it immediately and put it back in the water.  That makes a lot of sense given the urea in the meat.

 

[scarbelly]

So just out of curiosity, the event starts today per your website - is someone out catching this beast?

 

[cliffcarter]

I apolologize for the "preposterous" comment. Good luck.

 

[arsenix]

Yep the crews are out fishing for sharks today.  They were expecting to catch over 100 sharks... most of which will be tagged and released.  One lucky shark will be the roastee.
 

 

[arsenix]

I apolologize for the "preposterous" comment. Good luck.

No problem!  Frankly it is pretty preposterous, but I think that is one reason we are doing it!

 

[whittling chip]

Yep the crews are out fishing for sharks today.  They were expecting to catch over 100 sharks... most of which will be tagged and released.  One lucky shark will be the roastee.
 

Could you please update your location so we can know where you're fishing?

Thanks and good luck!

WC

 

[arsenix]

Location updated.  We are in the Massachusetts area.  The shark smoke is taking place tomorrow at Nehant Beach.  It festivities starts around noon.  I'm not the organizer but allegedly around 150 people are coming!
 

 

[raastros2]

Always soak shark and alligator meat in buttermilk to rid the ammonia smell and taste

 

[arsenix]

Pics are coming!  Sorry I've been pretty busy.  It actually went quite well.  I'll detail tonight!

 

[jjwdiver]

 

[scarbelly]

 

[chef jimmyj]

To Heck with the Popcorn...

...JJ

 

[s2k9k]

To Heck with the Popcorn...

...JJ

That's what I'm talkin about!