# Extreme Shark Smoking Discussion



## arsenix

Hello!  I have constructed a custom made 12' smoker which I plan to use to smoke a whole shark.  The shark will be approximately 10-12' long, and weigh around 300-400 lbs.  I am trying to estimate how long something like this will take to smoke, and I can't find any similar efforts documented anywhere.  If anyone can give me an estimate I would greatly appreciate it!

James


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## daveomak

James, morning and welcome to the forum....   Please stop into "roll call" and introduce yourself... knowing your experience and location can help our members better answer your questions in the future...  

About the shark....  How are you planning on preparing the fish....  It should probably be skinned and sliced into steaks maybe 2" thick for time and temp safety considerations.....   other than that, I don't know what you could do with it to prepare a safe consumable product....  Maybe someone who has experience with a fish that large could provide some information for you.....  

I'm not much help here, sorry....   Dave


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## whittling chip

You definetly want to skin the shark because they urinate through their skin. I would cut them into 2" steaks and smoke them.

I'll be going out this week and if I can get something over 54" I will be smoking it. (Unless I catch a black tip, no size limits).

WC


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## jirodriguez

Only shark I have caught was a 6 ft. blue shark, and we had it cut into fillets, which we then marinaded in mango salsa and grilled over charcoal to make shark mango fajitas! Mmmmm!


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## moikel

Got a few sharks down here but we only eat little guys.Gummy shark a favourite in the south. The big guys accumulate mercury & often have an ammonia smell. Cant really get my head around how you are going to cook it through. Have you eaten a lot of shark before this?


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## cliffcarter

arsenix said:


> Hello!  I have constructed a custom made 12' smoker which I plan to use to smoke a whole shark.  The shark will be approximately 10-12' long, and weigh around 300-400 lbs.  I am trying to estimate how long something like this will take to smoke, and I can't find any similar efforts documented anywhere.  If anyone can give me an estimate I would greatly appreciate it!
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Right... so are you gonna skin that bad boy first? There aren't any similar efforts to be found I'm sure. I don't know about the others who have responded but I doubt that you intend to smoke anything, what you are proposing to do is preposterous.


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## arsenix

I assure you this is no joke.

Pictures:

Before sheet metal covering:







Almost completed with winch to open:






Sorry for the poor quality, click the links for full size views.  It has a crank winch to open the top, and will be mounted to a trailer today.  Cooking surface is 32" by 12 feet.


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## daveomak

James, morning.....  WOW....  That baby is cool.....  Does the top lift out of the way to get to the fish after cooking ??  You have got to take lots of pics from start to finish......   Are you shootin' for a Guinness World Record too ??  

There has to be more to this than meets the eye....  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   .....  this ain't no "one time deal" I wouldn't think..... but then, sometimes when I think, my head hurts.....   Dave


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## arsenix

The intent is to host an annual shark smoke every summer.  This is the first try so we'll see how it goes is probably large enough for two whole pigs if the shark proves too challenging!


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## scarbelly

Are you trying to cook this as a whole fish?


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## arsenix

That is the intent to smoke it whole.  I was hoping folks on here would have some advice on it.  We had a pro-chef on hand who was going to lead the effort but he left the project.  I am thinking we will have to smoke it on the hotter side so it cooks in a reasonable amount of time.


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## pineywoods

cliffcarter said:


> Right... so are you gonna skin that bad boy first? There aren't any similar efforts to be found I'm sure. I don't know about the others who have responded but I doubt that you intend to smoke anything, what you are proposing to do is preposterous.


Why not we used to catch some good sized sharks I wasn't into smoking at the time but had I been I'm sure we would have tried it. I must admit I haven't caught any worth trying to eat in the 10-12' range but the last good one I caught was years ago in the Keys and it was over 8' Mako we processed it into shark steaks.


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## scarbelly

You are going to have some issues with the different thicknesses of the fish finishing at different times - I think you would be better off with steaks or fillets of equal thickness


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## chef jimmyj

I have done a lot of Black Tip and Mako Steaks but never a whole Shark. Right off I see some problems. It needs to be Skinned. The back 1/3 of the Fish will cook faster than the rest. The Fins and Tail are a very different type of muscle and I have only heard of them being used in Soup. Shark gets really Dry if over cooked, I would be worried that the outer meat may dry before the inner meat is cooked...In any event,Good Luck...JJ


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## garyt

Chef JimmyJ said:


> I have done a lot of Black Tip and Mako Steaks but never a whole Shark. Right off I see some problems. It needs to be Skinned. The back 1/3 of the Fish will cook faster than the rest. The Fins and Tail are a very different type of muscle and I have only heard of them being used in Soup. Shark gets really Dry if over cooked, I would be worried that the outer meat may dry before the inner meat is cooked...In any event,Good Luck...JJ


Wrap in Bacon


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## chef jimmyj

garyt said:


> Wrap in Bacon


 An entire 10 - 12 foot Shark? That's a lot of Bacon...Might as well stuff the Shark in a couple of Hogs...
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





...JJ


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## s2k9k

Chef JimmyJ said:


> An entire 10 - 12 foot Shark? That's a lot of Bacon...Might as well stuff the Shark in a couple of Hogs...
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Roll in sausage then wrap in bacon....Whole Shark Fatty!!!


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## miamirick

Chef JimmyJ said:


> An entire 10 - 12 foot Shark? That's a lot of Bacon...Might as well stuff the Shark in a couple of Hogs...
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what would you call it       a SHARHOGGIN?













shark.jpg



__ miamirick
__ Jul 31, 2012


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## arsenix

Sounds like I'm going to need to acquire around 100 lbs of bacon... at the very least we'll have 100 pounds of delicious smoked bacon to eat :) 

On a more serious note is there some way we could cover the back of the shark partway through so it didn't get overcooked?  Would wrapping in bacon reduce the overcooking/dryness potential?  If necessary we are willing to acquire 100 lbs of bacon... whatever it takes.

This is the website for our shark roast event btw:  http://sharkweekend.org/splash.php

I am not organizing the event... I just designed/fabbed the smoker.

James


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## miamirick

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


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## chef jimmyj

miamirick said:


> 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


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## 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!


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## 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!


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## 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


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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.


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## arsenix

Whittling Chip said:


> 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.
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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.


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## scarbelly

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


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## cliffcarter

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


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## 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.


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## arsenix

cliffcarter said:


> 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!


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## whittling chip

arsenix said:


> 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


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## 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!


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## raastros2

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


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## arsenix

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


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## jjwdiver




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## scarbelly




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## chef jimmyj

To Heck with the Popcorn...
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





...JJ


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## s2k9k

Chef JimmyJ said:


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That's what I'm talkin about!


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## scarbelly

Chef JimmyJ said:


> To Heck with the Popcorn...
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It was still early here and I was still on coffee - not yet laced, that is the second cup


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## moikel

Its 8 am here just walked mutts ,check Olympic results going to get the bus,pretty curious now!


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## whittling chip

Results are on his original post on the first page of the thread.

Hopefully this link works...

http://www.facebook.com/TheSharkTournaRoast?ref=stream

Glad they had a great time.

WC


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## scarbelly

I wonder if this was a NOAA event too. I used to do their security on the West Coast. I see the NOAA logo on the FB page


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## miamirick

i'm still a non beleiver that this was a good tasting fish    ,,   i need some pics of the smoke and a finished product    also I'd like to see someone actually eating it,   until then i say


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## arsenix

So here was the prep:

Shark was a 250lb blue shark, around 9.5' long (the guy who caught it said 10-11... but fisherman use a different tape).
gutted on the boat immediately and washed off.
brined it overnight (12 hours) in a walk in fridge
in the morning it was put in the smoker, slit on both sides and rubbed down with a spice rub of garlic powder, cayenne and some other stuff (I didn't make the rub...)
we didn't skin it
it smoked for about 6-7 hours with applewood, to an internal temp of 140F.  Smoker temp varied between about 200 and 270, although at the end we had trouble keeping it above 200.
then we ate!
Overall it was pretty good.  Although it was fully cooked I think it could have been more done for texture.  The shark itself was quite mild, but very smokey! We didn't have any issues with doneness variation across the shark, although if it had been longer this may have been more of an issue (we really only ate what was in the center of the smoker). There were no off flavors from the skin being left on.

The smoker itself worked reasonably well but our "burn chambers" need some design improvements for next time.  We had trouble keeping the temp up after the wind shifted and the burners had filled up with ash during the second half of the smoke.  I think we will fit them with some type of forced air the next time we try it, and leave more room at the bottom for ash.

Here are some pics:


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## chef jimmyj

Pretty cool, it was great that it all came together for you...JJ


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## moikel

OK I  can dig it,not what I would cook myself but thats not the test. You have the skills to tinker with smoker build how about you head over the farmyard & introduce yourself to the swine!


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## stevemax

I would probably wrap that bad boy in bacon. Shark is pretty lean and I think it would dry out as a whole fish. 

One guy said sharks urinate through their skin. Black tip is the only shark I know of that pees thru a hole and not the skin.


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## arsenix

It actually was extremely moist and fairly mild in flavor.  We didn't detect any urea issues despite leaving the skin on.  Overall I think it turned out pretty well.


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## scarbelly

Chef JimmyJ said:


> Pretty cool, it was great that it all came together for you...JJ


X2 - awesome job - thanks for sharing


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## kangsmokesalot

This is one of the wildest things I have ever seen or heard of being smoked. Wow, congratulations.


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## bryce

KangSmokesalot said:


> This is one of the wildest things I have ever seen or heard of being smoked. Wow, congratulations.


 Bo Jackson?


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## red dog

Now that's an amazing feat! Having grown up in the northwest on the Columbia river I can see doing this with a whole sturgeon. Only thing I would do is butterfly it and smoke it skin side down. Maybe brine it a bathtub for a day or 2!


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## shoneyboy

great job !!!


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## dirtsailor2003

That's great, and to think I've thrown back hundreds of Blue Sharks!!! Back in my fishing days I only had two Little chiefs, don't think I could fit a whole shark in there!


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## linguica

stevemax said:


> I would probably wrap that bad boy in bacon. Shark is pretty lean and I think it would dry out as a whole fish.
> One guy said sharks urinate through their skin. Black tip is the only shark I know of that pees thru a hole and not the skin.


FYI.........Please read

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_sharks_urinate

http://itchuary.com/Preparing-Shark.html


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## smoke happens

Linguica said:


> FYI.........Please read
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Interesting read on the dogfish. I remember when I was a kid growing up my dad would always club dogfish when we caught them salmon fishing and throw them back, "rats" is what they were commonly called. May be worth a try just to see what they taste like if I get some bycatch.....


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## go4abliss

S2K9K said:


> Roll in sausage then wrap in bacon....Whole Shark Fatty!!!


EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH BACON......


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## grono

As a new smoker, I'm flabbergasted at this post. I'm reading the comments to my wife (who might have actually been listening) and thinking this is something I would try just to learn, which is what my whole cooking experience has been for over the last year. It was kinda neat seeing everyone learning on this thread, and congratulations for adapting an overcoming with this feat!  Wish I was there to participate.


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## thesmokist

I've had smoked hammerhead here at d&r market catering restaurant definitely different but good


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