# Mullet



## harleysmoker (Jan 16, 2012)

I noticed there are many guys from Florida here so I wanted to ask if anyone has smoked Mullet? I have heard some say its good, some say no way Id eat that.

Is it a real strong fish taste? My buddy uses a cast net and sells them this time of year. They smell strong alive just wondered after they was cleaned and smoked if they still were strong.


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## mdboatbum (Jan 16, 2012)

I can't offer you any advice on the fish, other than when I've used it for bait it does have a very strong smell. I'm just glad this isn't a thread on hair care.


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## SmokinAl (Jan 16, 2012)

I've seen a lot of smoked mullet, but never could eat one. If you do let us know how they taste.


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## mballi3011 (Jan 16, 2012)

I have caught mullet and tried smoked mullet and even smoked mullet but I don't care for mullet or in that fact no other gray colored fish. Bluefish, Kingfish, mullet, and Spanish mackeral to me they are just greasy an oily. Their a fishy fish to me. Now living as close to the ocean as I do I have many choices so I get what I want and like.


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## africanmeat (Jan 16, 2012)

Mullet it is a great fish you can grill it over fire  you can brine it and cold smoke it i think it is a great fish


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## pineywoods (Jan 16, 2012)

Personally I don't eat fish but I know a lot of people who eat smoked mullet and can remember when about every retail seafood place sold smoked mullet


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## moikel (Jan 16, 2012)

We get the sea run mullet in May onwards, grilled but get all the black lining & blood out of them. Not that impressed myself.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  I get the roe & make bottarga,beats other fish roe by a mile. There was  a New Zealand maori guy who lived near my weekender who smoked lots of it ,he got it cheap.He called his business cuzzi-bro  smoked mullet. Combination of cousin & brother ,its a maori thing. He would drive up to Sydney& sell it to maori community here. He made so much $$$ he moved back to the old country & retired . Every time I mention smoked fish to my maori friends I get" That mullet that cuzzi-bro used to do...."Apparently he would sell it off the truck at the big construction sites on pay day & go to the bars where all the riggers ,steel fixers & scaffolders drank.I was told his real name but everybody just called him cuzzi-bro from the South Coast. I think he flew under the taxation/fish marketing authority radar. So cuzzi-bro wasnt giving much of a trail to follow bit like going to Dublin & asking for a guy named Paddy
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





There must be a way to do it. Let me ask the cuzzi-bro's I know.


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## odaat (Jan 17, 2012)

I have been smoking and enjoying mullet for many years. A lot depends on what part of the world your are in. Over in Louisiana, where the river and bay bottoms are muddy, they are not so tasty. Here in Northwest Florida, where we have clean, white sand the mullet are great to eat. I fry them, a great treat, but my favorite is to take fresh caught, netted as they are difficult to catch on a hook, gut and scale the usual size, ( about 12 inches), brine overnight and smoke over pecan, white oak, mesquite or hickory. Tasty!

Maybe I will throw my cast net tomorrow and get a few. Weather forecast is sunny and low 70's.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Tom


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## itat2u (Feb 28, 2012)

yes true i am from new zealand and we have always eaten smoked mullet  even as kids, it is a oily fish so it lends itself well to smoking as the oilier the fish the more smokey the flavor,but i can confirm when it is well smoked it is at the top of my list as far as quality goes great for smoked fish rolls and fish pies


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## jonesn4smoke (Feb 28, 2012)

I lived in Naples for awhile and a friend of mine and his dad just used Everglades season then smoked it that was the only way I had seen it done but it was good. Diners Drive ins and Dives just did a show in fl. not long ago and found a place that has been smoking it for 2 or 3 generations maybe you can find it on there it look great there good luck

Ron


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## luv2q (Feb 28, 2012)

I've been catching mullet with a cast net since my uncle taught me how to cast a net at the age of 13. From Key Largo to Marco Island, I've caught thousands of mullet over the years, but my father has always been the one who has smoked them, not me, so I can't really tell you how they were smoked. I will tell you, however, that between my father, brother and myself, we've eaten a lot of smoked mullet and we like it. Thank you for bringing this up because this is one of those recipes/processes that I hadn't yet asked my father about. I've been putting together a family recipe book for years and this is one that has eluded me.


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## moikel (Feb 28, 2012)

The sea mullet run will start about April here. Fisherman & sharks in hot pursuit.If between you all a method comes up let me know.Its incredibly cheap in season.I will be buying the roe anyway so I  might as well try the fish.


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## ellisair (Mar 26, 2012)

Excited to be a new member of this family!

Smoked Mullett is absolutely awesome! Second behind raw salmon on my list of favorite things!!

Scale and butterfly from the back, leaving the belly skin and fat layer intact.

Clean out all the guts and cut off the head at the gills

Soak in a saltwater brine for at least 1 hour (I frequently soak overnight in the fridge).

Rinse, Dry and smoke with HICKORY (DON'T ADD ANY SPICES) at 220 deg for 3 hours.

Eat with white rice, diced tomatoes and soy sauce!

Fantastic!!


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## larrym (Mar 26, 2012)

not sure about mullet but being from Maine originially,, a similiar oily fish we smoked all the time is mackeral.  It definitely does retain a lot of fishy taste but smokes wonderfully.  I was eating smoked mackeral taco's as a kid before anyone in California ever came up with fish taco's.  It does depend on your taste but there is great flavor there,, just have to be gentle with it.


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## ellisair (Apr 2, 2012)

MMMmmmmmmm Mullet!







And the Bottom Line........


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## moikel (May 3, 2012)

Moikel said:


> The sea mullet run will start about April here. Fisherman & sharks in hot pursuit.If between you all a method comes up let me know.Its incredibly cheap in season.I will be buying the roe anyway so I  might as well try the fish.


I was at market trying to buy mullet roe,mullet run just starting. Roe $20 a kg mullet roe in $6kg  WTF. So I  bought the fish watched like a hawk while they cleaned them & still didnt get all the roe sacks unsplit.

Anyway now I have a bunch of mullet fillets that I am going to smoke.The fish I would normally smoke to much $.Brine is beer ,salt,water,,2x chopped limes,Yoshida's,garlic,ginger brown sugar.I will brine it for 3 hours smoke it tomorrow.Fish roe will go under salt now for the week long process to turn it into bottarga.

I 
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
think I will try to use the split sacks in some sort of pasta dish.


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## moikel (May 4, 2012)

Kept 1 bit aside had it grilled for lunch,pretty good. The dark meat under skin not so good but easy to discard. Back in the day here fisherman would spot them in big schools from rickety towers they built on headlands.Then launch off the beach run a net around them & drag them up onto sand. 

People here think of them as a river fish that tastes muddy but once they are out  at sea running up the coast to spawn they clean right up.

They always have a lot of predators in hot pursuit ,insert theme from Jaws here, not just fisherman.


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## so ms smoker (May 4, 2012)

I have found there are 2 types of mullett. The ones you catch with a hook and the ones you catch with a net. The net caught mullet need more cleaning. Hook caught mullet smoke up very well! IMHO. Don't knock it till you try it!

Mike


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## moikel (May 4, 2012)

I think you can catch them on bread.There is a tidal canal 50 m from my house with mullet well over 1 kg wouldn't eat them water to polluted. There are a bunch of species particularly up north in our tropics that grow way bigger.

They were a bit of a driftwood BBQ grill fish here by fisherman that knew how to clean them. They do make great bait for all sorts of fish,crabpots,lobster pots you name it.


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## africanmeat (May 4, 2012)

Moikel i this is a beautiful roe last year i did salata de icre (like taramasalata just a Romanian way ) and it was heavenly .

next time i well try to do bottarga. thanks for this one.


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## moikel (May 4, 2012)

Ahron I am a little stumped here. Bottarga I can do smoked or plain,no problem.But these broken sacks mean I cant brine the them wet. I dont know how to smoke them whole because I cant get the water out of them.

Tarama is sold here in tubs ,but its been dyed that bright pink.I figure maybe if I  put them in a stainless steel strainer,salt it,drain it rinse it put them in smoker.

Is your version heated or cold smoked?


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## moikel (May 5, 2012)

Mullet done,light smoke.Took some up to my friends butcher shop where it was promptly devoured by the Italians & moari's that work there. Smoked mullet  is a bit of a New Zealand thing.

Its a lot tastier than I anticipated the brine took away that earthy taste..I 

I got some net stocking they use for salami,put the rinsed roe into
	

		
			
		

		
	







	

		
			
		

		
	
  one hung it in MES cold smoking it now. Still not sure that I  have it worked out just dont want to waste it.This is the intact roe sacs after the first press


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## moikel (May 5, 2012)

What you get when your butcher likes smoked mullet & bottarga,wagyu blade marbled.I figure its pot roast time


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## africanmeat (May 5, 2012)

Moikel said:


> Ahron I am a little stumped here. Bottarga I can do smoked or plain,no problem.But these broken sacks mean I cant brine the them wet. I dont know how to smoke them whole because I cant get the water out of them.
> 
> Tarama is sold here in tubs ,but its been dyed that bright pink.I figure maybe if I  put them in a stainless steel strainer,salt it,drain it rinse it put them in smoker.
> 
> Is your version heated or cold smoked?


the Romanian way or the tarama is a cold dish i will put the recipe together and i will PM it to you my Friend .


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## kiwi chick (Dec 9, 2013)

hi , i know this is an old post, but can help as this came up in the search engines.

if river mullet it does depend on now muddy things get, but  grey  mullet are salt water fish which means they will always head to the ocean on outgoing tides and back up river on the incoming. they should never be really too muddy but if concerned let them sit in clean salt water for a while, the best way to make sure mullet taste good in any circumstance is to gut them quickly and keep them clean. 

Smoking Recipe::

they do better with a cool smoke as they are an oily fish they don't dry out in a slow smoke and taste better this way. hot smokes are faster and more a cooking of the meat with smoke flavour than a true smoke which penetrates better and firms up the flesh.

you back split mullet for smoking rather than gut splitting them. they hang well this way if you have a hanging set up but laid down is still fine, always skin side down. never remove the skin of a fish you are going to smoke, it doesn't just hold them together it helps them to stay moist.

using plain table salt, or seasoned salt but not iodised salt you generously cover the flesh side of the mullet, you leave it salted and covered in a fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 12 this means you can salt at night and smoke the next day.  you can sugar and spice flavour your mullet in the last few hours before actually putting them in the smoker, pressing not rubbing brown sugar with any flavours, chilli, morrocan, etc already mixed with the sugar onto the flesh, you can do this at the start but it melts and you lose most of your mixture with the moisture leaving the fish, it reallhy does taste best to do this a bit later and no more than an hour or two before the smoking when much of the fluid is already reduced.  (this is a standard recipe for any fish although they are not all backsplit)

Brining is a great way for smoking also:: you create a heavy concentration of salt to water and sit the backsplit or fillets of mullet (or any fish) and make sure they are completely immersed in the brine. adjust the recipe to quantities of fish ALL fillets need to be immersed for a minimum of 4 hours best overnight 8-12 hours. once bought out of the brine you leave the fish to dry before smoking at this point you can add your own flavours if you like

1/2 cup sugar (white or brown)
1/2 sea salt, plain salt ... NON-iodized
1 l water

lastly and most simple is you can smoke fish with nothing added including salt, it keeps better with salt and it smokes nicer but it is not a necessity in the modern day of smoke and eat. xx  enjoy


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## JckDanls 07 (Dec 9, 2013)

How did this thread get to the top of the page when the last reply was 5/5/12 .....


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## dls1 (Dec 9, 2013)

JckDanls 07 said:


> How did this thread get to the top of the page when the last reply was 5/5/12 .....


Can't answer your question, but I'm glad to see the thread pop up as I love smoked mullet.


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## leah elisheva (Dec 10, 2013)

I LOVE red mullet - whole, grilled, heads and all - and then the grey mullet roe (Bottarga) as well. Happy Tuesday to all!!!! Cheers! - Leah













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## kiwi chick (Dec 10, 2013)

JckDanls 07 said:


> How did this thread get to the top of the page when the last reply was 5/5/12 .....


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## moikel (Dec 10, 2013)

kiwi chick said:


>


And what a good 2 cents worth it is.


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## kiwi chick (Dec 10, 2013)

Moikel said:


> And what a good 2 cents worth it is.


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## JckDanls 07 (Dec 10, 2013)

kiwi chick said:


> JckDanls 07 said:
> 
> 
> > How did this thread get to the top of the page when the last reply was 5/5/12 .....



ohh...  ok..  It wasn't showing when I posted...


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## stupeg (Mar 13, 2014)

If your ever around Daytona Beach Fl. I smoke about 200 pounds at a time during the season, October till January, Hwy. 44 west of I-95, look for the signs on the weekend only, good stuff!!


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