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\u00a0Smoked\u00a0Paddle-Fish\u00a0Recipe\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Paddle fish are a cousin to sturgeon and are also known as spoonbill, spoonbill cat and shovel nose cat.\u00a0 Paddle fish seldom bite a baited hook, but on occasion are “snagged” accidentally by anglers using treble hooks.<\/p>\n Spoonbill is a great tasting fish –\u00a0as long as you clean it right.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0A fish under 65 pounds is the best tasting; smaller even better.<\/p>\n If you only keep the ones under 10 pounds, you usually do not have to trim the red meat.\u00a0 At 15 pounds the red meat begins to get oily and needs to be trimmed\u00a0(in the directions below).<\/em>\u00a0 The best ones yield three 4″ fillets from each side.<\/p>\n As soon as you land the fish you would do the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n Tip 1<\/em><\/strong>:<\/em>\u00a0 Kill the fish as soon as you have it in the boat (hit it on the head), tie a line through it’s gill plate, cut both sides of the gills off and put the fish back in the water. Let it bleed out.\u00a0 This will get rid of the soured blood taste.<\/p>\n Tip 2<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Keep the fish\u00a0cold.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is very important.\u00a0 If you have ice, put it down into the belly of the fish – you want to cool down the meat as soon as possible.<\/p>\n Tip 3<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0There are no bones in paddle fish, so filleting them are very simple.\u00a0 The third most important step to guarantee great taste is removing the long fibrous “cord” (really looks like a spinal cord).\u00a0 It’s the first thing you remove from the fish so the fillets are not ruined.<\/p>\n You can cut around the tailbone at the tail, then saw the tailbone\/backbone off the ribs and pull the tailbone right out.\u00a0 You\u00a0cut\u00a0<\/u>off all the red meat and<\/strong>\u00a0<\/u>gray fatty tissue.<\/strong>\u00a0 One speck of red meat will ruin the flavor.\u00a0 Then you can cut into steaks.\u00a0 Place in salt water for 30 minutes to cool.<\/p>\n You may soak them in buttermilk for a few hours to remove any smell or taste that is left over.\u00a0 Guarantees great results.\u00a0 Now on to the recipes!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SMOKED\u00a0PADDLE FISH\u00a0RECIPE<\/strong>\u00a0(Smoked Spoonbill recipe)<\/p>\n Paddle fish,<\/strong>\u00a02″ x 3″ x 4″ chunks or small fillets<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brine fish for 24 hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n Brine<\/strong>: 1\/3 cup of Three Little Pigs All Purpose Rub<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Directions:<\/strong> 2) Lightly cover spoonbill Filet in garlic infused Olive Oil<\/p>\n 3) Lightly dust the Filet with\u00a0Three Little Pigs All-Purpose Rub<\/a><\/p>\n 4) Get Smoker temperature to 225 Degrees<\/p>\n 5) Add Filet to smoker and then add your choice of flavor wood, I prefer Apple of Cherry.<\/p>\n 6) Smoke filet to 150-155 degrees<\/p>\n
\n2 gallons\u2019 water
\n2 cups kosher salt
\n1\/2 cup brown sugar<\/p>\n
\n1) Dry on a rack in the refrigerator overnight.<\/p>\n