Smoked tuna bellies

[Crab Pot]

PJ, bring some of those on our trip. 

[steelfish]

Out of the marinade and drying for a few hours before going in the smoker

amigo, have you noticed a real difference between drying for hours the marinated meat until getting the pellicle layer , versus, just patting dry the meat with a towel and letting the meat to rest for minutes before going to the smoker?

maybe my taste is not that trained but I didn found a noticiable difference when doing it one way or the other.

[pjstevko]

Out of the marinade and drying for a few hours before going in the smoker

amigo, have you noticed a real difference between drying for hours the marinated meat until getting the pellicle layer , versus, just patting dry the meat with a towel and letting the meat to rest for minutes before going to the smoker?

maybe my taste is not that trained but I didn found a noticiable difference when doing it one way or the other.

I haven't noticed much of a difference to be honest with you. I pat the fish dry after it comes out of the marinade then let it air dry while the smoker comes up to temp and holds the desired heat. It takes a while to get the charcoal smoker to settle to temp anyway so i let the fish dry while it does

[steelfish]

thanks for your answer.

I have seen that some guys swear by letting the meat dry using a fan for few hours, but to be honest, on this city, we live in a constant battle with flies all year around, so, its pretty difficult to let fish fillets on kitchen for hours and really dont want to have to buuild a special cage ( I have seen them on youtube videos) to keep the flies away for the few times I smoke fish.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I used to smoke 5-10# of peppers at a time for my hot sauce company a few times a month. You absolutely had to let the peppers finish drying after washing them before putting them on the smoker or they came out tasting acrid.

[jigmaster501]

Applying smoke before the pellicle forms allows the smoke to come in contact with Clostridium botulinum spores. The phenolic compounds (acetic acid and others) in the smoke significantly drops the pH surrounding the spores which provides an additional layer of protection against toxin formation when the internal temperature reaches minimum 145F for minimum 30 minutes.

When the pellicle forms before smoke application, the spores under the pellicle are in an environment with a pH well above 4.6.

Eugene

[steelfish]

Applying smoke before the pellicle forms allows the smoke to come in contact with Clostridium botulinum spores. The phenolic compounds (acetic acid and others) in the smoke significantly drops the pH surrounding the spores which provides an additional layer of protection against toxin formation when the internal temperature reaches minimum 145F for minimum 30 minutes.

When the pellicle forms before smoke application, the spores under the pellicle are in an environment with a pH well above 4.6.

Eugene

so, it other words, (for us which are not too into food safety processing levels/rules) its better and more healthier to apply smoke before the pellicle forms, right?