Are the mullet different in flavor than the striped mullet? I have had very good ones from Virginia and Florida but the Texas ones got relegated to bait only after one try. I probably did something wrong, or maybe it is the species? Do you brine or cure them first? Sweet or salty if you do?
Have done lots of Salmon and other fish so I know the technique.
Not really sure so hesitant to compare.
I did not brine them. Cleaned in the morning and belly down on the rack a few hours later. There's a layer of fat between the skin and the meat as in most fish. The fat helped baste them well.
In my opinion the Applewood smoked was too mild. I will go with Hickory or Mesquite or possibly pecan next time.
I consider Chesapeake Bay Mueller to be one of the best small fish in the bay... by small I mean under 2 pounds typically. I find the meat to be firm with no unpleasant oily fish flavor. Better than trout and better than small blue fish. Absolutely better than Croaker or spot.
I would say the meat most compares to that of a nice 2 lb flounder
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On a side note, our pears have started to come in. We have Bartlett as well as Asian.
I core the pears and remove any imperfections... then I run them through a super heavy duty blender AKA Blendtec. Make several runs to liquify the pears the very best I can and mitigate any pear grit.
Then we blend it with citrus juice of choice as well as cardamom lots of cinnamon lots of vanilla... molasses and or brown sugar.
It comes out as a dark brown pear butter, much like apple butter but far better in my opinion.
I use this as a dipping sauce for the smoked fish. It's quite a nice combination. I do wish the fish had more smoke, but still completely okay.
