Candied Tuna

Derby

Crew Member
As its that time of the year for making candied Salmon my buddy Brad and I were thinking about how to do are tuna the same way.. So we hatched a plan with Brad doing the first batch that turn out not to bad..So withthat in mind i twig my current salmon dry brine an little and got these results....
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24hrs only in the dry brine
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A quick rinse before racking
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10 hrs under lower on the fan
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12hrs in the big chief around 110 degrees
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Turn out great and will be doing some more up
 
Interesting! I have some stuff in the freezer that's getting long in the tooth. Perhaps I'll try this.
 
I dry brined 2 tuna bellies (on their own) and smoked for 6 hours with my smoked salmon this weekend. Absolutely amazing.
There is definitely something about that tuna grease. I also did a few strips of tuna with my candied salmon. Also very good. The bellies were better.
 
I left small patch of skin on. Deboned and cleaned up. I did not take many pics. I should have and was going to write longer post but didn’t because I did not have photos.
I spent the weekend smoking. Timed everything to rotate through.
Started thawing cooler of fish on Tuesday. Cut up and made brines on Thursday.
Thursday night reg smoked went into wet brine, candy strips into candy brine, tuna bellies dry brine, bit of tuna strips in separate container of candy brine to avoid cross contamination.
Saturday 7am reg smoke and tuna bellies went on racks with fans till noon. Then into smoker for 8 hours.
Saturday noon candied went on racks with fans till Sunday at 1:00. Then into smoker on low for 4 hours.
Each batch then cooled and put in zip locks in fridge for 24 hours to settle before vacuum packing.

This years batches were excellent. I borrowed my friends digital Bradley and it made a big difference. Was able to control heat much better. So I guess I’m getting a new digital Bradley.
 
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what wet brine do u run?
Family secret ; ) I'll PM it to you later. It's at home.
I will say the secret is I use diluted orange juice as part of the liquid. That is the main difference between mine and others and I believe a game changer.
 
I’ve got a batch of tuna in brine right now,should I be shorter or longer in the brine then salmon then I was thinking around 36 hrs on fans then 6-8 hrs smoke does that sound about right?
 
I usually brine my Salmon for 4 days then 10 hrs with a fan on it.. I found that tuna only needed 24 hrs and 10hrs with the fan on it.. if you are using the dry brine above
 
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