Tailgate Wednesday – Smoked Bluefish Dip

Each Wednesday I plan to share one of my favorite recipes for tailgating. It's actually Friday when I am posting this, and I made this recipe two weekends ago with no tailgating. But it still works.

I talked to my old man and told him I was making smoked bluefish. Let's just say his response to the idea of bluefish was ... well, he's not much a bluefish kinda guy. But ever since I was a kid, if I caught bluefish, I would eat it and so would he. I don't recall him grumbling about it much, but everyone has their own tastes. My dad lives in Florida now - poor guy, he gets to hear about Florida and FSU all the time, very limited PSU coverage. I'm sure if he was here in PA, he would try my dip, and I'd like to think he would even like it. Smoke does wonderful things to cheap meat - and bluefish falls into the cheap meat category (I wouldn't even call it inexpensive ... definitely cheap.) If you the idea of bluefish turns you off, you can always do this with trout - but why waste a good trout to make a dip? Personally, this is one of my favorite dips. It is different and you rarely see it (actually, I don't think I have ever seen it in Central PA). Have people try it, and then tell them what they ate. They will be asking you for the recipe.

If you make this recipe, you will need to know how to smoke fish. There are tons of sites to learn from and it really isn't that difficult. I smoked my Bluefish while I was smoking some pig (err, pork) butt. It doesn't take long; in fact the fish will dry out if you smoke it too long. I had my bluefish on the smoker for about an hour and the smoker was holding steady at 210 degrees. Your time will vary based on the size of your fish. I used a smallish fish, about 1 lbs in size. A large fish will take longer.

Ingredients
1 bluefish – gutted & cleaned (head, tail, skin left on)
½ cup heavy cream
Dash of Tabasco
1 TB lemon juice
Cream cheese
2 TB chopped fresh chives (I use scissors instead of a knife)

Directions
Smoke the bluefish until done. Remove the skin and flake out the meat. In a food processor, add the fish and heavy cream. Essentially what you are doing here is making a fish mousse. (You can do that with just about any fish or shrimp.) Run the processor until the consistency is relatively thick. Add the Tabasco and lemon juice to your taste. If the mousse is on the thin side, add some cream cheese a TB at a time until you get the consistency of a dip. Lastly, integrate the fresh chives (reserve some chives for garnish on top of the dip when you put it into a serving bowl)

Refrigerate until serving. (This dip will last a week in the frig, but you might have to whip it a little if the ingredients settle.)

Serve with your favorite crackers or chips.