Smoking Yellow Fin Tuna....Guam Style!!

With all the water surrounding the island of Guam, it goes without saying that fish is abundant. As a matter of fact, fishing our waters is down-right great!!!  One of my favorites methods of preparing fish is to smoke it, especially yellow fin tuna.

Today I did just that. Had some yellow fin tuna, also known as Ahi (Hawaiian) and at the urging of my wife, Lupe, decided to smoke it. 

I normally smoke about 5-10 pounds at a time. I prep the tuna the night before. I sliced the loins up into 1/2 inch thick steaks. I then put them into a brine consisting of about a half a gallon of water and one cup of kosher salt and two cups of brown sugar. Mix this all up and add the tuna. I make sure that all the tuna is completely submerged so that every piece gets thoroughly soaked in the brine.

The next day I smoke the tuna over my wood pit that is enclosed on three sides. I like the front of the pit completely open. This allows for a lot of the smoke to escape but provides for a nice, mellow smoke. And I use all local fuel.....tangantangan wood, and coconut husks. The tangantangan wood has a red oak flavor. I love it. The coconut husks are the outside, protective layer of the coconut. But this coconut husk provides for a mellow coconut aroma and flavor. So the end product is a smoked tuna that has a mellow, but very distinguishable island aroma and flavor. Very popular among those that have tried it.

Here is the coconut tree...

Coconut...

Husking the coconut (opening it up to access the coconut seed itself)....

The husk....

Tangantangan Tree....

We cut them when they are 6 inches in diameter or larger for smoking.

So after about 5 hours of semi-open smoking the job was done.

Here is the final product....

Hope you give it a try. If you don't have whole coconuts, you can burn just the nut. It will give off that same, tropical aroma and flavor.

Until next time....