Recipe courtesy of Meat Church’s Matt Pittman. Visit Meatchurch.com for more information about Matt.
Ingredients
- (4) 6 oz halibut filets
- Meat Church Honey Hog or Deez Nuts Honey Pecan rub
- 4 tbsp clover honey
Instructions
Prepare your Cooker
Set your EGG for indirect cooking (with convEGGtor) to 275°F/135°C. We recommend lighter smoking wood for this smoke. Alder wood, fruit wood or pecan will pair nicely with a white fish while not being too overpowering.
Prepare the Brine
Mix all brine ingredients (listed below) in water and dissolve thoroughly. Pour the brine over the filets and let them sit for two hours. It’s ok if the fish floats.
Prepare the Halibut
After 2 hours remove the fish from the brine, rinse off and pat dry.
Season with Meat Church Honey Hog or Deez Nuts Honey Pecan rub on all sides.
This is optional, but if you prefer a bolder flavor profile, try adding some cracked pepper over the top of the halibut after you have seasoned with the rub.
Place the filets directly on the cooking grate skin side down. The skin will act as a barrier to the heat and come off easily after the cook. Smoke the fish until it reaches an internal temperature of 135°F/57°C degrees. This smoke will take around 30 minutes at 275°F/135°C.
Optional Glaze
Drizzle the filet with warm honey the last 10 minutes of the cook for nice and simple honey glaze. Honey can also be mixed 50/50 with miso to create a miso-honey glaze.
Remove the fish carefully with a spatula. Place it on a plate to rest for 10 minutes. Eat and enjoy!!
Brine Ingredients
- 1/2 C kosher salt
- 1 C sugar
- 4 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp white pepper
- 2 bay leaves crushed
- 1/2 gallon water
I followed this recipe on some Halibut I caught in Alaska (flexing? Me?). Used Lane’s Honey Sriracha rub in lieu of Meat Church and the results were FANTASTIC. Possibly the best fish I have ever taken off the Egg. My new go-to!
One last thought: I used the EggGenius to monitor the internal temperature and maintain a steady temp while I stayed indoors and watched football. Usually I only use the Genius for long cooks, like brisket, but this made even a short cook easy and foolproof.
The directions say to place fish directly on the grill grate but the picture indicates it’s cooked on a plank.
The photo shows cedar planks for the halibut and the recipe says put in on the grill skin-side down. What gives????
Smoking salmon is more about the preparation than the actual smoking process and if you get the brine and the seasoning right, the rest is a piece of cake.
Tried this recipe as my first cook on the Egg. Unbelievable how good it was! Great flavor!! We served it with an Asian slaw which actually paired pretty well.
The associated picture seems to show a cedar plank, but the written instructions indicate to put the fish directly on the grill.