Acevedo inspired smoked snapper

I was really blown away by the dodo toratas that joe posted on the other board and I thought hey, I could probably smoke a fish like that.

So I headed to home depot and they only had3/4" not 1" thick but I bought a plank.

I tossed a big mango and a small mango into some brine. I cut the big guy in half.

I took a nice length of cedar and soaked it in beer for three hours. Joe suggested three days.

I setup the coals to burn and begin to settle

Soaking wood

I used some fresh herbs to stick in the cuts and cavity. Mint. Rosemary and thyme

Set over the coals

I left it untouched for an hour. I was glad it was drying out the wood because there really wasnt a lot of smoke in the first hour

I added a little more coal and left it for another hour

As it got closer to the two hour mark we finally got some smoke

I def over cooked en but they had a great flavor. I ate about half of the big fish standing on the porch. My neighbor came out and caught me chewing on the head. He laughed and took the pic

Next move it dip from the rest of it. More to follow. Thanks for the inspiration joe

Thank you sir. It was a good experiment. First time w a plank. First time smoking over coal.
The smells from the cedar we exceptional.
I have a nice plate of crumbled fish I'll be turning into some bomb ass dip tonight. I highly recommend this method.

Cedar was $16 for 8 ft. I cut it into 6 pieces ranging from 14-18 inches. I want to be able to put two planks on that beater old weber.

Next time I'll use uniform size fish and I'll do fillets too as an experiment

Pile o smoked gold

And a little too much sour cream, but quite tasty. I was not really prepared for this meal as I have no chips, garlic bread, crackers or toast. D'oh! dropped the ball on that

Thanks Jose

Ronny I typically do but I was lucky enough to catch a lot of fish and vacuumed them in a hurry. It doesn't really detract too much

Sadot - thanks. That is the idea. I love sharing and learning new cooking moves and this one is a keeper

Joe- thank you for the inspiration. Please keep your tips and tricks coming

Freekey- you have no idea. I was glad I didn't use a bigger board and need two beers - on a note, I would suggest no one soak the board for less than three hours, four if you get an inch thick piece.

Mike- I make a lot of different brines for different fish and different soak times. I generally use milder flavor and less salt for 12-24 hour brines, and more intensity for shorter soaks.
Since I only had a three hour window, I used a healthy amount of kosher salt (non iodized) a sierra Nevada, crushed red pepper and a generous amount of pickling spices. The pickling spices are a double edge sword because you DO NOT want pickled fish, in my pickling experience, as long as you stay under six hours, really 12, you will just get some of the nice flavor.