So I'm not from Florida, but I have a friend named Ralph who is originally from Pensacola, and for years he has been talking to me about "fish dip." I think for a while I was just thinking it would turn out like a tuna fish salad, which, to be honest, is pretty good in itself on a cracker. But Ralph had mentioned the smoky flavor of the fish dip and it led me to do a little research and concoct this creation on my own.
Now I'm pretty sure I did it wrong because I used cod, which is probably more of a northern fish best suited for fish and chips, but it was a plain not-too-fishy white fish that I found at the grocery store when I was having this idea, so that's what I'm going for. And the oceans are all connected, right? So who says cod couldn't be a Florida fish?
So, to make this first we start with the fish. I just put a little salt and pepper on it while I waited on the smoker to heat up. I've seen versions of these where folks go into brining the fish overnight and all of that, but this was a last minute addition to my smoking day and I'm not sure that I really wanted much brine type of flavor added here that would interfere with the smoke or the rest of the dip.
I'm always looking for an appetizer or something quick to throw on the smoker when I'm in the middle of a longer smoke, because the way I figure it, I've got the room and the wood's burning whether I'm cooking one thing or five things. Fish seems to fit the bill since even a big hunk of salmon is usually ready in just a couple of hours, and a smaller piece of white fish like this is done even quicker, letting me go make something in the meantime while whatever I've got rolling for eight or more hours continues to smoke.
Now my smoker sometimes runs a little on the colder side between 225 and 250, so the times may be off from what you would experience, but the important thing with smoking in general is the temperature, which for this delightful piece of fish should be 145° F. Couple of things to note, you do not want this to smoke too much longer. First off, the excess smoke flavor may overwhelm your dip. Second, too much may dry out your fish. Now most recommend using an oily type of fish for your fish dip, but you still don't want to risk drying it out, so watch that temperature. Mine took just over an hour to land in that 140-145 range.
While it is smoking, you can chop up your veggies. I try to get them as small as I can dice them. Today I had an orange bell pepper, but you could use a red or yellow one, or perhaps swap it for jalapenos if you want a little heat to the dip. I took about 2/3 of the bell pepper, a few slices of onion and a couple of stalks of celery to hit that 1/3 cup of each.
Now for mixing the cream cheese and mayonnaise, this takes a bit of stirring. The cream cheese if not softened will spin around your bowl in a chunk, but that's OK, you can just mash it down and stir some more and eventually it gets to be a nice creamy consistency.
For the final step, you just mix in everything together, adding in the lemon juice which will help with loosening up the cream cheese to make it smooth, your Old Bay seasoning, and the fish and vegetables. Mix it up really good, but you don't want to completely pulverize the fish - this is a hearty dip. I found it easier to take a spoon and scoop it onto my multi-grain crackers. This dip does not last long, so you may be heading back out to the smoker to make another round in just a day or so. Hope you like it!
Florida Smoked Fish Dip
Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 60 mins | Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb cod, trout, mahi mahi or other white fish
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 4 oz. (half-block) cream cheese
- 1/3 cup finely diced celery (about two and a half stalks)
- 1/3 cup finely diced red onion (maybe three slices)
- 1/3 cup finely diced bell pepper (about half a pepper)
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Some whole wheat crackers or saltines
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 250.
- Salt and pepper your fish. You can choose to brine it as well the night before.
- Cook the fish directly on the smoker grates until it reaches
- Combine the mayonnaise and cream cheese until smooth.
- Crumble the smoked fish into the cream cheese mixture and add diced veggies, seasoning, and lemon juice. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Serve on whole wheat or multigrain crackers.
Notes
May work well with additions of horseradish or sriracha if you want to kick up the heat a little bit. Some cayenne or Cajun seasoning may do the trick as well!