Smoked Marlin Dip

Every fish counter in Hawaii has a tray of smoked marlin — kajiki (Pacific blue) or nairagi (striped) — sold by the pound and mostly eaten standing up with crackers and a cold beer. Marlin is lean and dense, which makes it a poor grilling fish and an outstanding smoking fish: it takes a brine, holds together in big flakes, and doesn't turn to oil-slicked mush the way a fattier fish does. Ono (wahoo) works exactly the same way if that's what's on the counter.

Two things do the work here. The brine, which is short — an hour, not overnight — and which gives you the tacky pellicle that smoke actually sticks to. And a low pit, 180-200°F, because marlin's leanness means it goes from moist to sawdust in about ten degrees. Kiawe is well suited to fish: it burns clean without the creosote bite that ruins a delicate dip.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs marlin, wahoo or ono, in 1-inch-thick slabs
• Brine: 4 cups water + 1/4 cup kosher salt + 1/4 cup brown sugar + 1 Tbsp coarse black pepper + 3 smashed garlic cloves
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 3 green onions, sliced thin
• 2 Tbsp minced sweet onion
• 1 Tbsp capers, chopped
• Juice of 1 lemon, plus 1 tsp zest
• 1-2 tsp chili pepper water, or hot sauce
• Crackers, and a side of furikake for the top

Cook Sequence

1. Dissolve the brine and chill it cold before the fish goes in. Brine the slabs 1 hour, no longer — lean fish takes salt fast and past 90 minutes it turns to ham.
2. Rinse, pat dry, and set the fish on a rack in front of a fan for 45 minutes until the surface is dry and tacky to the touch. That pellicle is what holds the smoke; skip it and the smoke rinses off in the drippings.
3. Run the pit at 180-200°F with 2 kiawe chunks. You want thin blue smoke — white billowing smoke on fish this lean gives you an ashtray.
4. Fish on the grate, 2 hours, until internal reads 145°F and a slab breaks into clean flakes under your thumb. Do not chase color; marlin goes bronze, not mahogany.
5. Cool the fish completely, then refrigerate an hour. Flaking warm fish makes paste.
6. Flake by hand into pieces the size of a pinky nail, pulling out any bloodline or connective seam as you go — that's where any bitterness lives.
7. Fold the cream cheese, mayo and sour cream together until smooth, then fold in the fish, onions, capers, lemon juice and zest, and the chili pepper water. Fold, never beat — you want visible flakes, not a mousse.
8. Rest in the fridge 2 hours before serving. Furikake over the top, crackers on the side.

Round Out the Plate

• Cucumber Salad — a fresh bite between crackers
• Grilled Pineapple Salsa — sharp and sweet next to something this rich