A Meditation on Mullet

Here's a good way to tell if some-one has a real connection to Southwest Florida: Ask if we like smoked mullet.

For many newcomers and a distressingly large number of people who might otherwise consider themselves locals, the response will likely range from "What the heck is a mullet?" to "Yech, I would never eat that."

It's different for those who possess a true and abiding attachment to this place. For us, smoked mullet is more than mere food; it borders on the sacramental. Mention smoked mullet and our eyes glaze over, our expressions turn wistful and, okay, we might start to drool.
"Smoked mullet.mmmmm," we'll say. "Where can we get some? Where can we get some right now?"

Therein lies the problem. Sudden urges for smoked mullet are not easily satisfied, at least not nearly as easily as they used to be. Sure, you can smoke your own mullet (see accompanying recipe), but that takes at least five or six hours and that's assuming you can buy fresh mullet at your local seafood store, a chancy proposition at best. Otherwise, you have to go out and net the mullet yourself, and that's a whole 'nother can of worms, which, incidentally, mullet will not eat. That's because they are vegetarians. Just like chickens, mullet have gizzards for helping grind the plant matter that makes up the bulk of their diet.

More mullet background, before we get into the nitty-gritty of supply and demand and general, all-around mullet goodness: Mullet travel in schools, and if you spot a fish jumping in the water around here it is most likely a mullet. There's no authoritative explanation for why mullet jump so much. It could be that a predator has spooked them. It could be that it helps them clean out their gill rakes. Or it could be that mullet just like to jump.

There are several different species of mullet. Silver mullet and black mullet are most common in Southwest Florida, with the black favored for eating. Black mullet tend to have a slightly higher fat and oil content. Cooked fresh-and it absolutely has to be fresh because frozen mullet gets mushy and might as well be bait-mullet competes with fish that cost four and five times as much. Fried mullet is great; smoked mullet is heavenly.

But the sad truth is that it's hard to find a place where you can buy good smoked mullet these days. It didn't used to be that way. Eating mullet has been a long tradition down here, dating back to the Calusa who, when they weren't tormenting Spanish explorers, were offering them salted mullet in exchange for whatever doodads they could get. Until the raging boom times of the late 20th century hit Southwest Florida, mullet was both staple and livelihood. The mullet fisheries of Pine Island Sound and the Ten Thousand Islands might not have created vast fortunes, but they did help pay the bills for hundreds of families. And they created a bounty of mullet for the rest of us. In the not-so-distant past, vendors, who were typically commercial fishermen themselves, sold smoked mullet along the roads in Southwest Florida. Many restaurants featured it on their menus.

"But we've gotten too high-falutin' for our own good. People these days would rather eat smoked salmon than smoked mullet," says Doris Reynolds, food columnist for the Naples Daily News and author of When Peacocks Were Roasted and Mullet Was Fried, an anecdotal history of Collier County. As a result, it's getting harder to find sources of this Old Florida classic.

I don't know about most people, but I would rather eat smoked mullet than just about anything, even if the bones sometimes stick in my mouth and the aroma-eau de mullet-stays on my fingers for days afterwards. Like most native Floridians, I grew up eating mullet and have made many a pilgrimage to the Mecca of Mulletdom-Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish in St. Petersburg. Peters, who died at 91 in February, opened his landmark eatery in 1951, and the menu hasn't really changed all that much since. Meals are a slab of smoked mullet or smoked Spanish mackerel, served with a side of German potato salad. The beer comes in frosty mugs.

The smoked mullet at Ted Peters is so good that I can almost forgive Peters for having added smoked salmon to the menu back in the late 1980s. But he did it for good reason. Back then, it appeared as if a mullet shortage were looming. Indeed, alarmed by dwindling counts for a variety of species-snook, sea trout, redfish-Florida voters app-roved a ban on gill netting that took effect in 1995. It spelled the end for hundreds of commercial mullet fishermen. The upside-fish stocks have rebounded, and in a big way. There are lots of mullet in the water; the Lee County Fisherman's Cooperative, on Pine Island, hauls in more than two million pounds most years.

Which begs the question: With so much mullet still getting caught around here, why the apparent shortage of smoked mullet? One reason is that many of the people who once smoked mullet commercially just aren't doing it any more.

"Mostly, it was mullet fishermen who smoked mullet and sold it on the side. But after the net ban, lots of the mullet fishermen moved on or found other lines of work," says Dan Holloway, manager of the fisherman's co-op.

Which is not to say that smoked mullet can no longer be found in Southwest Florida. Indeed, there is some delicious smoked mullet out there, but you have to go looking for it. One of the best places to start, a place that has endured decades of development all around it and the vagaries of the fishing business, is The Smokehouse, just off San Carlos Boulevard on the way to Fort Myers Beach. This tiny roadside joint has been serving smoked fish since Harry Stevens first opened it in 1942 and began selling smoked mullet for 25 cents a slab. In addition to mullet, which now sells in the neighborhood of $5.95 for a whole one, The Smokehouse also smokes amberjack, mackerel and blue marlin.

"But smoked mullet is number one," says Dan Gilliam, who helps run The Smokehouse with Maria Stevens, Harry's widow. "We probably sell about 5,000 pounds of it a year, most all of it brought in by people who go out with their cast nets."

Pine Bay Seafood in Matlacha typically sells about 40 pounds of smoked mullet a week during the late fall and winter, says owner Joe Bigley. Bigley and Gilliam both brine their mullet for a couple of hours before smoking it. To produce the smoke, both use either oak, sea grape or buttonwood, sometimes citrus. Neither will discuss seasonings.

"Nope, can't give that out," says Gilliam. "Except to say that it's spicy."

Says Bigley: "If I told you, then it wouldn't be special. You understand, don't you?"
Sure, I do. And I respect that. I'm not about to divulge my smoked mullet seasonings either. But Holloway of the Lee fishermen's co-op was more than happy to share his secret.
"I just smoke it as slowly as possible and use lots and lots of salt. If the mullet is good and fat, then salt is all you need. That and the smoke flavor from the wood you use. You really can't put too much salt on a mullet," says Holloway.

Holloway's handiwork is sold out of a smoked-mullet wagon run on a frequent basis by his wife, Patty, along Pine Island Road, just before the intersection of County Road 767 (String-fellow Road). Patty and I got to talking about smoked mullet and just how good it is.
"From September through December it is smoked-mullet-eating season," Patty said. "They get so big and good."

That's when my eyes began to glaze over.
"And they get all that fat in 'em and it drips down in the fire and sizzles while they're smoking," said Patty. "That's what really adds to the flavor."
That's when I began to drool.

Patty said: "You pick 'em apart with your fingers and you just don't want to stop eating them."
That's when I told her goodbye and went out to smoke some mullet of my own.

Smokin' Mullet
The first thing to know is: they have to be fresh. if you can't buy fresh mullet or catch them, then don't bother smoking them because they are no better than bait. Make a brine out of one-half cup of salt and a gallon of water. Before placing the mullet (which should be butterflied, with the backbone removed but the head and scales left on) in the brine, scrub away the black, filmy belly liner. Then soak the mullet for at least an hour, no longer than two. Take them out and pat them dry. Sprinkle liberally with lots of salt. Pepper, too. You can spread a little barbecue sauce on the mullet before you stick it in to smoke, if you like.

Now, get your fire ready. You can use a smoker or a charcoal grill or one of those godforsaken electric things. Just keep it burning as low as possible. The longer and slower a mullet smokes, the better. In two or three hours, it will taste good, but it will lack the gumption of slow-smoked mullet.