Camp Cooler Smoked Fish Dip
Smoked carp, cream cheese, and a BBQ rub, stirred cold in the bag it travels in.
- calories
- 290
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 73
- protein
- 14 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Lunch
- Cooler only
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Smoked copi (silver or bighead carp) | 1 lb | smoked at home, skin and bones pulled, flaked |
|---|---|---|
| Cream cheese | 8 oz | left out of the cooler an hour so it stirs |
| BBQ rub | 1 tbsp | Myron Mixon original or any sweet-and-savory rub |
| Hickory salt | 1 tsp | |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 tbsp | |
| Tabasco | 1 tsp | more if you want it to bite |
| Crackers or tortillas | for serving |
Method
- Smoke the fish at home, off the trip. Two hours at low heat until it flakes with a fork, then chill it and pull every bone you find.
- Flake the cold fish into a quart freezer bag. Chunks are fine if you want texture.
- Add the cream cheese, rub, hickory salt, Worcestershire, and Tabasco to the same bag.
- Push the air out, seal it, and work it with your hands for a couple of minutes until it is one thing instead of five.
- Snip a corner off the bag and squeeze it out onto crackers, or just spoon it. Keep it in the cooler between rounds.
This is a cooler recipe, not a stove recipe. The smoking happens at home where you have hours and a real fire; camp only does the mixing. That split is what makes it work — smoked fish and cream cheese both keep several days on ice, and there is nothing to cook, heat, or wash.
Mix it in the bag it traveled in. Cream cheese welds itself to a bowl and a spoon, and you are not scrubbing that in a creek. Let the cheese warm up first or you will spend ten minutes fighting a cold brick. The rub and hickory salt carry the smoke past what the fish alone gives you, which matters because carp is mild to the point of blank.
Packing
Smoke and flake at home, then freeze the fish flat in the bag. It thaws in the cooler over the drive and doubles as your ice. Rub, salt, and sauces ride in the kitchen box.
Variations
- Any firm smoked white fish works: trout, walleye, whitefish, or a leftover fillet off the grill.
- Hold back a quarter of the fish and fold it in at the end for a chunkier dip.
- A squeeze of lemon and a spoon of dried onion flakes wakes it up after a day in the cooler.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/smoked-copi-fish-dip