Smoking is a universal way of preparing food and even drinks: you can find both meat and beer "with a smoke". But the absolute classic of the genre is smoked fish.
The essence of hot smoking is that the fish is cooked in two ways at once: it is stewed over a fire and soaked in smoke, which contains substances harmful to microorganisms, and also gives the dish an appetizing golden brown hue. If once such heat treatment was used more out of necessity than out of gourmet, now smoked fish has entered the category of delicacies.
Almost any type of fish is suitable for smoking. Classic recipes include both small fish like capelin and larger inhabitants of fresh and salt water bodies: trout, pink salmon, sturgeon, mackerel, silver carp.
Small fish need not be gutted. But everything that is larger than a palm should be properly cleaned and rinsed from the inside. Leave the scales intact. Very large specimens are best cut into pieces or halved along the spine.
Before the mystery of fumigation, the future treat must be salted. Better in a solution of salt - brine (150-200 g of salt per liter of water). For hot smoking, the fish is salted from several minutes to several hours. The sturgeon and the same large individuals require the longest salting, the capelin and the like are the shortest. For example, salting a piece of fish weighing about 1 kg takes from 30 minutes to an hour. After that - when the fish becomes elastic - wash off the salt solution and blot the water.
Smokehouses greatly simplify matters, but these devices are still exclusively for outdoor use. And in the end, for centuries and millennia, people did without them.
If you want to smoke at home, you will need an enamel pot, wok, or cauldron. A metal bucket will also work in summer cottages.
Most often they are hoarding on alder, but you can also experiment with cherries or beech. Birch, willow, aspen are also suitable. Each tree gives its own subtle shades, noticeable in the finished fish. Conifers are not recommended due to the abundance of resin. A glass of wood chips is enough for one bucket, handfuls of sawdust for a saucepan.
The higher the moisture content of the wood, the more smoke. So you can wet the wood chips, especially if you smoke outside.
The principles of smoking in a special unit and in a saucepan are exactly the same. Below is wood, above it is a fish. But the nuances differ. If at home we need to find a reasonable compromise between the amount of smoke and the intensity of taste, then in nature we can disperse with might and main.
So, the first situation is home. Lay the sawdust in a suitable container. We set them on fire so that they smolder. Cover with foil. On top we install a grate on which we put the fish in pieces. We put the entire structure on low heat, close the lid. We cook from an hour to three hours, depending on the size of the fish.
Situation two - summer cottage. Pour wood chips into the bottom of the enamel bucket. Place the grate 15-20 centimeters higher on which we put the fish. Close with a lid, put on a fire or burner. The shavings will take over after a while and produce a large amount of smoke. It remains to sit and wait for the catch.
