Tasting fresh smoked fish cooked at home or in the field is an incomparable pleasure. Especially if she's from her own catch. However, in order for the product to turn out delicious and to be stored for a long time, you need to try. The key to success will be the correct preparation of raw materials, the ability to work with a smokehouse. Various nuances of taste and aroma to smoked fish are given by brines and marinades.
Hot and cold smoking fish
Hot smoking of fish is carried out at temperatures from 45 ° C to 150 ° C and, on average, lasts from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours. Raw materials are rubbed with spices or spices before processing, or pickled, as a result the fish is soft and juicy, golden-reddish in color. The product is immediately ready for use.
Home-smoked fish is stored at a temperature not exceeding 5 ° C for a week, but it is best to eat it within three days. To prevent smoked fish from absorbing foreign odors, it is recommended to wrap it in parchment or plastic wrap.
Before cold smoking, carcasses are usually salted for 1-7 days, then washed and dried well. Smoke, on average, 3-5 days at a temperature not higher than 27-40 ° C. Then the dryers are dried.
The smoke gives the fish aroma, piquant taste, the carcass acquires a beige-brown hue. This method of smoking preserves the maximum nutrients in the fish. The product can stay fresh for half a month if stored in cling film at temperatures from 0 ° C to 5 ° C.
Preparing fish for smoking
Any fresh fish can be smoked tasty, but it is advisable to select one type and size of carcasses. If smoking with the hot method is considered universal, then for the cold method, experts advise choosing fatty varieties:
- trout;
- tuna;
- mackerel;
- eel;
- beluga
- Iwashi and others.
Before smoking, the carcasses are processed depending on the weight:
- small change up to 400 grams is not gutted, salted and smoked;
- fish up to 3 kilograms for the hot smoking method is gutted, gills, entrails and dark films are removed;
- large carcasses must be gutted, the head removed, sometimes cut along the back;
- large fish are sometimes sliced across.
The scales protect the smoked carcasses from contamination and retain moisture. It is usually removed from ray-finned whitefish, or if the plates were already damaged during fishing.
Home and outdoor smokehouses
A smokehouse is a large metal box or tank with a bottom, a tray for fat, a grate (as an option - pins, a holder rod with rays), a hermetically sealed lid.
In order for the fish to smoke well, the container must be at least half a meter high. Cold smoking is usually carried out in the fresh air, since chilled smoke (15-30 ° C) enters the device, the processing itself takes a long time.
Smokehouses for hot smoking, where open fires are kindled - devices for personal plots, courtyards. The most popular devices for hot smoking are gas stove or electricity. This is ideal for apartments. However, lovers of homemade smoked meats need to get a good hood, or at least carry out the procedure infrequently and with an open window.
Wood chips, branches, shavings of coniferous trees cannot be used as fuel for smokehouses. Recommended wood:
- alder (most popular);
- willow;
- oak;
- Apple tree;
- ash;
- pear;
- hazel;
- Birch.
The bark must be removed, the wood chopped and slightly moistened before placing in the smokehouse.
Spicy hot smoked mackerel at home
Carcasses of fresh mackerel (the amount depends on the size of the home smokehouse) thoroughly rinse, gut. To chop off the heads of the fishes. Prepare a spicy marinade. To do this, pour water into a saucepan at the rate of 1 liter for 2 large fish, bring to a boil.
Dissolve a couple of tablespoons of coarse salt and a teaspoon of granulated sugar in boiling water. Then add:
- 2 bay leaves;
- a sprig of rosemary;
- a pinch of dried sage;
- a teaspoon of cinnamon;
- a teaspoon of pepper mixture.
Wash, peel the onion and half each orange and lemon. Chop the onion very finely, cut the citruses into slices and put everything in the boiling marinade. Cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes, cool.
Pour the marinade over the mackerel and leave it cool for 12 hours, then remove, hang by the tails, dry and ventilate for a couple of hours. Pour an even layer of sawdust, shavings, chopped twigs without bark or special alder briquettes for smoking on the bottom of the smokehouse.
Line the wire rack with foil and fold back the edges to form a container. Place mackerel on its bottom in an even layer. If the design of the smokehouse involves pins, a rod with rays, hang the fish on them. For convenience, you can tie the carcasses with twine.
An industrial electric smokehouse is switched on according to the manufacturer's instructions. It is installed on a non-combustible surface such as a grill table. The gas smoker should be placed on the stove so that the fire is evenly distributed over the bottom. If the fish is being processed on gas, you first need to turn on a strong fire, after 10 minutes change it to a moderate one. Cook the mackerel for 40-45 minutes.
Carps smoked in a homemade smokehouse
Gut carp, rinse, prepare for hot smoking. Large fish can be sliced like steaks. For the marinade, boil 2 liters of water and completely dissolve in it half a glass of brown granulated sugar and table salt, then let cool.
Pour a glass of dry white wine and half a glass of soy sauce into the marinade. Squeeze out 150 ml of lemon juice, combine with the resulting mixture. Add 4 crushed garlic cloves and spices and spices to taste: coriander, dried basil, pepper. Fully immerse the carp in the marinade and send it to a cool place for 10 hours. Then rinse the fish, hang in a draft, dry.
Prepare a homemade smokehouse. You can make it from a cast-iron stewpan or a saucepan with a thick bottom, which is lined with foil in advance. The culinary experts use a simple trick: they create the smoke using rice and black tea. Cover the cereal with water and wait until it is completely absorbed. Then take a couple of tablespoons of black tea and mix with rice.
Put the resulting mixture on a sheet of foil, wrap it up and make holes on top for the smoke to escape. Place all this on the bottom of a cast-iron container, heat it over high heat until smoke appears from the holes.
Place a grate with carp on top, close the lid tightly and wrap with a damp towel. If there is no grate of a suitable diameter, you can use a rectangular one from the oven and put a ring from a split baking dish on top, and then a lid.
A good home smoker can also be made from a wok with a grate. Lay the foil on the bottom, bending the edges up, place the fuel in an even layer. You can mix sawdust with granulated sugar. Put another sheet of foil on top, make holes in it. Grease the wire rack with vegetable oil, put the fish and close the lid tightly. Heat moderately and cook the carcasses for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on their thickness.
Hot smoked honey marinated fish
Prepare the fish for smoking: gut, clean, make incisions along the ridge and remove gills, heads, dark films. Rinse and dry the carcasses. For a kilogram of raw materials, mix in a deep container:
- half a glass of freshly squeezed lemon juice;
- a glass of olive oil;
- 150 ml of unsweetened or melted natural honey;
- packaging of ready-made seasoning for fish;
- a teaspoon of table salt;
- a pinch of freshly ground black pepper;
- half a glass of finely chopped dill;
- a couple of crushed garlic cloves.
Drown the fish in the resulting mixture and leave cool for 10 hours. Then drain the marinade, dry the carcasses for 1-2 hours. Place on a wire rack or hang on the pins of a home smokehouse and cook for half an hour. The finished fish should have a golden, dense crust with a sweet-spicy taste and wonderful aroma.
Hot smoked fish in a street smokehouse
6 fresh mackerels or sea bass (you can take both types of fish in equal parts), rinse, dry, gut. Cut off the heads, the scales can be removed from the perches. Pour a centimeter layer of coarse table salt on the bottom of the enamel basin. Place the carcasses on it and cover with a second salt layer.
Put the lid on, bend and salt the fish for 3-5 days, turning over from time to time. After that, transfer the carcasses to a clean container, fill with cold water. Soak for 4 hours, then hang in a well-ventilated place. Dry within 24 hours.
On the street, light a brazier, prepare birch coals. Pour sawdust into the bottom of the smokehouse in a layer of 2 cm. Place a tray for dripping fat, put fish on the pins-holders, tie together with twine. Close the smoker tightly, place on burning coals and smoke the fish for 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the thickness of the carcasses.
Cold smoked fish in a street smokehouse
Rinse prepared carcasses, dry, clean. Boil the ox for the brine. For 1 liter, take a glass of table salt, dissolve it completely in boiling water and let the salt solution cool. Put fish carcasses prepared for smoking in it and salt in a cool place for 4-5 days.
Then soak the fish in clean cold water for a couple of hours, air dry. If the carcasses are large, insert spacers into the abdominal cavity and dry for up to five days. If small, the drying process can be limited to three days.
Arrange the prepared fish or hang it in a street smokehouse for cold smoking and cook, maintaining the temperature regime from 25-27 ° C, in extreme cases - up to 40 ° C.
To achieve this result, you need a device thanks to which the smoke will cover a distance of at least two meters and be cooled. The best option is an industrial smokehouse with a special smoke injection device, or a portable smoke generator.
A cheaper analogue is a temporary home-made device for cold smoking, which can be built on a personal plot or in a private yard. The smokehouse is installed on a hillock, the firebox is on the lower level in a dug hole.
The sealed trench will serve as an ascending channel for cold smoke. The process of cold smoking fish can last from three to five days, depending on the size of the fish.
Methods of salting fish of different types for cold smoking
There are different ways to prepare fish for cold smoking. They do this in a container with brine or marinade, others simply rub the carcasses with salt and spices, and still others bury bags of salted fish in the ground or sand. The method of salting can be selected based on the type of fish.
To prepare pike perch for cold smoking, cut the belly from the side of the carcasses and chop the ribs. Season with plenty of salt, put in a plastic bag and tie tightly. Dig a small hole in the ground, place a bag of fish in it and dig in.
After 1, 5 hours, get the pike perch out of the ground, turn over the package and bury it again for 1, 5 hours. Then take out the carcasses, rinse thoroughly in running water. Place a couple of allspice peas, lavrushka, a teaspoon of chopped garlic in each belly. Hang by tails to dry. After 12 hours, the pike perch can already be placed in the smokehouse.
Large perches, salmon are cut into pieces, or the belly is unfolded and spacers inserted. Prepare brine - a highly concentrated saline solution. The fish is soaked in it for about half an hour. Lavrushka, a couple of peppercorns, an onion, and a bunch of dill are placed in each carcass.
It is recommended to use oppression when salting small fish, as well as pike perch, pike, chub, ide, carp. Gut the carcasses, cut several times along the ridge. Densely sprinkle the fish with coarse salt and place under oppression for a period of 12 hours to several days, depending on the thickness of the carcasses. Then drain the brine, rinse the carcasses and soak in cold water for a couple of hours.
Any fish can be salted in bags in just a day. For large carcasses, first remove the heads and ridges. Place in bags in layers:
- coarse salt;
- carcasses with pulp down;
- carcasses sprinkled with salt on top with pulp;
- coarse salt;
- carcasses pulp down, etc.
Thus, there will always be a layer of salt between the fish pulp. The bag is half full and twisted tightly to squeeze the salted carcasses. The packaging is buried in sand for a day and compacted. After that, the fish can be washed, dried and smoked.
Hot smoked fish marinades
Different components of marinades give smoked fish a special piquancy, juiciness, and a unique aroma. So, among spicy mixtures for preparing carcasses for hot smoking, such recipes are popular.
Boil one and a half liters of water, throw 6 cloves and 3 tablespoons of table salt into it. Cook for 10 minutes. Then let the marinade cool at room temperature and add a glass of dry red wine, a teaspoon of allspice with peas and the same amount of caraway seeds. Stir, immerse the fish in the marinade for 4 hours.
The original marinade with kefir and mint gives smoked meats a special juiciness and freshness. For him, you need to put in kefir (per glass);
- a tablespoon of table salt;
- a teaspoon of brown granulated sugar;
- 50 ml olive oil;
- a couple of crushed garlic cloves;
- a few sprigs of fresh mint.
Carcasses should be marinated in kefir with mint and spices for 8 hours, then drain the marinade, rinse and dry the fish and send to the smokehouse.
