We smoke fish in two main ways

Appetizing smoked fish is an excellent dish both in an independent form and as an appetizer for beer. Here are just store products are not pleased with the composition and preparation technique. The solution is simple - we smoke the fish ourselves. This is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.

A few secrets of cooking

So, it was decided: we are saving fish on our own! What is needed for this? First of all, choose the right firewood. Juniper or alder trees are best suited. Try to take those that are really dry, you can’t use a raw tree. If it’s hard to find enough juniper, take a few twigs - they will be enough to give a special color and aroma. In addition, you can use oak, walnut, ash, maple, apple, pear or cherry sprigs. If you want to take a birch, remove the bark from it - it contains tar. Do not take conifers, as they are full of tar. Before smoking, twigs need to be broken into small chips and sawdust. Make a bonfire small but hot.

How to smoke hot smoked fish?

Before cooking, slightly salted fish should be salted. Count on the following proportion: per kilogram of salt should be sixteen kilograms of fish. Large carcasses need to be opened and cut, medium ones gutted, and small ones can be cooked whole. Sprinkle salt on the fish, rub the salt into the carcass, moving it on the table with pressure. If the fish has a thick back, it needs to be incised and rub into the cuts. After that, each carcass is salted from a day to four days. If you took a fatty fish, you need to cook a little differently. Each salt-rubbed fish needs to be wrapped in separate pieces of parchment so that the fat does not oxidize, and only then remove to the wire. After the required time has elapsed, the fish needs to be dried for about an hour, hanging it on twine. After that, we wash off the remaining salt and smoke the fish. Make a fire and place the carcasses away from it using a special wire stand. With its help, the fish is baked and soaked in smoke evenly. You need to lay the fish in one layer. At the beginning of smoking, the fire should be strong enough, after which it must be covered with sawdust to form thick smoke.

With hot smoking, the flaps in the oven do not need to be opened very much. In an hour or three the fish will be ready. It can be stored for no more than four days.

How to smoke cold smoked fish?

Before salting, the carcasses need to be tied, stringing on the twine through the eyes. Salt must be taken by taking a kilogram of salt for every ten pounds of fish, and more time should take up to fifteen days. After this, the carcasses need to be soaked in water and air-dried for about three days. Smoke also needs longer - from a day to six. We smoke fish without strong fire, the smoke should not be hotter than twenty-five degrees, sawdust is used for its source. With such smoking, the fish loses moisture and is preserved by smoke from the fire, its meat is quite dense, with a rich taste and a beautiful golden color.