Smoked fish ... This product delights many gourmets around the world with its taste and nutritional qualities. Cold smoked fish has become a traditional daily and festive meal. It is equally good as a side dish for vegetables, and as an appetizer for alcohol, and as a main course.
Until recently, cooking smoked products with your own hands seemed a very complicated and confusing affair. However, now, with the advent of the Internet and the necessary goods, the smoking process has become more simple and affordable. You can do it right tomorrow, spending a minimum of effort and money. Moreover, you can engage in smoking fish or meat on an ongoing and regular basis, indulging yourself and your family with delicious delicacies or organizing your own profitable business.
So is it really possible to cook smoked fish yourself? What should be taken into account and what mistakes should be avoided? What is the technology of cold smoking fish at home? If you are interested, then our article is for you!
What is cold smoking?
Cold smoking is a method of processing products with wood smoke to preserve them for long-term storage. This method is very useful and practical, since cooked foods contain the maximum amount of useful vitamins and minerals, and can also be stored for a long period of time.
However, the cold smoking method is quite long and laborious. It provides a lengthy process that requires some effort.
What is cold smoked fish technology? In short, pre-salted fish is smoked for several days in a specially constructed structure. During this process, substances contained in wood smoke are released that have antiseptic properties and prevent the product from being damaged by rotting and decomposing bacteria.
There are official government documents governing the technology of production of cold smoked fish. Such regulations have the abbreviation “GOST”. Cold smoked fish, according to accepted state standards, goes through several phases of its preparation, from defrosting, washing and cutting the carcass to its salting and smoking. For each stage of this process there is a necessary, fixed instruction.
However, people unfamiliar with smoking technology immediately have specific, targeted questions: which fish is better to smoke in the smokehouse? How long should this be done? What types of trees are optimal for home smoking? And is it possible to build a home smokehouse on your own?
Well, let's gradually try to uncover the secrets of cold-smoked fish cooking technology.
Necessary types of fish
Does it really matter which fish is best smoked in the smokehouse? Yes, because not all fish can be cold smoked, because when processed, the taste and nutritional properties of the product are lost.
So what kind of fish is better to smoke in the smokehouse? The most delicious and appetizing are mackerel and salmon, followed by carp, silver carp, herring, sterlet, eel, flounder and others. The main thing is that the fish was fresh, greasy and, if possible, the same size (so that the salting and smoking were carried out uniformly).
So, we have decided on the type of product. Now let's find out what a smokehouse is and how it can be built at home.
Smokehouse. Build process
In order to build a high-quality and suitable smokehouse in accordance with the technology for the production of cold smoked fish, you need to decide how often you will use this design. If rare, then you can build a temporary (or one-time) smokehouse, if often - then a permanent one.
For the first type of smokehouse, you need to follow simple and clear instructions:
- Dig a trench in the ground with a slight rise to the side of the smokehouse and measure two to three meters long, half a meter wide and a quarter meter deep.
- Cover the top of the ditch with pieces of non-flammable metal and turf, sprinkle with soil.
- At the bottom of the trench to build a hearth.
- In the upper part of the ditch, establish a wooden frame, the height of which would be one and a half meters, and the width - one meter.
- Beat the sides of the frame with polyethylene film, and put a wet burlap on top.
In order to use this smokehouse constantly, it is necessary to strengthen the trench by overlaying it with brick, and also replace the fragile frame with a solid wooden or brick structure. You can also buy a finished smokehouse in the store or build it from a large barrel, an old refrigerator and other little-used, bulky items of your everyday life.
The principle of cold-smoking fish technology is that smoke will rise from the diluted hearth through the trench to the smokehouse, cooling along the way to the desired temperature. Smoke will escape through the top of the smokehouse.
A smoke unit will help us.
This type of smokehouse is very simple for their construction with their own hands without special skills. However, in recent years there have been many innovations that help even more efficiently and productively perform the smoking of fish. The introduction of such innovations in cold smoked fish technology saves you strength and frees up time. They will improve the taste of the finished product and help you to smoke with joy and pleasure.
One of the pleasant modern innovations is the established smokehouse with a smoke generator. The essence of this appliance is to produce the required amount of smoke and supply it to the tank for smoking, while working offline.
You can build a smoke generator with your own hands from a fan, a thermometer, a compressor, several types of pipes, fittings and connecting wires, as well as from other components that are at hand. Metal cans or pans can serve as a generator housing; a chimney can be any pipe made of refractory material.
To assemble a homemade smoke generator, you will need a grinder and a welding machine, as well as some skills and abilities. The most difficult thing in this matter is to weld the chimney fitting to the pipe, as well as make doors for the covers and the furnace. But the result will be worth it - you will get tasty, evenly smoked fish meat without any special power costs.
Of course, a smoke unit can be bought, which will facilitate its design and performance.
Typically, the smoke generator should be loaded once a day with a small amount of chips - approximately one liter in volume. Such a home-made unit can be stored in a garage and closet, it is very compact and mobile.
However, do not forget that this device should be carefully taken care of: regularly clean the container from decaying ash, wash the casing and more.
Also, when using a smoke generator, it is necessary to fulfill the basic safety requirements:
- Install the device on a hard surface.
- make sure that the wiring is removed from a source of strong voltage and high temperature.
- The smoke generator must be earthed.
- Keep children and animals away from the working apparatus.
It is necessary to listen to such tips during smoking even without a smoke generator. For example, a fire site should be raised in a fireproof place inaccessible to small children. Near the smokehouse, it is also important to put the necessary fire tools - a shovel, a fire extinguisher, a bucket of water.
So, the smokehouse (homemade or purchased) is already ready for us. Now let's discuss the important conditions for cold smoked.
Wood used
What kind of firewood and sawdust is best used for the hearth?
Cold-smoked fish technology involves the use of hardwood. Most often they use maple, aspen, oak, mountain ash, pear and apple tree, which practically do not emit tar, and produce antibacterial smoke.
For smoking, it is necessary to choose thin and finely detailed branches, as well as chips and sawdust, which will smolder for quite a long time, creating the desired temperature and smoke.
It is noteworthy that the wood species used affects the taste and aromatic properties of the smoked product. For example, ash gives the fish a rich taste, hazel - a sharp and intense aroma, but maple impregnates smoked fish with the taste of meat.
Many people think that only dry wood should be taken for the smokehouse. However, this is not necessary. It all depends on your desire and preference.
If you want your fish in the finished version to have a tart taste and enhanced brown color, then you can use slightly damp wood. And if you want the smoked product to have a bright golden crust and a delicate aftertaste, then choose well-dried branches.
In general, using all kinds of wood, you can experiment by creating various combinations. For example, blackberry, currant and grape leaves and twigs added to the hearth give a characteristic unique taste. A peculiar specific taste will endow a fish and hornbeam sawdust.
It is best to use several types of wood fuel, while observing a simple ratio: fruit wood should be slightly larger than normal.
Carrying out taste and culinary experiments, it should be remembered that it is best not to use conifers for fish smoking, as they give the product unpleasant bitterness and emit resins that settle on the surface of the smoked dish with a thin layer of soot.
Also, firewood infected with fungi, mold and rot should not be added. Before using wood, it is imperative to remove the bark, since during the combustion process it can release toxic substances and give the products an undesirable bitter aftertaste.
Care should be taken when using birch wood, as it can also add unnecessary bitterness to a smoked product.
It is worth mentioning that in no case can you inflate the fire in the hearth. In cold smoked wood should smolder actively and intensively, for this fractionally broken branches should be covered with small sawdust.
Having decided on the type of wood for breeding the hearth, let's now think about how to cook our fish directly for the smoking process.
Methods of preparation: ambassador or marinade
Let's find out a delicious recipe for cold smoked fish. For example, mackerel.
Before smoking itself, preferably in the evening, it must be thoroughly washed and cleaned. The entrails, milk and gills should be removed from the belly of the fish. Cutting off the head is not necessary. Also, you should not scrape the skin or scales, this will allow the mackerel to preserve the juiciness of meat and a delicate aroma.
Should I cut the fish into pieces? There is no need to do this in relation to small specimens, but large fish are preferably divided into pieces or small incisions are made along the spine. This will allow the product to salty and smoked evenly and quickly.
How is the process of salting? There are several options for treating fish with salt. For example, you can grate a fish inside and out, add spices, onions and put under oppression for six to twelve hours.
Another option for salting is to prepare a strong saturated saline solution and place the mackerel in it for twenty to thirty minutes.
Fatty fish should be salted in a slightly different way: lavishly rubbed with salt and spices, the product is wrapped in foil or parchment and placed in a tightly closed plastic, glass or enameled container for two to three days.
Salted in this way, cold smoked mackerel will have a pleasant and delicate taste and aroma.
In addition to salting, you can soak the fish in the marinade. This will make her meat even softer and more juicy, as well as endow it with the necessary taste and shades.
For pickling, you need a fourth part of a glass of salt, half a glass of lemon juice, a glass of white wine and soy sauce (ingredients are calculated per liter of water). You can add onions and your favorite spices and seasonings here.
The time for pickling mackerel ranges from eight to ten hours. It is noteworthy that the pickled fish should be in a closed container in the refrigerator.
The penultimate stage: drying and drying
After salting, the fish must be thoroughly washed (in several waters) and soaked, which can also take a couple of days. Next, the product should be dried. For this, the carcass is suspended vertically, without covering anything, but protecting from flies and other insects, and kept for three to five days.
At this stage, each fish needs to be carefully examined to get rid of the spoiled, poorly salted specimen. If the fish smells bad or has friability of meat, it must be thrown out.
After drying, the carcasses are hung out in the smoking cabinet, trying not to touch them with each other. Thanks to this, smoke smoke will evenly envelop the fish from all sides, which will improve the quality and speed of its readiness.
Now we proceed directly to the smoking process.
Mandatory smoking time
So, our mackerel is ready for cold smoking, and here a completely traditional question arises: how long does it take to smoke fish?
How much fish to smoke is a fairly common and popular question, the answer to which begs itself: when cold smoked it is impossible to quickly prepare a tasty and safe dish without subjecting it to heat treatment.
It is also logical to conclude that the time of cold smoked fish depends on its size and fat content. On average, it takes several days.
Cold-smoked fish technology does not imply cooking during a one-day trip to nature. If you are going to relax outside the city for a rather long time, then feel free to smoke even the largest and most fat fish carcasses.
How many smoked small fish? Typically, small fish are smoked for two to three days, while larger ones can cook four or more.
Experienced culinary experts recommend starting smoking in the morning, in sunny, calm weather. The first day it is necessary to ensure that smoke enters the smoking cabinet continuously, and only then, due to circumstances, there may be slight deviations in its intake. So one person can fully cope with the task of cold smoking!
Mandatory smokehouse temperature
What is the required temperature for cold smoked fish? It is imperative to ensure that the air in the smokehouse does not rise above thirty degrees Celsius. The most optimal temperature is twenty-five degrees.
In this case, you should regularly check the air temperature inside the chamber itself to, if necessary, regulate the smoldering focus.
However, it must be remembered that you can not open the smokehouse too often in order to look into the middle - this can significantly increase the time it takes to smoke the product or even spoil the whole process.
After smoking, the fishhouse is not immediately taken out by the fishhouse, but they are allowed to steam over for a couple of days so that it acquires an even golden color and concentrated taste.
What is the finished dish?
So, the time and temperature of cooking are sustained, and our cold-smoked mackerel is ready!
How can it be determined that smoked fish can be used?
Since during cold smoking the carcass is soaked with smoke from the fire and loses most of the fat and moisture, the meat of this fish should be quite dry and hard, have a bright golden crust and fit snugly on the ridge. And of course, a properly prepared product should not have an unpleasant odor and aftertaste.
Long-term storage of finished fish
What is the best way to store smoked fish? The product must be placed in a clean and dry place with a constant air temperature of three degrees. Thus, the fish can be refrigerated for one week.
However, it should be remembered that the dish has a specific pungent odor, so it should be stored in thick paper.
Cold smoked fish can be frozen in vacuum packaging for three months. It is best to defrost a product in the microwave.
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Enjoy your meal!