What is smoked carp? How to make it? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. Smoked carp at home will help diversify the diet of everyone. This is a real delicacy, which is an excellent opportunity to gather friends at the same table. It is known that such fish is rarely on sale. Some attractive recipes for smoked carp are discussed below.
Benefit
If you correctly smoked carp cold or hot, it will retain its original composition in spite of a false opinion about the dangers of smoked meats. It contains many proteins and minerals.
There are also many antioxidants in fish with smoke, which localizes the harmful effects of free radicals on organs and tissues, strengthens the mucous membranes, stabilizes glucose levels and preserves youthful skin for a long time.
Rules for choosing fish
When choosing fish for smoking, consider the following factors:
- fish size;
- carcass weight;
- the degree of freshness of the food.
Only fresh carp is suitable for smoking. As an exception, you can take quick-frozen fish if it has not thawed even once. You can buy carp of any size. It is only important here that almost identical carcasses are smoked at the same time. Then they synchronously salted and smoked.
As a rule, carcasses up to 700 g are not gutted, but cooked whole. If the individuals are larger, they need to be cleaned from the insides, salt and smoke. Be sure to gut the fish up to 1 kg and cut into two longitudinal halves, saving the scales.
Smoking process
Not many people know how to cook smoked carp at home. The process consists of the following steps:
- Fish preparation.
- Salting.
- Smoked.
- Drying
Types of smoking
Smoking products, including fish, is carried out in two ways:
- Cold. Requires long-term salting of fish and very high quality raw materials. Cooking temperature should not exceed 30 Β° . The process lasts from 3 to 5 days, the savings period is 14 days. There are more vitamins left in cold-smoked carp than in hot-made carp.
- Hot smoked. Fish after it becomes fragrant, soft and juicy. The process is carried out in a temperature regime of 50-120 Β° C (sometimes 150 Β° C). The fish is prepared very quickly, after which it can immediately be eaten. Although you can save such a fish for only 7 days, a high temperature disinfects it, killing all helminths and pathogenic microorganisms.
Quick way
Everyone likes smoked carp! If you are in a hurry, you can prepare the fish for smoking in the most uncomplicated way. We take:
- rock salt - three tbsp. l .;
- three carps.
Cook this smoked carp like this:
- Gut the fish, rinse, dry and grate with salt on all sides.
- Put the carcasses downhill, send for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
- Put alder wood chips at the bottom of the smokehouse, sprinkle it with water.
- Put carcasses on the grill at some distance from each other, start the smoking process.
- After 30 minutes you can eat the finished fish.
This recipe is suitable for any type of smoking.
Classic way
How to make smoked carp in a classic way? It is important to take fresh fish and salt it correctly. You will need:
- two onions;
- 4 medium carcasses;
- one head of garlic;
- olive oil - three tbsp. l .;
- three pinch of black pepper;
- three pinch of salt and coriander.
This recipe for smoked carp at home stipulates the implementation of such actions:
- First, gut the fish, rinse the carcasses thoroughly, free from the insides, rinse again and cut off the heads if desired. Do not throw out the heads, but cook from them a rich fish broth, having removed the gills and eyes in advance.
- Make a marinade. To do this, mix the spices with vegetable oil to the same type. Peel and finely chop the garlic separately, cut the onions in half rings.
- Lubricate carcasses with aromatic oil inside and out, soak in the cold for 4 hours.
- Next, fill the abdomen with garlic and onions, send smoked for 1.5-2 hours.
In this case, you can use both cold and hot smoking methods.
Savory appetizer
Consider an interesting mustard seed recipe. It can be realized with both cold and hot smoking. You will need:
- clean water - 1.5 l;
- mustard seeds - two tbsp. l .;
- two fish 2-2.5 kg each;
- coarse sea salt - 40 g;
- two pinches of ground pepper.
You must admit that you can easily make smoked carp at home in a smokehouse. Follow these steps:
- First, carefully prepare the carps before creating the dish.
- To create a brine, dissolve the salt in water, soak the fish in it and send it in the refrigerator for a day.
- Remove the carcass from the brine, dry with a kitchen towel.
- Roll the fish first in black pepper and then in mustard seeds. The procedure, if desired, can be carried out a couple of times.
- Lay the carp on the lower grate of the smokehouse and smoke for three hours.
- Next, hang the fish to dry for a couple of hours, so that the flesh becomes more elastic and dense.
Marinated in wine
The use of wine in the marinade allows you to give carp a pleasant aroma and preserve its juiciness. To make large carcasses well smoked, make a couple of cuts on the sides. We take:
- clean water - 2 l;
- lemon juice - three tbsp. l .;
- three fresh medium carcasses of carp;
- three tbsp. l soya sauce;
- salt - 1.5 tbsp. l .;
- dry (semi-dry) white wine - two tbsp. l
Manufacturing process:
- Gut the fish first and rinse thoroughly.
- Pour salt into an enameled bowl and roll carcasses in it, also rubbing them from the inside.
- Transfer the fish to the pan, put the press on top, send in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
- Move the carps into a bowl of water so that the excess salt is washed off.
- Hang the washed fish in the air, leave to dry for a day.
- Now make the marinade. To do this, in a saucepan combine water, soy sauce, lemon juice, spices and wine. Bring the marinade almost to a boil, but do not boil, then refrigerate completely.
- Submerge the fish in the marinade, cover, and refrigerate for 13 hours.
- Remove the fish and smoke it cold or hot.
With apples
How to make smoked carp in a smokehouse with apples? You will need:
- sugar - 0.5 tsp;
- three fresh carps;
- two green apples;
- salt - two tbsp. l .;
- spice mix for fish.
Realize this simple and at the same time original recipe as follows (both types of smoking are suitable):
- First prepare and gut the carcasses, then salt them and leave them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Fold the fish one on one.
- Cut the apples into slices, put in and on top of each carp.
- Send the fish to the smokehouse and start the process at 80 Β° C. Smoking time depends on the parameters of the fish and the design of the smokehouse. On average, you will need to cook 40-60 minutes. After you can eat the fish immediately.
Smoked Carp
You need to have:
- four medium-sized fishes;
- salt;
- pepper or special seasoning for fish.
Manufacturing technology:
- Remove the insides and gills from the fish, rinse it thoroughly.
- Rub the carcasses inside and out with salt and fish seasoning (or pepper).
- Put the fish in the dishes, send for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
- Before smoking put the carps on a cloth, let them dry for half an hour.
- For hot smoking of carp you will need two handfuls of sawdust alder or sawdust of fruit species of trees - plums, apple trees and so on.
- Pour the sawdust onto the bottom of the smokehouse. Lay the fish on the grill so that the carcasses do not touch each other.
- Cover the smokehouse and place on medium heat.
- Open the lid after 10 minutes. and release smoke from the device (this fish will relieve bitterness).
- Cover again and wait another 10 minutes. Now the carp is ready! Remove the smokehouse from the fire and get the fish.
Mustard Variation
Take:
- 1 tsp mustard seeds;
- 2 kg of fresh carp;
- 50 g of coarse salt;
- 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper.
Prepare this dish like this:
- Gut the carp, clear of scales, separate the head and cut in half along the spine so that you get two fillets with ribs.
- Dissolve the salt in water (1 l), fill in the carp so that its brine completely covers, and send for a day in the refrigerator.
- Next, get the fish and dip in a napkin.
- Roll wet fish in pepper, then in mustard seeds and again in pepper. The amount of spices depends on your preference.
- Lay the fish on the grill with the skin down and smoke for 15-25 minutes. depending on its size at 80-90 Β° .
In the smokehouse on the stove
Today, a large number of smokehouse variations have appeared that can be used both on the street and in the kitchen. The design of these devices is quite simple. Wood chips are laid at the bottom of the steel box. This can be an apple tree, alder, cherry, juniper and other types of wood that do not emit tar when burned.
Then, a drip tray is installed for the draining fat, and products prepared for smoking are placed on top of the grills. All this is covered with a lid, and special grooves around the perimeter of the lid are filled with water (βwater shutterβ), which prevents the escape of smoke.
For heating, the device is installed on an electric or gas stove. When smoke appears in a special lumen of the lid, they begin to count the time of smoking.
If the process is implemented in an apartment, then a hose is put on this lumen, which is led into a hood or an open window. The hose is not used in nature.
You can also build a smokehouse and improvised materials. Craftsmen use large pots or buckets for this, cast-iron cauldrons. You can even smoke a couple of small fishes according to the same principle even on a simple cast-iron skillet!
For cold smoking, you can also buy special devices. But they are much more expensive and they are used only outdoors. That is why cold smoked is less popular among food lovers with smoke.