How to smoke fish? This question was asked at least once by any person who is eager for smoked fish. In fact, it’s not so difficult. And although in our time, anything, you can buy in a supermarket, but to smoke fish at home is much more interesting and safer.
Choose a fish
A fish caught both in the sea and in the river is perfect for smoking. The main selection criterion is the unconditional freshness of the product. Frozen fish are thawed gradually, without the use of quick methods. After thawing, the carcass is treated like the one that has not been frozen.
Smoking methods
People began to smoke products since ancient times. After all, after the fish or meat has passed the smoke treatment, their shelf life increases.
Man invented two ways of smoking - it is hot and cold. Their difference lies only in the heat treatment of fish, but in one and in the other case a smokehouse is necessary. But the lack of a smokehouse does not mean that you can’t smoke the fish. Such a device is sold in specialized stores or is easily manufactured at home.
In addition to the smokehouse, you will also need firewood, but not any, but special ones. The smoking process should begin in the early morning, when the weather is dry and calm.
Choose firewood
How to smoke fish at home is approximately understandable, but how to choose the right firewood for this? After all, the final taste of the product depends on their choice.
For the preparation of smoked fish, oak, alder, cherry, grape, apricot and peach chips are ideal. For a more interesting taste, several types of wood chips are mixed. For example, alder and apricot tree. The unique taste will give the addition of juniper branches along with berries on them.
A sliver is prepared as follows: dry branches are cut with a sharp knife or a small ax. And also chips can be cut from logs. Slivers need to be cut the same size (two by two centimeters). This is done to evenly smolder over the entire surface. The moisture content of the chips should not be more than seventy percent. It is this figure that ensures long burning and a sufficient amount of smoke.
It is strictly forbidden to use conifers. When they are heated, tar is released, and the fish acquires a rancid taste and astringent smell. For the same reason, do not use birch firewood.
To kindle a fire, you can use absolutely any firewood, starting with poplar and ending with the same cherry trees. The main criterion is a quick fire and a lot of heat.
We are preparing a fish
Before you smoke fish, you need to go through several steps:
- processing;
- pickling or pickling;
- drying or curing.
Processing
Before you smoke fish in the smokehouse, you need to sort by size. For uniform cooking, the fish is chosen approximately the same.
Small fish are not gutted or cleaned. Medium-sized carcasses remove entrails and gills. Large fish are also gutted, but their heads are still cut off. When the fish is very large, it is cut into steaks or in the form of a balyk.
When smoking fish of any size, you can not remove the scales. It prevents the penetration of harmful substances in the fillet. After gutting, the carcasses are washed and dried with towels.
Salting
How to smoke fresh fish? No way. Before smoking, it must be salted.
The easiest option is a dry pickling method. This is done as follows: prepared processed fish are thoroughly ground with salt on all sides, including the insides and gill spots. Usually only salt is used, but if desired, ground black pepper can be added. Then they put the fish in a bowl, where it will be salted out and left for some time. Salting time depends on the size of the fish. For small fish it does not exceed an hour, for medium - two hours, and for large - at least three hours.
Marinovka
Before smoked fish, it can be marinated in spices. So the taste will be more saturated, and less time will be required for marinating.
One liter of water is boiled in a pan. Fifty grams of salt, finely chopped garlic (three prongs), ground ginger, thyme and coriander are added to it. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and cool. The fish is placed in a suitable dish and poured with a cooled marinade. The capacity is removed in the refrigerator for three hours. Over time, the fish get out, and from this moment you can decide how to smoke fish in the smokehouse.
Drying or drying
Salted fish is dried before smoking. It is strung on wire or hooks and hung near a fan or in a draft.
The fish that has been salted will need to be washed under running water and dried using towels. Pickled only needs to be dried. For the best result, the fish is left to dry for two hours, and to prevent contact with insects it is covered with gauze soaked in a solution of vinegar.
Smoked and dried fish is much tastier than dried and smoked.
Hot smoking method
The device for this method of processing fish consists of parts:
- A tank of twelve liters. A barrel or an iron bucket is perfect.
- A saucer where all the resulting fat and juice accumulate.
- Lattices for laying out meat or fish or hooks for hanging.
- Tight-fitting lid with a small hole. In smokehouses manufactured at the factory, the lids have a water lock that provides very tight closure.
How to smoke fish in a smoke- cured smokehouse? Not so difficult.
At the bottom of the smokehouse, chips are poured into about a couple of handfuls. Juniper branches along with berries are placed on top of the sawdust.
A saucer is mounted above the sliver. Its main function is that it does not allow juice or fat to get into sawdust. Food foil also perfectly copes with this task in the absence of a saucer. To use you need three layers of foil.
On top of the container for collecting juice and fat, a grate is installed, where the fish will fit. You can not place carcasses closely, air must circulate between them. The whole structure is covered with a lid and kindled a fire under it. Brazier, tile or an ordinary burner for kindling a bonfire is perfect. The fire does not need very strong, the temperature during smoking should not exceed one hundred and twenty degrees. For a small fish, half an hour is enough for cooking, a larger fish is cooked within fifty minutes.
Periodically, it is allowed to open the lid to check the degree of readiness. But you need to do this correctly so as not to get burned. They lift the lid very carefully and slowly so that the sawdust does not break out from the flow of oxygen.
After cooking, the fish is taken out of the smokehouse and cooled in the fresh air. Eat only after complete cooling.
The algorithm of actions shows that there is nothing complicated in how to smoke fish in a hot way. Such an appetizer is stored for four days in the refrigerator, but most often the question of storage does not arise, since the fish is eaten very quickly.
Cold smoked preparation
You can smoke fish at home using the cold method. To do this, you must first prepare it.
In principle, there are no special differences from preparing for the hot method. Large fish also remove gills and entrails. After processing, the carcasses are washed under running water and wiped with a towel. Next, the fish is salted out. For the cold method, dry picking is considered classic pickling. Salt is poured into the dishes, fish are placed on top, which are previously ground with salt on all sides. Salt is poured over the fish again. With a large number of fish, it is laid out in layers, and salt is poured between them. When the layers of fish are over, oppression is set on top and put away for five days in a dark, cool place.
After five days, the fish is removed from the salt and soaked in clean water for at least four hours. After this procedure, the fish is lightly wiped with towels and strung on a wire or thread. Such fish beads are suspended in a well-ventilated area for a day. Sun-dried fish begin to be smoked.
Smoking process
Due to the fact that fish is processed not by hot, but by cold smoke, its shelf life is much higher than that of a hot smoked product. But cooking also takes a long time.
The cold smokehouse is constructed from three important parts. It:
- the part in which the furnace is placed;
- the place where the products themselves are located during smoking;
- the channel connecting the tank for smoking and the furnace part.
Devices that are produced at enterprises have a different structure, and constant monitoring of them is not required.
The fish is placed in a place where it will be smoked, and a fire is made. Chilled smoke enters there. Chimney labor for the best result should reach a length of at least one and a half meters.
Thus, the fish will cook for a day, and especially large and for five days. You can not take a break in the first eight hours of cooking, for this reason you need to take care of the right amount of wood chips and firewood in advance. After eight hours, night-long breaks are allowed. Naturally, increasing the number of breaks increases the cooking time.
The temperature for the cold smoking method should not be higher than thirty degrees. After cooking, the fish is removed from the device and laid out in a ventilated room without moisture. There she lies for another week. Only after a week of "draining" the fish can be eaten.
Smoked mackerel
How to smoke smoked fish, in theory, it is clear. Let's analyze the nuances of the example of mackerel.
In order to cook mackerel, it is first salted. After salting, the fish is dried and only after that they start smoking.
First of all, make a fire. About one hundred grams of wood chips are poured onto the bottom of the smoking appliance. It is best to choose plum, cherry, alder or wood chips from cherries.
A saucer is placed on the chips, where the juice from the fish and fat will be collected. It is easy to replace with a foil sheet folded in three layers.
A grate is placed in the smoking container, on which the fish will be cooked. So that the latter remains intact and does not fall apart, it is tied with twine.
As soon as the fish was on the grill, the smokehouse is closed tightly with a lid and left for forty minutes. After cooking, the fish are removed and cooled in the open air for two hours. After cooling, smoked fish can be consumed. The video details how to prepare and smoke fish at home.
Smokehouse in the apartment
Now there are many different options for buying a compact smokehouse, which does not hurt even in the kitchen. Let's consider several options.
- Slow cooker with smoking mode. Very simple and convenient to use in the kitchen. Due to the small volume of the bowl, the yield of smoked product will not exceed one and a half kilograms.
- Smokehouse for a gas stove with a water lock. In fact, this is a box of metal, inside which there are lattices.
- Electric smokehouse. The product is placed in it, chips are poured, and that’s all. Then she cooks herself.
- Smokehouse in the shape of a cylinder. There are pins inside the container, on which the products are put on.