What kind of fish to smoke in the country. Hot smoked fish preparation technology

In a smokehouse at home or in nature? What is required to properly smoke the product? What is the process of hot and cold smoking?

How to choose fish for smoking

What type is best for smoking? This question comes up first. In fact, any kind of fish is served for smoking, but it is important to observe some conditions:

• smoke only fresh fish;
• so that the fish is salted and smoked evenly, you should take one type and approximately the same size.

It is important to note that it is the fatty varieties that will be the most delicious. These include: greenling, cod, pike perch, mackerel, flounder, catfish, herring, sterlet, eel. But perch, crucian carp, pike will be no less tasty after smoking.

Fish preparation

Fish weighing 300-400 gr. may not be gutted. It must be salted and smoked as a whole. You can also smoke whole breams and carps (up to 700 gr.).

Recipes for hot-smoked fish weighing from 1 to 3 kg provide for mandatory gutting, but you can leave the head and scales. When cold smoking, it is allowed not to gut.

If a large specimen (more than 3 kg) was chosen for smoking, the recipes provide for mandatory gutting and cutting into layers. As a rule, in recipes it is recommended to divide large carcasses into half carcasses, so that there is a half of the tail and head. The caudal fin and ridge may not be removed. Some recipes call for slicing into equal pieces, which are cut vertically to the spine.

The recipe doesn't include descalers because the scales are supposed to protect the tender meat from contamination. The scales can be cleaned if they were damaged during fishing.

salted fish recipe

Many recipes recommend starting the smoking process as early as 2-3 hours after salting. Immediately, before sending the product to the smokehouse, you should rinse it to remove excess salt, add a little pepper and spices. If the smoked fish is eaten immediately after the smoking process is completed (hot smoking), then it can simply be rubbed thoroughly with salt before being sent to the smokehouse.

What wood to choose

For smoking, both cold and hot, wood chips and shavings are used, sometimes raw leaves and twigs are added. It is preferable to use alder and juniper wood for smoking, and it can also be oak, apple, pear, birch, ash. Do not use wood from coniferous trees, due to the content of a large amount of resin.

Depending on which type was chosen, the aroma of smoked fish will also change.

To prepare chips, you need to remove the bark, because it contains a large amount of resin. Then the wood is crushed to cubes, 2-3 cm in size.

Before filling the chips in the smokehouse, they need to be slightly moistened and covered in an even layer.

On a smokehouse, the size of which is like a bucket, it is correct to take 200-300 ml of wood chips.

Cold smoked fish

Fish, the process of which was smoked in a cold way, for many, is even tastier than the one that was hot smoked. However, cold smoking requires much more time and effort.

Cold smoking cannot be done in nature, because a mobile smokehouse is not suitable for it, but only a stationary one (as a rule, this is a small shed).

Fish that will be cold smoked are salted in a salt solution. It should be more saturated than for a slave who will be smoked in a hot way. In such a saline solution, it must be kept from 3 days to 2 weeks (depending on size). After salting, it must be soaked for a day in cold water and hung out to dry. The drying process will take 3 to 5 days. To prevent flies from landing on the fish, it must be protected with gauze.

When the fish is dried, it is placed in a special smokehouse, where it will be smoked with cold smoke, which must be supplied constantly and in the same amount. A smokehouse can be organized in a shed made of boards, a tent, a hut or a bathhouse. The room should be 1.5 to 2 meters high. Fish should be hung on perches, which should be made as high as possible. Cold smoke will be formed as a result of burning sawdust and wood chips, and it will enter the smoking chamber through a special pipe. The temperature of the smoke must not exceed 25°C. Smoking time - 2-6 days.

When smoking comes to an end, fresh juniper branches can be added to the fire. The smoke from them has excellent antimicrobial properties, which will protect the fish from mold and extend the shelf life. It will acquire a good taste if it is smoked with smoke from smoldering straw.

A detailed video recipe for cold smoked fish:

Cold smoked fish can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks. It will be the most delicious in the first few days after smoking. Its taste qualities will be lost every day.

Hot smoked fish

In order to properly smoke fish in a hot way, you will need a smokehouse, which is a metal container that closes tightly.

It is easy to make a smokehouse with your own hands, using a metal bucket, a large pot, a barrel or a metal box. It is very important that the container closes well, and also does not emit toxic substances inside.

Chips are placed on the bottom of the container, then a grate is laid on which the fish prepared according to the recipe will be laid out.

It is very important to lay the product in such a way that the smoke falls on it from all sides, therefore it is impossible to lay in two, and even more so, more layers.

After that, the smokehouse must be tightly closed and put on fire. A small smokehouse can be placed on the grill.

Coals should be evenly distributed, you can leave a few logs that are still burning so that the process starts faster. Make sure that the fire is not strong, but does not go out.

After heating, white smoke begins to come out of the smokehouse, which indicates the beginning of the smoking process. Now it is already possible to pick up the burning logs, leaving only coals.

The smoking time will be determined by many factors: the size of the fire, the size of the smoker, the number and size of the fish. So, it will take approximately 30-40 minutes to smoke a medium-sized fish.

It is very important that the smokehouse does not overheat, therefore, at the beginning of the process (drying the fish), the temperature in it should not exceed 80-90 ° C. The process of drying fish takes approximately ¼ of the total smoking time. During the process itself, the temperature should be about 120 ° C. To determine the temperature inside the smokehouse, you need to drop water on the lid of the container. The water should evaporate without boiling, without making a hissing sound.

To regulate the temperature value, you need to reduce or increase the fire under the smokehouse.

It is the right temperature that will allow you to smoke the product, and not cook it.

You can open the smokehouse only when it cools down and the smoke stops coming out of it.

The readiness of the fish will be indicated by its dark golden hue, sometimes with redness. If the shade is light, this indicates that it is raw.

Hot smoked fish video recipe:

It is very important to follow these rules:

• Put fish of the same size in the smokehouse.
• Do not open the smoker after the smoking process has started.
• Do not open the smoker if there is still smoke coming out.

Hot smoked fish can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days.

Is it possible to smoke fish without a smokehouse

This simple recipe will help you cook delicious fish, no worse than in a smokehouse. This recipe is designed for fatty fish: mackerel, greenling, etc.

It is pre-rubbed with coarse salt and allowed to lie down for 10-15 minutes. After that, spices are added.

Wrap in a couple of layers of foil, then poke a lot of holes in it with a toothpick.

Place on a wire rack and roast over a fire for approximately 30 minutes.

Unwrap foil and eat immediately. The recipe also includes adding lemon slices to the fish, which can further emphasize the taste.

Smoking with a foil bag:

A real pleasure is to eat delicious and so fragrant smoked fish cooked by yourself. But what type and method of smoking to choose depends only on personal preferences.

The opportunity to cook in nature can inspire anyone, because it is natural products that carry the benefits that nutritionists and other specialists often talk about. One of the favorite dishes is smoked fish, which is freely sold in the store, but recently studies have shown that the vast majority of the goods were either made without taking into account the prescribed standards, or were stored in violation of the conditions.

The miracles of chemistry allow you to bring a presentation to any product. Flavoring, preservative, dye are added to the fish. As a result, there can be no talk of any naturalness.

Only self-smoking can guarantee environmental cleanliness. However, there are many questions about the technology itself. But this does not mean that smoking fish at home is an out of the ordinary task. It is necessary to master some points of elementary theory:

• choice of material for smoking;
• smokehouse assembly;
• product stacking;
• smoking mechanism.

After a short excursion into the world of home smoking, everyone will be able to try their hand to get their favorite product.

How to smoke fish

A significant part of the success of the whole event depends on the choice of wood for smoking. Conifers are immediately excluded for the huge content of resins. Experts recommend smoking fish in a smokehouse using sawdust from fruit trees.

A detailed analysis of the substances released during smoldering showed that there is little oxygen in sawdust, so pyrolysis (burning out of harmful substances) is impossible. Heavy resins and ash escape with smoke. These substances are toxic and contain carcinogens.

The most optimal option for cutting wood is wood chips, 1x2x3 cm in size. After it burns out, light volatile compounds are released with smoke, which carry less harm.

It turns out that each type of wood has its own smell of smoke. Some "perfume" compositions are combined with the smell of fish, and some are not. For this product, materials from apple, pear and cherry are suitable. However, alder is very popular, which is always available for sale at a very democratic price.

According to its composition, alder is safe for humans and is able to form a golden crust when smoked. It does not need to be flavored, like, for example, beech, but if desired, you can add a sprig of juniper. Shavings are not recommended for smoking. Harmful substances from it are even less, but the probability of ignition is high.

Do not forget about factory smokehouses. Some of them have a design that allows using heating devices to bring the temperature of the chips to values ​​close to the auto-ignition temperature. This kind of electric smokehouse is used in an apartment where it is not possible to make a full-fledged fire. The tips for choosing sawdust or wood chips for the above device are the same.

Preparing the smoker

We do not yet set ourselves the goal of providing a complete photo report on the independent manufacture of a smokehouse. Suppose that you have a similar miracle device at home or in the country. Before sending fish into it, you should make sure that the smokehouse is designed for the type of smoking that you are planning to carry out.

• Cold smoking is carried out at a temperature not exceeding 27 ° C degrees. Fibers practically do not change their structure, so the meat remains elastic, and all vitamins and nutrients are preserved. It is possible to ensure that the smoke does not exceed the temperature regime by dividing the combustion chamber and the smoking chamber in the smokehouse, combining them only with a long chimney. On the way to 1.5-2 meters, the smoke cools down to the desired value. A smokehouse for cold processing of fish can be imagined as a wooden shed, in which hangers for fish are equipped. A popular way to quickly build a smokehouse is to dig a firebox and chimney on a hillock. The dimensions of the smokehouse do not allow it to be made in an apartment of a multi-storey building. Therefore, residents of the city who do not have a dacha or a personal plot are deprived of the opportunity to smoke fish in a cold way.

• Hot smoking is characterized by high-temperature processing of the product. Smoke, warming up to a temperature of 120 ° C degrees, penetrates through the fibers of the fish. The meat becomes friable, as when baking. The smokehouse is a box on the bottom of which smoldering material is spread. The bottom of the box heats up when it is placed on the grill. Before smoking meat or fish, you should first make a fire, ensure it burns for a long time, and lay the product.

Smoking without a smokehouse is quite possible, since apartment dwellers cannot afford to make a fire in their home. There are several ways to implement hot smoking. If there is an exhaust hood with an air duct, you can build a smokehouse from an ordinary pan, which is placed on a gas stove. Since the process will be completed quickly enough, the smoke will not have time to spread to all rooms, but for this you need to make sure that there is good draft inside the ventilation duct.

A completely smokeless way is that the fish is baked in the oven at a temperature of 120 ° C degrees. After readiness, it is soaked in a chemical solution "liquid smoke" or similar. Note that such a cooking technology will only give a kind of smoking, because not a single chemistry can replace the natural method, neither in taste, nor in smell, nor in benefits.

Hot smoking algorithm

To properly prepare a dish, you must adhere to a certain recipe. The recipe for smoking fish comes down to the rules of salting, and the smoking itself has a clear algorithm. The first stage of work will be breeding a fire in the brazier. There is no need to rush to install the smoke box as soon as the firewood is taken up. It is desirable that they partially burn out. Only then can a stable environment inside the box be ensured. The hot smoking method is recommended for those who have taken up the process for the first time. Heat treatment of fish fibers protects it from spoilage, so an amateur can make some mistakes here.

Prepared chips are lined at the bottom of the box. To exclude the possibility of its ignition, it is pre-soaked in water. If you pour a couple of teaspoons of sugar on the wood chips, then a properly cooked fish will take on a pleasant brown-golden color. This is not the only secret of hot smoking, which will make a delicious treat.

It will be necessary to take care that the released fat does not fall on the wood chips, otherwise the fish will be bitter. To do this, you will have to make a pallet and place it between the bottom of the box and the sieves where the carcasses are placed. When making a smoke box yourself, you should not get too carried away by its number of storeys.

Definitely, you can place a lot of fish in several rows, but there is a risk that the upper rows will not be smoked. It is better to lay small batches and get a deliciously cooked product.

Remember that hot smoking makes the fish loose and unusually soft. If the carcasses are hung in a box, then they should be tied with twine, otherwise they may break under their own weight and fall to the bottom of the oil lamp. Bandage the fish should be so that the force is evenly distributed throughout the carcass. By the time the bookmark is completed, the firewood in the barbecue will flare up enough. The box should be tightly closed with a lid and you can put it on fire.

The first minutes of the process, all the heat from the fire will go to heat the box, so timing is not recommended yet. Only after white smoke comes out of a special hole in the lid, you can start the countdown. On the forums, novice amateurs often ask why experienced advisers recommend opening the lid once?

The fact is that large carcasses are smoked longer. During this period, the smoke inside the oil lamp becomes wet. To release excess steam, you can briefly open the smokehouse. Dried fish will have a more presentable appearance.

Cold smoking

Cold smoking can smoke any product. The taste of the resulting dish will differ from hot-smoked fish. The procedure for working with cold smoke requires more responsibility, so you need to follow all the steps step by step, as a mistake will lead to damage to the product. But the advantage of this method is the preservation of vitamins and nutrients. When laying fish, carcasses can also be tied up, but there is no such strict requirement as with hot smoking.

It is important to prepare a sufficient amount of firewood and wood chips before starting work. When using a smoke generator, you need to know its consumption, because the process cannot be interrupted, at least for the first 8 hours. The total duration of smoking at home can be up to several days. The key to a good result will be the selection of fish of the same size. Otherwise, the small things will be saturated with smoke and will be bitter, and large fish will not be smoked.

The efforts made to prepare smoked meats in this way are justified by all parameters. Fish meat is more natural, juicy, elastic. This appetizer goes well with any meal. Unlike hot smoked fish, this delicacy has a longer shelf life. When properly packaged in parchment paper, the fish can lie in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Let's go back to the final stage of smoking. To judge the readiness of the dish, you need to evaluate the appearance of the carcasses. They should have a bright golden color. Deviations are allowed here, since after salting the fish is already ready for consumption, and signs of raw meat do not threaten it.

How to smoke in an apartment

We have already touched on the problem of smoking fish in an apartment. It is better to refuse the cold method immediately. The whole task comes down to banal baking and subsequent impregnation with flavoring. You can bake a fish not only in the oven, but also in an air grill.

Now on sale there are special packages with natural wood chips inside. A fish is placed there and smoked so that the smoke does not come out. But until such technologies are widespread, liquid smoke will have to be content.

The difficulty lies not in ensuring that the product is exposed to smoke. The problem is to remove ash and soot from the house so that they do not stain the walls, furniture, and ceiling. Some models of electric smokehouses allow you to connect the chamber with ventilation. More expensive models allow you to activate different modes and are able to smoke food indoors.

Have you ever tasted a freshly smoked fish, just taken from the smoker, still warm, emanating fragrant amber-transparent fat? If yes, then you will agree that this is an unforgettable gastronomic delight!

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Smoked fish can be cooked at home, and it doesn’t matter if you have a smokehouse or not. Today I will introduce you to recipes on how to make amazing hot smoked fish in many ways, in nature and without leaving home.

How to choose, salt and prepare fish for smoking

For hot smoking, you can take any fish. Either this is your catch, or you just went to nature or to the dacha - just buy noble fish in the store: salmon, salmon, mackerel and smoke on it with the same success.
Be sure to buy only chilled fish, not frozen. Fresh fish will always have bright red gills, clear and transparent eyes, as well as a fresh scent and smooth scales. Pay attention to the quality: fresh fish has a dense, elastic flesh.

In the store, in the market, look for the color of the meat to be pink. Since a pale carcass is unlikely to be fresh, and too bright shows that the manufacturer used the dye, falsifying the product.

We leave the carcasses overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, rinse them well under running cold water. Then we hang the fish in a dry, ventilated place. All moisture should evaporate.

How to smoke hot smoked fish at home 2019

1. Hot smoked mackerel at home in an express smokehouse

Cooking:

In the OBI store I came across a bag - an express smokehouse.

In Auchan, they bought chilled gutted mackerel. Mackerel was salted and allowed to lie down for 30 minutes.

The sawdust that comes with the kit was put in the smokehouse.

Cover them with foil from the kit.

And put the mackerel.
It is better to put the fish on birch skewers.
And in the oven for 50 minutes at a temperature of 300 degrees.

It turned out very tasty. There is no smoke in the apartment, when cooking there is a slight smell. It is important to carefully unfold the package, and after putting the fish in there, close it tightly. The package itself is made of thick foil, which is much thicker than usual.

Enjoy your meal!

How to cook smoked fish without a smoker at home on the stove

2. Hot smoked mackerel at home: in a baking bag using “Liquid Smoke” in the oven

Your guests who have tasted this fish will be shocked that a mini smokehouse is not required to prepare this yummy. And with open mouths in surprise, they will carefully remember every word of the recipe, since it is so simple, and therefore brilliant! The main thing is that it turns out an incomparable juicy yummy!

A recipe for those who don't have a smoker.
Compound:
Fish (herring, mackerel, etc.),
Salt in the amount necessary to rub the fish with it
"Liquid smoke classic".
Bag (sleeve) for baking - its use gives 2 positive effects:
1. more juiciness,
2. the absence of the smell of fish oil and fire smoke in the air during cooking, but the wonderful smell of the finished product is preserved.

Cooking time - 50 minutes for everything.
Time has gone.

Cooking:

Turn on the oven to warm up to a temperature of 205 degrees Celsius.
Wash the cleaned and gutted fish (mackerel).
Gut the fish without opening the belly. After removing the gills into the hole, stick your fingers in, grab the insides with your fingertips and pull them out.
Rub the carcasses with salt on all sides, let them lie down for twenty to twenty-five minutes to salt.

If, after salting, smear with fresh strong infusion of black tea. Let dry. And after that, coat it with “liquid smoke”, the fish will be in a brighter “robe”.

Coat with "Liquid Smoke".
If there are a lot of fish, it is advised to dip it in "Smoke".
Prepare a baking bag. Put the fish in there, tie it up. Make a couple of punctures on the top of the package and send to the already heated oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
You can put sticks (rice sticks) on the sides of the fish. Create such an emphasis so that the fish does not fall on its side, does not stick to the bag and is more beautiful.

Here she is in the oven. All is ready.
It's on the cut. The fish turned out with a golden soft skin. Delicious, juicy with the smell and taste of smoked meat and the aroma of fire smoke!

Enjoy your meal!

Disputes for and against the use of "liquid smoke" do not subside to this day.

Of course, if a person is allergic or has problems with the stomach and intestines, then it is better not to use “liquid smoke”.
You can cook "liquid smoke" at home with your own hands
http://okopchenii.ru/zhidkiy-dyim/zhidkiydyim-svoimi-rukami.html

3. How to smoke fish in an air grill

Compound:
Fish (2 pieces), salt, black pepper, liquid smoke.

Cooking:

We clean the fish from scales, gut, wash, salt, pepper. We apply “liquid smoke” seasoning with a brush and remove for 30-60 minutes so that the fish is salted and saturated with seasonings. As the fish is saturated with seasonings, we put chips on the bottom of the air grill. Sprinkle with water and put the middle grate. We put a fish on it, turn on the AG at 180 *, medium airflow, 30 -35 minutes. I do herring the same way. Very tasty.

Enjoy your meal!

4. Smoked sterlet in air grill

Gut the fish, wash, salt and apply liquid smoke with a brush.
Leave for 30 minutes.
Arrange on the middle grill of the air grill and cook for 40 minutes at medium speed at a temperature of 180 degrees.
Roll up in foil and let cool.

Enjoy your meal!

5. How else to smoke fish at home? Smoking in a pan

Compound:
Fish (char, mackerel, whitefish, herring, sea bass, any fish will do) - 2 pcs.
Rice - 100 g
Black tea (leaf) - 30 g
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tablespoons
Teriyaki soy marinade sauce - 4 tbsp.
Lemon - 1/2 piece
Rosemary, thyme - optional

Cooking:

Gut the fish, remove the gills, rinse well. Pat dry with paper towels and coat generously with soy sauce inside and out. Cover with cling film and refrigerate to marinate for at least an hour.
Pat the fish dry with paper towels to keep moisture from dripping onto the smoke mixture. Put lemon slices and your favorite herbs in the belly, these are rosemary and thyme.

Prepare the mixture for smoking - mix sugar, regular loose leaf black tea, rice and cinnamon. Rice here acts as an adsorbent and absorbs strong odors and soot.

Put a sheet of foil in a deep frying pan, pour the smoke mixture on it and place a grate on top. We will also substitute wine corks, since the grate has very low legs. We put the pan on the fire and heat it over high heat for 5 minutes. A pleasant aroma will appear.

Then we put our pickled stuffed fish on the grate, reduce the fire to medium. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 25-30 minutes. After about 15 minutes, the fish should be turned over to the other side.
When cooking, there is a smell, something even resembles the smell of spicy baking, apparently, this is the effect of cinnamon. There is no more soot than from frying pancakes over high heat, and maybe even less.

Enjoy your meal!

6. Hot smoked fish at home in a smokehouse

We smoke on the balcony at any time of the year.
To begin with, we need such a Raucher-Grilllofen smokehouse.

You can buy online https://www.asmc.de/Camping/Outdoorkueche/Kochen/Grills/Raeucher-Grilllofen-p.html
And those who have husbands who are fishermen certainly have such sawdust, they are sold in the department where everything is for fishing.
They are enough for several times.

Well, alcohol, do not drink inside!

And of course fish, lots of fish. Today we have dorado, a delicious fish.

Ready, cleaned fish is placed in a container with salt water. We take everything by eye, add garlic, you can pepper and marinate for several hours, about 8-10.
After draining the water, dry the fish well with paper towels.
Now we start the process.

Pour alcohol into a special forms are all included. Close a baking sheet with such a notch and put sawdust, a little of them is needed. Close with such a nozzle.

We put the grate and fish on it, you can take special. grill trays-Aluschalen, very convenient.

We close the lid and wait, and endure, not long 20 minutes. The fish is ready.

Enjoy your meal!

7. How to smoke fish in bix

Folk way.
So:

we will need a smokehouse, if it is not there, then we can get medical bixa for sterilizing instruments.

Find a grate of a suitable size, build legs from tight wire.
We build a fire (firewood) or a brazier. Pour shavings (two centimeters) into the biksu at the bottom, sprinkle with water.

Gutted fish (mackerel and bream), salt, pepper, parsley in the belly. We put the fish on the grill and lower it into the biksa. We close and fire. We record 30 minutes (we held 40 minutes), the time is 25-45 minutes, depending on the size of the fish, and remove, the fish is ready.

Mackerel is enough for her and 25 minutes, we are a little dry, bream, sea bass (30 minutes).
You can also cook chicken and meat (pre-marinate with salt and pepper) for a couple of hours.

Enjoy your meal!

8. How to cook smoked trout quickly and tasty at home

The amount depends on the size of the pan.

Fresh (not frozen) fish, better than fatty species,

coarse salt,

vegetable oil,

alder sawdust,

lemon, parsley, pepper,

paper napkins, foil,

deep frying pan with a lid.

Cooking:

Clean the fish, gut it, if you do it with the head, remove the gills. Rinse with cold water, dry. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt, including in the bellies. Fold in a plastic bag, remove excess air from it and tie. Put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Then, rinse off the salt with cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Put thin slices of lemon and parsley sprigs into the abdomen, pepper. Grease one side of the carcasses with oil.

Sprinkle alder shavings with water. Wrap in foil, giving a flat shape according to the size of the bottom of the pan. Pierce the top layer of foil often with a fork. Place in the pan with the holes facing up and place over high heat. When smoke appears (namely, smoke - first steam from wet chips will go), lay the fish on the foil in one layer, greased side down. Cover the pan with a lid, sealing the cracks with damp paper towels, and turn the heat to a little over medium.

After 15 minutes, remove the pan from the stove, wait until it stops “sizzling” + another 5 minutes, then remove the lid, remove the lemon and parsley. In principle, it’s ready, the fish is smoky, but its skin will not be golden. To restore beauty, grease it on top with vegetable oil. And put it under a preheated grill for 3-5 minutes right in the same pan where it was smoked.
There was no particular smoke in the kitchen, all the children remained under the lid. Lubricate the underside of the fish with oil - be sure, otherwise it will stick to the foil tightly. Laying the fish in one layer evenly, without bends - it can break.

Allow to cool slightly - it tastes better when the fish is warm rather than piping hot, carefully remove from the foil and enjoy!

Enjoy your meal!

9. Hot-smoked pink salmon and mackerel in a smoking oven

Recently, a new device appeared in the kitchen, which made it possible to push aside the “liquid smoke” and take on sawdust, wood chips, etc.! This is an oven for smoking food. Only hot smoked products are prepared in it. She's still covered in grease, so...
We prepare the oven.
First, remove the grease from the inner and outer parts, then warm it up over moderate heat for 30 minutes (at this time, the remaining grease burns out). Then we wash and dry. The work is very dirty, but it is quite manageable.
Now we unscrew the screw and remove the casing, suspension, both pallets. We lay the asbestos cord in the recess of the base of the oven, it should lie tightly and not go beyond the sides. The cord in the photo is visible as such a white ring.

We pour sawdust. First, add the recommended amount (100 gram cup), but later it turned out that it was not enough and add the same amount. The sawdust was apple. Recommend alder, birch, fruit stone fruit trees. You can not take conifers because of the resin. They say there will be bitterness and the product will be tarred, not smoked.

We put on a tray to collect the flowing melted fat. Grease will not get on the sawdust. This pallet has legs and such handles. The legs rest on the base and a good gap is obtained for the passage of smoke into the smoking chamber.
And on the handles you can put a perforated pallet. We don't put it on this time. Otherwise, the suspended fish would not fit. And so on a perforated tray, you can put a small fish (capelin, for example), chicken, or something else.
We use a pendant, this one with 6 rays.

If you smoke brisket, meat, lard, then you can simply put them on the rays (pierce through). We hang the fish on cotton twine, tying it to the rays. Chicken thighs can be hung. And sausage too...

Salt the prepared fish, leave for 4-6 hours in the refrigerator. You can use a mixture of salt and sugar 2:1.
Then rinse the fish with water from excess salt. She already took hers.

Tie with twine, hang on the beams. It is necessary to arrange so that the pieces do not come into contact with each other and with the walls of the oven - it is necessary for uniform smoking. Let it stand - excess water will drain and the fish will dry out a little. Products before smoking should be slightly dried.

We wipe the swollen puddle and ... Everything is ready.

You can wear a cover. The central rod has a screw thread in the upper part, so a casing is placed on it.

The bright spot in the center is the propeller's gripping funnel. This funnel should fit on the rod.
Now tighten the screw until it stops.

The casing will be well pressed against the base, it will be just on the asbestos cord at the base. The smoke will not enter the room.
You can put on fire. The flame should first be intense for 2-3 minutes, and then a little less than average, the temperature inside is needed no higher than 70-85 degrees. If smoke appears, then tighten the screw at the top harder.

The fish is smoked for 30 to 50 minutes (depending on size). It is better to leave the oven to cool without opening for several hours. But you can, if there is another batch of products, keep it closed for about 30 minutes. And then open the oven with a screw. It remains to arrange on plates and invite guests and family to the table!

Enjoy your meal!

I hope someone will come in handy for their favorite way of cooking hot-smoked fish. And you will delight your loved ones and friends in the coming May holidays with this fragrant, tasty and healthy dish. Share your favorite recipe in the comments. Good mood and warm May days.

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It seemed that it was complicated - I bought a smoker, poured into it the purchased sawdust for smoking, put the fish, put it on the fire and everything. But personally, they constantly ask me how I smoke so that carp, and perch, and pike, and sturgeon turn out to be the right consistency and evenly salted. There are no secrets - there is an industrial technology for smoking fish, which I try to follow as much as possible in the field.

Portion size for dinner for two. Photo: Andrey Yanshevsky.

The process of smoking fish is used as a method of preserving fish, based on the exposure of fish to table salt and various chemicals contained in wood smoke or smoking liquid.

There are two main methods of smoking: hot smoking at a temperature of 80-170 degrees and cold smoking at a temperature not exceeding 40 degrees.

Hot-smoked fish has little saltiness, tender, juicy, fully cooked meat with a slight smoky flavor, contains a relatively large amount of water and is not intended for long-term storage.

The storage period does not exceed three days.

Cold-smoked fish is a more stable product during storage, with a delicate aroma of smoked meat, a dense texture of meat, it contains much less water and more salt than hot-smoked fish.

In industrial conditions, smoking in high-frequency fields is also used, as well as mixed smoking using a special smoking liquid.

During smoking, the source of smoke and heat is wood fuel in the form of firewood, shavings and sawdust.

For smoking, only hardwood trees that do not contain resin are used; for this reason, birch is not suitable either.

It is best to use beech, hornbeam, oak, maple, alder, poplar, ash and fruit trees. For smoking, firewood and shavings with a moisture content of not more than 25 percent are used.

With a smoke moisture content of more than 50 percent, a product with a bitter and resinous aftertaste is obtained.

With a smoke humidity of 75-80 percent, the extraction of moisture from the fish practically does not occur, and instead of smoked, dark-colored boiled fish is obtained.

With incomplete combustion of fuel, with a lack of oxygen, combustion products are formed, which give the fish a supply, taste and color.

A significant influence on the amount of smoke is exerted by the degree of wood grinding. So, 5-6 times more smoke is obtained from firewood than from sawdust.

The speed of smoking depends on the concentration of smoke in the smoking chamber and on its temperature. The greater the density of the smoke, the faster the process, but thick dense smoke gives the fish a dull dark brown color and a sour-bitter taste.

With a low density of smoke, the proper golden color is not formed, and the smell of smoked meat is weak.

hot smoking process

Hot smoking is used for harvesting bream, carp, catfish, perch, whitefish, eel and other common fish species.

Fish weighing up to one and a half kilograms are smoked uncut. Large fish are gutted, and then the abdominal cavity is cleaned.

The cut fish is thoroughly washed in water with a temperature of 15-20 degrees.

Of the existing salting methods, dry and brine salting is used.

In a dry way, fish from the sturgeon family is salted. For this purpose, the fish is rubbed with salt into the abdominal cavity, gills and placed in rows in salt baths. Rows of fish are also sprinkled with salt. Salt consumption is 7-15% by weight of fish, salting duration is 6-12 hours.

Other types of fish are salted in brine solutions with a density of 1.18-1.2 g / cc at a ratio of fish and solution of 1: 2. The salting lasts 2-6 hours, depending on the size of the fish and the method of cutting it.

After salting, the fish is rinsed with fresh water. Sometimes salted fish has to be soaked. Oversalted carcass does not float in fresh water, surfacing indicates the readiness of the fish.

Small fish are pricked or strung on a ramrod through the gill slit and mouth or through the eyes. Medium and large fish are stitched or tied, hung on slats and placed in cages. Before hanging, large fish can be cut along the back and wooden spacers inserted.

When smoking fish at home, it makes sense to adjust the taste of a particular fish by adding spices, spices or ready-made mixtures of spices intended for cooking dishes or sauces to the salt solution. It makes sense to do this when smoking fish that have their own strongly pronounced taste and aroma (whitefish, grayling, carp, trout, pike and eel).

Before adding spices to the salt solution, they must be poured over with boiling water for better extraction. More often than others, dill, thyme, fennel, allspice and cumin are used.

In the process of hot smoking, three stages are distinguished: drying, baking and smoking itself. Drying is carried out with the oven door or lid open, with bright firewood burning and a gradual increase in temperature in the oven to 70-80 degrees. The duration of drying is 30-40 minutes, it is considered complete when the surface of the fish becomes dry.

At the same time, the fish will become slightly harsh, and the fins will begin to turn pale. Heating too quickly can cause steam to form, softening the fish and causing it to fall off the hooks.

Drying can be done in advance "in the breeze", in the open air. After drying, the smoking chamber should be closed. Do not put a lot of firewood in the oven at once, since the temperature in the oven must rise gradually, otherwise the fish will lose fat.

It is advisable to maintain the smoking temperature in the oven no higher than 110 degrees. It is maintained until the fish warms up.

Baking lasts 30-60 minutes, as a result of which the meat will begin to separate from the bones. Next, the process of actual smoking begins.

It is necessary to periodically check the readiness of the fish. Small fish are controlled by the dorsal fin. To do this, the fin is removed from the fish. The meat at the base of the fin should be white, not glassy.

Large fish are controlled with a thin clean stick, which is used to remove pieces of meat from the back, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ridge of the fish.

In order for the smoked fish to have a golden color, it is necessary to sprinkle almost burnt wood with ash, and for a stronger smoke formation, additionally add sawdust. It will take about forty more minutes until the desired color is obtained. The total smoking time is approximately two hours.

Semi-hot smoking

Rarely, but still, semi-hot smoking of fish is used. To do this, salted and soaked fish is smoked at a smoke temperature of 50-60 degrees. The blower of the smoking device is slightly opened to ensure smoldering in the furnace, and the fish is hung at some distance from the pipe cut, in the zone of mixing smoke with air. They smoke for 12 hours, mainly perch and pike.

Hot-moist smoking

Eels containing a large amount of fat are smoked in a hot-moist way. To do this, the oven is strongly heated to a temperature of at least 90 degrees. Before placing the eels in the oven, it is recommended to dip them in warm water. Then the skin of the fish will become more elastic, will not crack. Wet eels are hung in the oven. The temperature of 90 degrees in the oven should be maintained for at least half an hour. It is easy to determine whether the smoking temperature is correctly chosen by the abdominal folds of the eel. If the temperature is lower than required, then the folds are folded.

At too high a temperature, these folds straighten and stretch. In most cases, the skin cracks, the eel loses fat, moisture and taste.

The eels remain in the oven until their belly turns golden yellow. After that, the temperature in the furnace is reduced to 60 degrees.

The duration of smoking is one and a half to two hours. To check the readiness of the fish, make an incision near the spine and check the meat. If the temperature in the oven was elevated, then so-called "jelly tails" appear.

The fact is that subcutaneous fat in this case becomes liquid and flows down the inner surface of the skin to the end of the tail. After cooling, it turns into jelly.

Cold smoking

The most common cold-smoked products are bream, vobla, pike, catfish, trout, herring, horse mackerel and a number of fish included in the Red Book.

Dry salted fish, or in 20% brine, is smoked at a temperature of 30 degrees.

Then the fish is washed in water, for example, a 3-kilogram fish is salted for 12 hours and after salting is left for 3 hours in 20 liters of water.

Before smoking, the fish is dried under natural conditions for 0.5 to 2 days in the warm season, or up to 4 days in the cold season.

Fish with tender meat should be wrapped in paper or canvas before smoking.

The smoking time for medium-sized fish is at least a day.

Trout, carp, whitefish, eel are smoked for up to 4 days. Pike, especially large ones, are smoked for up to 2 weeks. To increase the shelf life of cold-smoked fish, it must be dried in the air for a day.

If smoked fish is not intended for immediate consumption, it is stored at the optimum temperature of 2 degrees.

Smoking is a variant of the heat treatment of fresh fish, based on the use of smoke, which is obtained as a result of a long process of smoldering sawdust. After such processing, hot smoked fish time is from half an hour to one and a half hours, depending on the size of the carcass, - it has a delicate taste and unique aroma, and the fish turns into a real delicacy.

During cooking hot smoked fish at home it does not oxidize, and its fillet is very juicy. It should be borne in mind that hot-smoked fish is able to retain its freshness for a short time, so it should be consumed as early as possible.

The process of preparing hot-smoked fish can be conditionally divided into two stages.

Drying. This process takes place with a sufficiently intense smoke and is aimed at evaporating excess moisture from the fish. In time, it takes from fifteen to twenty-five minutes.

Smoking. At this stage, the temperature should be between eighty and ninety degrees, and this must be carefully monitored during the cooking process, otherwise the fish will simply boil.

How to smoke hot smoked fish

If you plan regularly cook homemade fish , then for these purposes at an affordable price you can purchase an industrially made smokehouse. If you just want to try your hand at this business, then you can build a smokehouse from improvised means: a metal box or an old barrel is quite suitable for these purposes.

An important element for the proper organization of the smoking process is the selection of sawdust or tree branches for these purposes. It should be borne in mind here that not every type of wood is suitable for this. In particular, despite the fact that pine tree species (spruce, pine, etc.) emit a pleasant smell, sawdust from them cannot be used for smoking - during the combustion process, they emit resin, which settles not only on the walls of the smokehouse, but also on the products themselves. The most suitable for smoking are branches and sawdust of hardwood trees: oak, ash, maple, etc. Branches of fruit trees that are found in almost every home garden are also good for this: apple trees, cherries, pears, etc.

There are no restrictions on fish species for smoking, however, as practice shows, the most delicious as a result of this cooking method are silver carp, carp, pike, pike perch, etc.

How to cook hot smoked fish: the preparation process

Preparation process smoked fish at home consists of the following steps:

1. Freshly caught fish - and it is advisable to use just such a fish for smoking - is thoroughly washed, cleaned of scales, and the insides are removed from it. When cutting large-sized fish, their heads are removed, and the body is first cut, and then unfolded into a layer. When preparing a small fish, it is enough just to wash it thoroughly.
2. The cut fish is rubbed with salt, the consumption of which is one kilogram three hundred grams per five kilograms of fish. Spice lovers can add them to their taste.
3. Some amateurs soak fish in saline. When cooking fish in the field, this method is unlikely to be convenient, but those who wish to do this at home will be able to use it.
4. The duration of salting fish on average takes from five to ten hours. After this process is completed, salt is removed from the surface of the fish with a rag or simply shaken off.
5. Then the carcasses of the fish are dried in a well-ventilated area; for this purpose, you can use a stretched rope, hanging the fish on hooks on it. The duration of this process is approximately two hours.

Some fans of smoking fish at home have fears that the fish prepared in this way will be too salty. As practice shows, this should not be feared: the fish takes salt exactly as much as it needs.

Hot smoked fish recipes

There are many recipes for home-smoked fish, we will give two of the most popular of them.

Hot smoked mackerel

1. Several medium carcasses of mackerel are purchased in the store and prepared for the smoking process in the above way. Note that mackerel meat goes well with various spices, in particular, ground pepper.
2. Two or three handfuls of slightly damp sawdust are poured into the smokehouse, and it is best if they are from deciduous trees.
3. After that, carcasses are placed on the grate, and this must be done so that they do not touch each other.
4. The smokehouse is covered with a lid and a medium-sized fire is set.
5. After ten or twelve minutes, the lid should be lifted and smoke released from under it: this is a preventive measure that ensures that after cooking the fish will not be bitter.
6. Then the smokehouse is again covered and kept on fire for about twenty minutes.
7. After that, the flame under the smokehouse is extinguished, and the fish is removed from it - it is ready.
8. To fully enjoy the taste of hot smoked mackerel, it should be consumed after it has cooled down a bit.

The recipe should be of interest to fishermen returning from fishing with a catch of medium-sized fish.

Hot smoking of small river fish for beer

1. Small fish are cleaned, the excess is removed, salted and left under oppression in a basin or barrel for three days.
2. After that, after washing with water and drying it, it is placed in a smokehouse.
3. Previously, the bottom of the smokehouse is covered with foil, on which a little clean sand is poured, and sawdust is placed on top, while preference should be given to alder or cherry sawdust.
4. Smoked fish should take place at a temperature not exceeding seventy degrees Celsius, then it will turn out moderately dry and very fragrant.
5. The whole process of cooking fish according to this recipe takes about forty minutes.

Smoked fish is a real delicacy, which you can fully enjoy after cooking it according to our recipes.

Video: hot smoked fish. Recipe