How to make hot smoked fish
The best fish is sausage. This is probably the most unfair and far from the truth folk wisdom. Better than a fish - alive, silvering in the sunlight, plowing the expanses of a quiet stream - can only be a fish that has fallen into the bait of a fisherman. Her further fate is sad for herself. For the person who caught it, this is a creative task, because you can cook fish in a variety of ways.
Someone loves fish soup, others prefer deep-frying, others prefer the freshest rolls. The fish is boiled, baked in foil, salted and dried. Another popular cooking technology is smoking, which can be cold or hot. Further conversation will be about one of the varieties of this technology, about how to smoke fish in a hot smoked smokehouse.
Ways and rules of smoking
Under smoking is understood the impact on the surface of the product of various substances that make up the smoke smoke. There are more than a hundred of them, most of them have a bactericidal and antioxidant effect. These substances systematically penetrate into the product, preventing their spoilage. The effectiveness of this treatment depends entirely on the permeability of the available products. It can be increased by pre-salting the feedstock. Therefore, in practice, smoking is used exclusively for salted fish.
Thanks to smoking, the fish becomes more tender, it acquires an easily recognizable spicy aroma and excellent taste.
The surface of the smoked fish is golden brown. In addition, treating fish with smoke increases its shelf life.
The main methods of smoking are considered hot and cold options. Much less resort to semi-hot smoking and baking in the smoke. The differences between all these technologies lie in the features of temperature regimes and duration over time. The simplest dependence is this - the smoking time lasts the longer, the lower the smoke temperature. But the shelf life will be correspondingly large.
ABC smoker
For hot smoking fish, you will need a special device that will be hermetically sealed. It can be either an industrial smokehouse for hot-smoked fish, or a home-made container based on a large pot, barrel, bucket or metal box. For the "author's" smokehouse from improvised means, you will need a reliable grate for products. The smokehouse itself must have a protective inner coating that will not emit anything harmful to the fish.
The second important part of preparing the whole process is the right fuel for smoking. And finally the recipe. The end result of the whole affair - the most delicious hot smoked fish - is impossible without the right smoke, which will make it fragrant and appetizing.
About fuel
The ideal fuel for hot smoking is hardwood, including branches, shavings and, especially, sawdust. Deciduous trees (oak, beech, maple, alder, aspen, mountain ash, etc.) emit a small amount of resin, unlike coniferous counterparts. Professional smokers also add dried branches of fruit trees, berry bushes (cherry, plum, pear). The smoke after burning them gives the fish interesting flavors.
The best wood is alder and juniper. It has the most pronounced bactericidal properties. The shelf life of hot smoked fish cooked in the smoke of this wood is the longest.
Softwood is rarely used for hot smoking fish. Fish cooked on such smoke turns out to be not very appetizing looking due to excess soot. Its smell also leaves much to be desired.
The wood of the birch - the tree symbol of Russia - contains a lot of tar, so it is not used for smoking.
As natural flavors and flavor enhancers are well suited: grapevine, juniper berries, in microscopic quantities - cones, herbs, spices.
In this case, it is better to use small dry twigs, peeled from the bark. Large branches, logs should be cut into chips of small (5 cm) length.
For the effective formation of smoke, the use of sawdust, shavings is mandatory. They need to be heavily stocked.
What is absolutely not suitable for hot smoking fish is plywood, fiberboard or chipboard sheets, painted or glued boards, laminate and other wood products treated with polymer resins and other "chemistry".
About smokehouses
The main requirement for any smokehouse is tightness. Air should not get inside, as this can ignite firewood, which means it will reduce the quality of the future fish delicacy. The smokehouse should also have considerable depth. Otherwise, the fish hung in it will touch the firewood and the bottom. This will either cause them to burn or boil rather than smoke.
As for the smokehouses themselves, it is difficult to find a device for cooking that is more democratic and diverse in terms of the number of items used.
You can smoke fish in a smokehouse at home and in the country or on the banks of the river. As a container, both a barrel or a bucket, and, for example, an old beehive, are suitable. More "advanced" options are smoking in a metal box on the grill or using charcoal or gas grills. Owners of private houses can equip a smokehouse in the chimney in the attic or adapt the stove.
The most correct option is to purchase a reliable portable industrial smokehouse, which will already have all the necessary devices for efficient, high-quality smoking.
How to smoke hot?
Now let's look at step by step how to smoke hot smoked fish.
What is the best fish to smoke?
A novice smoker is primarily interested in which fish is suitable. It can be any, both sea and river. The main thing is to be fresh. Smoked, of course, and thawed fish, if they were frozen fresh. Most often, in practice, fish of carp species (asp, bream, sabrefish), sturgeon (sterlet, sturgeon), as well as catfish, eels, smelt and cod are smoked.
The size of the carcass is not particularly important. Preference can be given to fatter individuals. It is better if in one batch there are fish of the same species, approximately the same size. Then all this fish will be salted, and then smoked evenly.
Small fish weighing up to 400 g, as a rule, are not gutted: they are salted and smoked in whole carcasses. Medium-sized fish up to 3 kg are most often gutted, leaving the scales and head.
Large specimens are gutted and then plastified, always cutting off the head. They can be split in half along the back or smoked in pieces cut across.
salting
This is an extremely important stage, because their final taste depends on the degree of salting of fish.
Fish or fillets prepared for smoking are salted in brine (high concentration brine) or dry.
Small individuals are “put on” through the eye sockets on the twine. Large ones are tied in pairs by the tails. Large pieces of fillet are simply tied with twine.
With dry salting, the fish is placed in layers in some kind of container, sprinkling salt on each layer. Particularly large fish are simply rubbed with salt, then wrapped in parchment.
When wet salting, the fish are immersed in brine. With this method, the salting time is greatly reduced (up to two hours).
The salting stage for hot-smoked fish lasts from three hours for small fish, up to 12 hours for large ones.
Drying
After salting, the fish must be dried for uniform salinity. Fish need to be tied with twine, hung up so that the brine drains. To protect against insects, you can make a gauze canopy by folding the fabric several times, then moisten with vinegar.
You need to dry the fish for about an hour, then wipe the fish with a rag
Before smoking, all prepared carcasses must be carefully tied with twine for convenient suspension in the smokehouse. This will also keep the fish from falling apart while cooking.
Cooking in a smokehouse from a barrel
At the bottom of the barrel, you need to lay out pre-prepared chips with sawdust of suitable wood species. Layer thickness - 2 cm. Be sure to prepare a few branches of juniper for flavoring.
One or two grates and a lid must be pre-sized to the barrel. Install the grilles at a suitable height, one above the other. It is better to lay the fish in one layer, the carcasses should not touch each other. It is better to place large fish on the lower grate, closer to the bottom, small fish on top. There is no need to remove the twine from the fish: the smoked fish will simply fall apart.
Then it's time to build a fire. Let it be small, but give a uniform long heat. After that, the smokehouse must be closed with a lid.
The first stage of cooking fish in a smokehouse is about a quarter of the time, this is the drying stage. The temperature of the smoke is about 80 degrees Celsius. Smoking itself will begin when the temperature of the smoke in the barrel reaches 100 degrees.
Splashing water on the lid of the barrel, you can determine in general terms the "environment" inside the smokehouse. Evaporating rather than boiling water is a sure sign that smoking is going well.
It is better not to open the lid itself during the process so that the air that has entered does not ignite the chips.
How much to smoke fish in a smokehouse
The desired dry smoke with a recognizable classic aroma will appear within half an hour or an hour, based on the size, number of fish, and smokehouse volume. In fact, this is a sign of the successful completion of the process.
How long does it take to smoke fish? For a small one, 20-30 minutes is enough, for a large one, it may take from one to three hours.
A properly cooked fish will have golden scales, a dry surface and a great, instantly recognizable smell.
Well-smoked fish is baked through. Its meat freely moves away from the ridge. Density - the same as that of fried fish. Immediately after smoking, it can be safely served at the table.
How long does hot smoked fish last?
It is important to remember that fish cooked in this way is a typical perishable product, so it will not work for a long time. Store hot smoked fish in a cool place for two to three days, no more. In the summer, it is better to eat it right away.
About the benefits and harm
The benefits and harms of hot-smoked fish are a debatable issue. Due to the high temperature of the smoke, it cooks quickly. The price for speed and excellent taste is the amount of carcinogens felt by our body. It is even more dangerous if the fish was bought from the hands - it could well have been smoked with the help of "liquid smoke", and this is a solid "chemistry". At the same time, the main part of substances hazardous to health is contained in its skin.
As for the benefits, it should be recognized that hot smoking of fish leads to the destruction of most of its beneficial properties.
Alas, such a fish is an indisputable delicacy that has an amazing taste, but contains almost nothing useful for human health.
However, when it comes to hot smoked fish, such trifles as usefulness or vitamin content definitely fade into the background. Real fish gourmets are not stopped even by poisonous puffer, not to mention benzapyrene and other carcinogens.
