How to smoke fish in a hot smoked smokehouse
Appetizing tasty hot smoked fish is obtained if you make it yourself using a home smokehouse. To do this, you should know the features of the technology: choose the right meat, pick up sawdust for the smokehouse, observe the temperature and humidity conditions. If everything goes right, the dish will be eaten instantly.
How to smoke fish in a hot smoked smokehouse
Beginners will be interested to know how to smoke hot smoked fish using a smokehouse. Hot smoking refers to the treatment with high temperature smoke. The technology is based on a short salting time and short-term smoking on very hot smoke with a temperature of over 100 degrees. The smoking time is no more than 3 hours, sometimes less, depending on the thickness of the carcass and its fat content. The finished product has an appetizing taste and color - both smoked and baked. It does not last long, but is eaten immediately.
The main stages of smoking are:
- prepare the fish - clean, remove the gills, rinse, marinate with a solution or salt by rubbing;
- after washing comes drying;
- baking;
- actually smoking.
For a large carcass, the salting time is increased - up to 12 hours, and to prevent falling into pieces during processing, it is additionally tied with twine. It is not forbidden to add spices: pepper, dill, herbs, fennel, cumin, especially when making a mackerel recipe. In addition to the smokehouse, you can use the gas stove oven - the temperature there can reach 90 degrees, and the duration can be several hours.
How to smoke fish in a smokehouse
An important point on how to properly smoke fish in a smokehouse is the choice of wood fuel. It can be firewood, shavings, sawdust obtained from hardwood trees without resin. Birch is unsuitable for a smoking recipe, but there is an option to prepare a dish using beech, hornbeam, maple, alder, poplar, ash, apple. At home, it is possible to replace the chips with gas and electricity, but the resulting product will differ in organoleptic properties.
Firewood for a smokehouse should be taken dry - with a moisture content of no more than 25%, if it is over 50%, then the product will turn out to be unattractive in appearance, the taste will be bitter and tarry. At higher humidity, the product cannot be smoked - it will turn out boiled, it will become an unpleasant dark color. It is better to choose firewood than sawdust because it gives off more smoke, and this is an important part of the success of hot smoked fish.
It is important to monitor the density of the smoke - if it is thick, then the fish will become dull, dark brown in color, with a bitter and sour taste. With a low density of smoke, the product cannot be smoked to a golden color, it will turn out with a faint aroma. The amount of firewood needed for the technology depends on the duration of cooking - a minimum layer of 4-6 cm is needed, which will be maintained throughout the entire production.
What fish in the smokehouse will be delicious
When asked how to smoke fish in a hot smoked smokehouse so that it is tasty, you need to consider the breeds:
- whitefish, grayling, carp, trout, pike, eel are suitable - but their strong aftertaste should be softened with seasonings;
- local reservoirs will give large perch, pike perch, bersh, sterlet, sturgeon, bream, asp, sabrefish, crucian carp;
- non-frozen fatty breeds will be tasty: capelin, mackerel, halibut, horse mackerel, catfish, flounder, silver carp, catfish, burbot.
How long to smoke fish
Fans of homemade delicious dishes will be interested in how much to smoke fish in a hot smoked smokehouse. The time will depend on the fat content of the carcass, the selected firewood and tools. A stationary large smokehouse in nature suggests a cooking time of up to 12 hours, and small portable barbecue grills can smoke a product from 20 minutes to several hours. The fattier the meat, the longer it will take to cook it.
This time does not take into account the duration of salting, which must be carried out to enhance the taste of the dish. Small fish are salted in brine for 1 day, large fish - up to 3 days, if you take frozen material, then it must be thawed in salt water - this process lasts up to 4 days. Salt or just pickle the carcass - the cook decides. After salting, the meat is dried for 60 minutes, washed for the same amount if the carcass is large (mackerel) and a few minutes for small.
The hot smoking itself lasts half an hour or an hour for small ones, from 1.5 to 3 hours for large ones. You can understand that the meat is ready by the golden-tea color of the scales and the dry surface. The maximum storage time of the finished recipe is 3 days without cold, but if you cook it in a small amount, the carcasses will be eaten by households and guests in a matter of minutes. It is better to eat the finished dish immediately, while it is fragrant and soft.
