Cold-smoked fish: technology, recipes. What kind of fish is better to smoke in a smokehouse? Cold smoked mackerel

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Smoked fish… This product delights many gourmets around the world with its taste and nutritional qualities. Cold-smoked fish has become a traditional dish of the daily and festive table. It is equally good as a side dish for vegetables, as an appetizer for alcohol, and as a main dish.

Until recently, making smoked meats with your own hands seemed to be a very complicated and confusing matter. However, now, with the advent of the Internet and the necessary goods, the smoking process has become simpler and more affordable. You can do it right tomorrow, spending a minimum of effort and money. Moreover, you can smoke fish or meat on an ongoing and regular basis, spoiling yourself and your family with delicious delicacies or organizing your own profitable business.

So is it really possible to cook smoked fish yourself? What should be taken into account and what mistakes should be avoided? What is the technology of cold smoking fish at home? If you are interested, then our article is for you!

What is cold smoking

Cold smoking is a method of processing food with wood smoke in order to preserve it for long-term storage. This method is very useful and practical, as cooked foods contain the maximum amount of useful vitamins and minerals, and can also be stored for a long period of time.

However, the cold method of smoking is rather long and laborious. It involves a long process that requires some effort.

What is cold smoked fish technology? In short, pre-s alted fish is smoked for several days in a specially built facility. During this process, substances contained in wood smoke are released, which have antiseptic properties and prevent bacteria from spoiling and decaying the product.

There are official government documents regulating the technology for the production of cold-smoked fish. Such normative acts are abbreviated as "GOST". Cold-smoked fish, according to accepted state standards, goes through several stages of its preparation, starting from defrosting, washing and cutting the carcass and ending with s alting and smoking. There is a necessary, fixed instruction for each stage of this technological process.

However, people who are unfamiliar with smoking technology immediately have specific, targeted questions: what kind of fish is better to smoke in a smokehouse? For how long should this be done? What types of treesare optimal for home smoking? And is it possible to build a homemade smoker yourself?

Well, let's gradually try to uncover the secrets of cold-smoked fish cooking technology.

Required types of fish

Does it really matter which fish is better to smoke in a smokehouse? Yes, because not all fish can be cold smoked, because the taste and nutritional properties of the product are lost during processing.

So what kind of fish is better to smoke in a smokehouse? Mackerel and salmon are the most delicious and appetizing, followed by carp, silver carp, herring, sterlet, eel, flounder and others. The main thing is that the fish is fresh, oily and, if possible, the same size (so that s alting and smoking are carried out evenly).

So, we have decided on the type of product. Now let's find out what a smokehouse is and how you can build one at home.

Smokehouse. Building process

In order to build a high-quality and suitable smokehouse in accordance with the technology for the production of cold-smoked fish, you need to decide how often you will use this design. If rare, then you can build a temporary (or disposable) smokehouse, if often, then permanent.

For the first type of smokehouse, you must follow simple and clear instructions:

1. Dig a trench in the ground with a slight rise to the side to the smokehouse and measure two to three meters long, half a meter wide and a quarter meter deep.
2. Cover the top of the ditch with piecesnon-flammable metal and turf, sprinkle with primer.
3. Build a hearth at the bottom of the trench.
4. At the top of the ditch, install a wooden frame, the height of which would be one and a half meters, and the width would be one meter.
5. Cover the sides of the frame with polyethylene film, and put wet burlap on top.

In order to use this smokehouse permanently, it is necessary to strengthen the trench by lining it with bricks, and also replace the fragile frame with a solid wooden or brick structure. You can also buy a ready-made smoker in the store or build it from a large barrel, an old refrigerator and other little-used, bulky items of your everyday life.

The principle of cold-smoked fish technology is that smoke will rise from the diluted hearth along the trench up to the smokehouse, cooling along the way to the desired temperature. Smoke will come out through the top of the smoker.

The smoke unit will help us

This type of smokehouse is very easy to build with your own hands without special skills and abilities. However, recently there have been many innovations that help to smoke fish even better and more productively. The introduction of such innovations in the technology of cold-smoked fish saves you energy and frees up time. They will improve the taste of the finished product and help you smoke with joy and pleasure.

One of the nice modern innovations is the installed smokehouse with a smoke generator. The essence of this device is to produce the necessarythe amount of smoke and feed it into the smoking container, while working offline.

You can build a smoke generator with your own hands from a fan, a thermometer, a compressor, several types of pipes, fittings and connecting wires, as well as from other components at hand. Metal cans or pans can serve as a housing for the generator, any pipe made of refractory material can serve as a chimney.

To assemble a homemade smoke generator, you will need a grinder and a welding machine, as well as some skills and abilities. The most difficult thing in this matter is to weld the chimney fitting to the pipe, as well as to make doors for the lids and the firebox. But the result will be worth it - you get delicious, evenly smoked fish meat without much effort.

Of course, you can buy a smoke unit, which will facilitate its design and performance.

Usually, the smoke generator should be loaded once a day with a small amount of wood chips - approximately one liter in size. Such a home-made unit can be stored in a garage and closet, it is very compact and mobile.

However, do not forget that this device should be carefully looked after: regularly clean the container from decayed ashes, wash the casing and more.

Also, when using a smoke generator, basic safety requirements must be met:

- install the device on a hard surface.

- make sure that the wiring is removed from the source of high voltage and high temperature.

- the smoke generator must be grounded.

- keep children and animals away from the working machine.

Similar advice should be heeded during smoking without a smoke generator. For example, you should set up a hearth in a fireproof place out of the reach of small children. It is also important to put the necessary fire tools near the smokehouse - a shovel, a fire extinguisher, a bucket of water.

So, the smokehouse (homemade or purchased) is already ready with us. Now let's discuss the important conditions of cold smoking.

Used wood

What is the best wood and sawdust to use for a hearth?

The technology of cold smoking fish involves the use of hardwood. The most commonly used are maple, aspen, oak, mountain ash, pear and apple, which practically do not emit tar, but produce antibacterial smoke.

For smoking, you need to choose thin and finely detailed branches, as well as chips and sawdust, which will smolder for quite a long time, creating the desired temperature and smoke.

It is noteworthy that the type of wood used affects the taste and aroma of the smoked product. For example, ash gives fish a rich taste, hazel gives a sharp and intense aroma, while maple impregnates smoked fish with a taste of meat.

Many people think that only dry firewood should be taken for a smokehouse. However, this is not required. It all depends on your desire and preference.

If you want your finished fish to be differenttart taste and enhanced brown color, you can use slightly damp wood. And if you want the smoked product to have a bright golden crust and a delicate aftertaste, then choose well-dried branches.

In general, using all kinds of wood, you can experiment, creating different combinations. For example, blackberry, currant and grape leaves and twigs added to the hearth give a characteristic unique taste. Fish and sawdust from hornbeam will give a peculiar specific taste.

It's best to use multiple types of woodfuel, while maintaining a simple ratio: there should be a little more fruitwood than usual.

When conducting taste and culinary experiments, it should be remembered that it is best not to use coniferous trees for smoking fish, as they endow the product with unpleasant bitterness and emit resins that settle on the surface of the smoked dish with a thin layer of soot.

Also do not add firewood infected with fungi, mold and rot. Be sure to remove the bark before using the wood, as during the combustion process it can release toxic substances and give the products an undesirable bitter taste.

Be very careful when using birch wood, as it can add unnecessary bitterness to the smoked product.

It should also be mentioned that in no case should you fan the fire in the hearth. During cold smoking, the wood should smolder actively and intensively; for this, fractionally broken branches should be covered with smallsawdust.

Having decided on the type of wood for breeding the hearth, let's now think about how to prepare our fish directly for the smoking process.

Cooking methods: s alting or marinade

Let's find out a delicious cold smoked fish recipe. For example, mackerel.

Before smoking itself, preferably in the evening, it must be thoroughly washed and cleaned. From the belly of the fish, the entrails, milk and gills should be removed. It is not necessary to cut off the head. Also, do not scrape the skin or scales, this will allow the mackerel to retain the juiciness of the meat and delicate aroma.

Should fish be cut into pieces? There is no need to do this for small specimens, but it is advisable to divide large fish into pieces or make small cuts along the spine. This will allow the product to s alt and smoke evenly and quickly.

How does the s alting process go? There are several options for processing fish with s alt. For example, you can grate the fish inside and out, add spices, onions and put under oppression for six to twelve hours.

Another s alting option is to prepare a strong saturated saline solution and place the mackerel in it for twenty to thirty minutes.

Fatty fish should be s alted in a slightly different way: the product, abundantly rubbed with s alt and spices, is wrapped in foil or parchment and placed in a tightly closed plastic, glass or enameled container for two to three days.

S alted in this way, cold-smoked mackerelwill have a pleasant and delicate taste and aroma.

In addition to s alting, fish can be soaked in a marinade. This will make her meat even softer and juicier, as well as endow it with the necessary flavors and shades.

For pickling, you will need a quarter of a glass of s alt, half a glass of lemon juice, a glass of white wine and soy sauce (ingredients are calculated per liter of water). You can also add onions and your favorite spices and seasonings here.

Mackerel pickling time ranges from eight to ten hours. It is noteworthy that pickled fish should be in a closed container in the refrigerator.

Penultimate stage: drying and curing

After s alting, the fish must be thoroughly washed (in several waters) and soaked, which can also take a couple of days. Next, the product should be dried. To do this, the carcass is hung vertically, not covered with anything, but protected from flies and other insects, and kept for three to five days.

At this stage, each fish needs to be carefully examined in order to get rid of a spoiled, poorly s alted specimen. If the fish smells bad or has friable meat, it must be thrown out.

After drying, the carcasses are hung out in a smoking cabinet, trying not to touch them with each other. Thanks to this, the smoking smoke will evenly envelop the fish from all sides, which will improve the quality and speed of its readiness.

Now let's go directly to the smoking process.

Required duration of smoking

So, our mackerel is ready for cold smoking, and here a quite traditional question arises: how long does it take to smoke fish?

How much to smoke fish is a fairly common and popular question, the answer to which suggests itself: when cold smoking, it is impossible to quickly prepare a tasty and safe dish without subjecting it to heat treatment.

It is also logical to conclude that the time of cold smoking of fish depends on its size and fat content. On average, it takes several days.

Cold-smoked fish technology does not involve cooking during a day trip to nature. If you are going to relax outside the city for quite a long time, then feel free to start smoking even the largest and fattest fish carcass.

How much to smoke small fish? Usually small fish are smoked for two to three days, while larger ones can be cooked for four or more.

Experienced chefs recommend starting smoking in the morning, in sunny calm weather. The first day it is necessary to ensure that the smoke enters the smoking cabinet continuously, and only then, due to circumstances, there may be slight deviations in its flow. So the task of cold smoking is quite capable of coping with one person!

Required smoker temperature

What is the required temperature for cold-smoked fish? Be sure to ensure that the air in the smokehouse does not rise above thirty degrees Celsius. The most optimal temperatureit's twenty-five degrees.

At the same time, you should regularly check the temperature of the air inside the chamber itself in order to adjust the smoldering hearth, if necessary.

However, we must remember that you can not open the smokehouse too often in order to look into the middle - this can significantly increase the smoking time of the product or even ruin the whole process.

After smoking, the fish is not taken out of their smokers immediately, but allowed to dry for a couple more days so that it acquires an even golden color and a concentrated taste.

What is it, ready meal?

So, the cooking time and temperature have been met, and our cold-smoked mackerel is ready!

How can you tell if smoked fish can be used?

Since during cold smoking the carcass is saturated with smoke from the fire and loses most of the fat and moisture, the meat of this fish should be quite dry and hard, have a bright golden crust and fit snugly to the ridge. And of course, a properly prepared product should not have an unpleasant odor and aftertaste.

Long-term storage of finished fish

What is the best way to store smoked fish? The product must be placed in a clean and dry place with a constant air temperature of three degrees. Thus, the fish can be refrigerated for one week.

However, it should be remembered that the dish has a specific pungent odor, so it should be stored in thick paper.

Cold-smoked fish can be frozenvacuum packed for 3 months. It is best to defrost the product in the microwave.

If you decide to leave a smoked fish in reserve, be sure to remember that during storage, its taste and nutritional properties deteriorate. Therefore, it is best to eat this product during the first three days.

Bon appetit!