How much to smoke mackerel: step by step cooking recipe, tips

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

Smoked fish is a delicious delicacy - you can enjoy it at an everyday dinner with the family, enjoy a treat at a beer party with friends, or prepare a little in advance for serving on a festive table.

Special attention should be paid not only to the preparation of equipment for smoking, but also to the fish itself - one of the most delicious is hot smoked mackerel. This product is inexpensive, even a family with a small budget can afford it to get a tasty and fragrant dish. Do you know how much to smoke hot smoked mackerel?

How to smoke mackerel at home?

In the store, it is not always possible to determine the freshness of smoked fish, especially to determine its taste. Suddenly, the taste of the fish suffered from improper smoking? In addition, this product is not subject to long-term storage, and in order to protect yourself and your family from possible poisoning with a low-quality product, it is best tocook it yourself. Moreover, if you have the necessary equipment, namely a smokehouse, this can be done even in an apartment, and not in a country house or a personal plot, or by getting out into nature. Let's take a closer look at how much to smoke cold-smoked or hot mackerel.

How to choose the right fish for smoking?

Before you figure out how much to smoke mackerel, you need to consider important details. It is advisable to purchase fresh chilled mackerel for smoking in large supermarkets or from trusted sellers in the local market. Thus, there is less chance of purchasing a low-quality product.

A small fish will be an excellent purchase. It is worth noting that you can also purchase fresh-frozen mackerel if it does not have a thick layer of ice glaze on it.

Pre-smoking preparation and pickling process

You can cook hot smoked mackerel by marinating the fish in various brines. But not everyone knows how much to smoke mackerel. And even when using the simplest spices and seasonings, with strict observance of the cooking technology, the dish will turn out incredibly juicy and fragrant, with an amazing rich taste.

How to properly prepare a fish for hot smoking?

First you need to defrost the fish, if the product requires it. It is advisable to do this in the refrigerator chamber, transferring the fish to a flat plate, andput to thaw on the bottom shelf. Do not use a bowl of water, a microwave oven or other heating kitchen appliances to defrost. This will make the product tasteless and dry after cooking.

Next, rinse the fish in running water and dry it thoroughly with kitchen paper towels. In this case, the head should definitely be cut off. How much to smoke mackerel with a head? Doing this is not recommended at all, the head of any smoked fish must be removed.

Gut the mackerel carefully, then remove the black film in the abdomen and rinse and dry again. But the fins and tail can not be removed - they will not interfere with smoking in any way.

A simple marinade for hot smoking mackerel

Fish in brine will pickle and s alt better than rubbing it with spices and seasonings. In addition, the s alt itself will require much less, which means that there will be more benefits in the product, and the taste will not change.

For cooking you will need:

• 1 liter of purified water.
• 55 g of coarse table s alt, which is used for preservation.
• Favorite spices and seasonings - to taste.

Cooking:

• Pour spices and seasonings into boiling water on the stove, add s alt and bring to a boil again. Steep the brine for 5-7 minutes so that the s alt dissolves and the taste of the seasonings turns into the brine.
• After cooling, put the pre-cut fish into the brine and let the product brew in the refrigeratorat least 4-5 hours, but it is better to leave it overnight. If you want lightly s alted fish with a less pronounced taste of spices, you can rinse it in running water before smoking.

How to smoke hot smoked mackerel at home?

If you know all the nuances, then cooking hot smoked mackerel will be simple and affordable even for a novice cook. You just need to choose the right product itself and prepare the equipment for the cooking process. After all, not everyone knows how much to smoke mackerel in a cold or hot way.

The main issue in this matter is the purchase of a quality product, preliminary marination of fish in brine and, of course, the choice of sawdust, on which mackerel will be smoked. You also need to use the correct temperature and cooking time, which depends on the size of the fish.

The final aroma and taste will depend on the choice of sawdust, so you should choose actively smoking sawdust - then you get a fragrant, golden and very appetizing snack.

How much to smoke?

Regardless of the size of the carcass, hot-smoked fish is cooked for at least an hour, while the cold cooking process takes much longer. At the same time, the temperature inside the smokehouse should not rise above 100 °C.

How to understand that the fish is ready and how long to smoke mackerel? By the golden color of the skin. The most important criterion is how meateasily separated from the bone. At the same time, the surface of the carcass should be dry and shiny, when you try to pierce the flesh with a toothpick, no traces remain on it.

What raw materials are hot smoked mackerels cooked on?

One of the important cooking parameters is the choice of sawdust to create smoke. Alder and willow are ideal for this, but ash, birch or oak can also be used.

In no case should resinous woods be used, but a few branches or juniper fruits will give the fish a special taste and aroma.

How to put raw materials into the smoking machine?

• At the bottom of the smokehouse, wood chips with thin twigs and branches of fruit trees are laid out.
• A small (no more than 1-1.5 cm) layer of bark removed from a tree suitable for smoking fish is reported on top.
• You can lay fresh young foliage on top.
• How much to smoke mackerel? At least an hour at a low temperature, approximately 100-110 ° C.
• If the cooking process takes place at home, sawdust and wood chips can be replaced with liquid smoke concentrate.

What is usually hot smoked mackerel?

The best option for hot smoking mackerel is a stainless steel grill, always with a tight-fitting lid so that fragrant smoke does not escape. The height of the smoking apparatus should not be less than 60 cm, and you should not use much more - this will not bring any benefit. How much to smoke mackerel in a smokehouse? At least an hour.

Every 3-4smoking cycle, the device must be thoroughly cleaned of carbon deposits and washed using special products, followed by heating to remove what was not washed off in running water.

If a hanging system is provided, it is recommended to use it, if not, then you can simply put the fish on the grill. There must be at least a small free distance when laying out, then the smoke will spread evenly over the entire area of the product.

And finally - the smoke that appears during the smoking process must be carefully monitored - if a bluish or bluish tint appears, smoking must be stopped and the wood chips and sawdust replaced with a new one after the device has completely cooled down.