How to cook cold smoked bream

Preparing fish for smoking

In order for the result of cold processing at home to exceed expectations and for the fish to be not only tasty, but also healthy, the carcasses should be properly processed before smoking the bream. In rare cases, whole individuals are smoked, but it is better to gut them at home to eliminate the appearance of a bitter taste. Bream is cut using the following technology:

• the entrails are removed through an incision along the abdomen;
• the head is cut off if cutting into pieces is planned;
• the gills are cut out if cold smoked bream is cooked whole;
• carcasses are washed with water with special care;
• individuals are dried with paper towels.

The next stage in preparing bream is salting. This is done in two main ways:

1. In a dry marinade. The carcasses are thoroughly rubbed with salt on all sides. For 1 kg. fish use 150 gr. salt. It is important to treat the surface evenly, trying to get the salt under the scales. The workpiece is folded into a container, and oppression is placed on top. In this state, the bream is salted in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
2. In a liquid marinade. Professionals say that using brine will allow you to salt the fish faster, since water penetrates the fibers more easily. In this case, the structure of the fibers may change, and the finished product will become more rigid. To prepare the marinade, take 80 g. salt for every liter of water.

The longer the fish is in the marinade, the better. Salt allows you to destroy harmful microorganisms and prepare the fibers for smoking. For cold smoking, the optimal salting period is 2 days. Any recipe can be adjusted to your taste. It is possible to add spices and herbs to dry and liquid marinade. Most often used for bream:

• ground black pepper;
• coriander;
• garlic;
• basil;
• thyme;
• ready seasoning for fish.

Regardless of the salting method, after salting is completed, the bream is soaked in water for half an hour to remove excess salt.

After this, the fish is ventilated, which makes it possible to remove excess moisture. A day is enough for drying. This is important because wet fish in a cold smokehouse can spoil.

Hot smoking

It is much easier to smoke bream using a hot method than using a cold method. This is exactly what lovers of smoked meats do at home. In production, the cold method is preferred, since the result is a product that can be stored for a longer period of time. Hot smoked fish can be stored for no more than 5 days.

The essence of the process is to treat carcasses with hot steam, the temperature of which varies from 90 to 120°C. For small fish, 2 hours are enough for complete cooking, and for large specimens - 4-5 hours.

Before placing the bream in the smokehouse, it is tied with twine to avoid damage and deformation of the carcass. In a vertical smokehouse, the fish are tied upside down on hooks, and wooden spacer sticks are inserted into the bellies of large specimens. In a horizontal smokehouse, the carcasses are placed on the grill, and large fish need to be flattened, having previously been cut from head to tail along the abdominal area.

Smoking of bream occurs in smoke, so it is especially important to choose the right wood chips.

The following species of deciduous and fruit trees and shrubs are suitable for this:

Wood for smoking fish

• Rowan;
• alder;
• Apple tree;
• pear;
• plum;
• currant;
• blackberry.

The basis is always rowan or alder, and the aroma and special taste of the fish is given by wood waste from fruit and berry plants. At the very end of smoking, you can add some juniper chips to further disinfect the carcasses and increase their shelf life. Spruce wood chips are not suitable for hot smoking; they impart a specific resinous smell to the products.

You can buy wood chips in a store or cut them yourself

In order for the smoking process to occur correctly the entire time the fish is inside the smokehouse, the steam temperature must be approximately the same; for this purpose, firewood is regularly placed in the firebox. Before loading wood chips into the smokehouse, they are soaked in water for about 1 hour. This will prevent it from igniting; the wood chips will give off thick, good smoke.

Cold smoking

Cold smoked bream can be cooked in a smokehouse with a smoke generator or in a homemade installation with a chimney to cool the smoke. The key requirement is to maintain the temperature at 25-27°C. For cold smoking, alder or aspen wood chips are used. Fruit trees add originality to the taste, and juniper branches play the role of an antiseptic.

In order for the result of cold smoking of bream to be satisfactory, several nuances should be taken into account:

1. Smoking without interruption. Stopping for the first 6-8 hours is strictly prohibited. This will lead to the development of bacteria that cause putrefactive processes.
2. Watch for smoldering wood chips. If the combustion process begins, cold smoking will fail.
3. Keep the bream in the smokehouse for the time specified in the recipe. Long-term treatment with cold smoke allows not only to disinfect the product, but also to give it unique taste and aromatic properties.
4. Ventilate the smoked meat after cooking. This will allow the meat to ripen and excess smoke to disappear.

Compliance with cold smoking technology allows you to create an exquisite delicacy. The bream becomes dense, and the meat is not dry, but soft and tender. This dish is served with appetizers, salads or as a separate delicacy.

Properties, calorie content and storage conditions

Smoked bream contains a large amount of protein necessary for the normal functioning of the body. In 100 gr. its product 27 grams. The product also contains healthy fats in the amount of 4 grams. per 100 gr. fish. The absence of carbohydrates has a beneficial effect on the digestibility of smoked bream.

The composition is rich in vitamins of groups B, D, PP, micro- and macroelements. These components have a positive effect on the nervous, cardiovascular, immune, and musculoskeletal systems.

Cold smoked products can be stored for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. It is possible to freeze fish. To prevent the taste from deteriorating, the bream is wrapped in parchment paper or foil.

Smoked bream at home is prepared quickly and easily. Smoking costs are minimal, and the taste of the finished dish is superior to store-bought counterparts. At the same time, smoked meat is absolutely safe. Prepare it and see for yourself!

Not too big, not too small, the bream seems designed for smoking. Typically, the length of this fish ranges from 30 to 75 centimeters, and its weight reaches up to 8 kilograms, but such mastodons are still rare among bream. And ordinary, medium-sized bream is well suited to withering, drying and smoking. Cold smoked bream is especially good, as the fish does not become too fatty and has a wonderful smell and taste. That's what we'll cook!

Calorie content

Smoked bream, do not forget, although it is a healthy product, it is quite high in calories; you should not abuse it. Per 100 grams of fish meat there are about 170-175 calories.

The price of hot smoked bream in Russia depends on a number of factors. So, for example, in the warm season the cost of the product will average up to 300 rubles per kilogram, but in winter it can reach up to 400 rubles per kilogram.

The price is affected by the size of the fish and the quality of its preparation. White bream, for example, are a little cheaper than bream themselves, as well as large carcasses, because they are fatter and their meat is denser, more expensive than small bream.

Now you know how hot smoked bream is prepared at home and on the street, what you need to have on hand to prepare such a dish, how much you will pay today for ready-made smoked specimens. Cook bream yourself and save money; you can smoke this fish in any conditions.

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Preparing fish for smoking

The fresh bream that we are going to smoke must be gutted, washed thoroughly, the gills removed and a shallow cut made from the tail to the spine. First of all, the recipe for cold smoking bream requires us to salt the fish. To do this, simply rub each bream with salt, as before frying. We salt the head more: fish, as you know, rots from the head, and salt will prevent this. Bream does not need to be salted for long - 12 hours in the refrigerator is quite enough for medium-sized fish.

Larger salted breams need to be strengthened with spacers in the belly area so that the meat is better smoked. We use small planed branches as spacers. Ready future cold-smoked bream now need to be dried for 2-3 days: we hang them by the eyes or gills on hooks or thread a rope, and carefully hang them in the garden, under a canopy, on the balcony or in the attic, if there is constant access to fresh air. The main thing is to protect the fish from dust. You can use a mesh or gauze for this.

Preparing fish and cutting bream

To begin with, I would like to note that it is best to select fish carcasses for hot smoking that are approximately the same in weight and size. This way, all the products will be smoked evenly and tasty; there will be no such thing as small carcasses drying out excessively, and large ones not yet being properly salted.

How to prepare bream for the smoking process.

1. Each fish should be washed well, the gills removed, a small incision made in the belly area and the entrails removed. Small specimens do not need to be gutted; they can be smoked whole.
2. There is no need to peel the bream before smoking, just like cutting off the head.
3. In the back area of ​​each bream, a small shallow cut should be made along the entire ridge.
4. Now salting the bream for hot smoking. How to properly pickle. In this case, the fish can be salted either dry (rubbed with salt) or wet (dipped in a salty water solution for a certain time). Since the dry salting method is the most common, we’ll tell you about it.

When salting bream using the dry method, you should take one and a half kilograms of coarse salt per 10 kilograms of fish. Next, the gutted individuals are sprinkled with salt on all sides, including the inside of the belly, and laid out in a “jack” in some container. A pressure is placed on top and the bream should be left in this form for 12-14 hours.

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After half a day, the salted fish are placed in water for soaking for 2 hours, changing the water in the container every 30 minutes. Then a toothpick or any twig is inserted into each belly of large carcasses, and the drying process begins. This is the final stage of preparing bream for smoking; the fish is hung in a well-ventilated room or place in the open air for about an hour or two.

Actually, the process: smoking bream correctly

Dried bream should be hung over the smokehouse. Initially, the fish must be kept in smoke continuously for 6-8 hours. After this, the smoking process can be paused, the fire rekindled and fuel gradually added over the course of 3-4 days. Make sure there is no flame in the smokehouse - if wood or sawdust catches fire, immediately turn off the oxygen using the lid. As you can see, smoking takes a lot of time - you can just have time to go fishing again, and before that, read interesting articles about fishing on https://ribalka-vsem.ru/

Ready smoked bream acquires a characteristic golden color, a delicate aroma, its meat becomes elastic - with cold smoking the fish is not too dry, as is the case with dried fish, but not greasy and soft, as in the case of hot smoking. After this, the fish can be eaten, or can be stored in the refrigerator, wrapped in cloth or paper, for up to 3 months. By the way, in addition to smoking bream, in the culinary section of the site “Fishing for everyone!” You will definitely like recipes for cold smoked fish or homemade sprats!

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Cold smoked bream: choosing a smokehouse and firewood

The process of smoking fish itself requires patience: it takes at least 4-6 days if the fish is not too large, although exactly half of the time is allocated for smoking of this entire period. Everything else is taken up by preparation. And it starts with choosing a place for smoking.

If you have a smokehouse or shed in a private house or country house, the question of finding a place disappears by itself. If not, any shed, old tent, or even a simple shed in the garden or yard will be suitable for building a smokehouse if the weather is not rainy. Metal boxes, barrels, buckets or boxes are often used as a smokehouse - it is convenient to build a fire in them or install such a smokehouse on coals. What you definitely need when building a smokehouse yourself: have a suitable lid to cover the fuel, prepare a place where hooks with fish and the hooks themselves will hang (they can be easily bent from ordinary wire) and stock up on firewood.

Benefits and calorie content of cold smoked bream

With strict adherence to heat treatment technology, most of the most important elements for the body can be preserved. The chemical composition of the finished product is represented by a large amount of potassium, sodium, iron and chromium. Rare elements such as fluorine, phosphorus and nickel are also found. A distinctive feature of cold smoked bream is the low calorie content of the dish. 100 g of delicacy contains:

• proteins - 29.7 g;
• fats - 4.6 g;
• carbohydrates - 0 g;
• calories - 160 kcal.

Considering the excellent ratio of BJU, cold smoked bream is a source of building material for the body. But excessive consumption of smoked meats can be harmful to health. The maximum volume of the product should not be more than 100-200 g per day.

Cold smoked fish retains most of the substances beneficial to humans

Regular inclusion of the delicacy in your diet significantly improves the functioning of many body systems. Vitamins A, B, E, PP and fatty acids have a beneficial effect. Under the influence of beneficial compounds, the functioning of the circulatory and nervous systems improves, and the gastrointestinal tract is normalized.

Rules for cold smoking bream

A true culinary masterpiece requires strict adherence to the instructions and wishes set out in the recipes. To prepare cold smoked bream, it is important to choose the right raw material, salt or marinate it, and then proceed to direct processing with smoke.

To make the fish more tasty, after salting it must be slightly dried. Bream are hung outdoors for 2-3 hours. This will ensure the release of excess moisture remaining after salting or long-term marinating.

Selection and preparation of fish

Bream is a widespread fish in almost all water bodies of the country. That is why the best raw material for cold smoking is freshly caught fish. Repeated cycles of freezing and defrosting significantly reduce the consumer characteristics of the product. It is recommended to start salting or marinating carcasses no later than 48 hours after catching.

The head and fins serve only a decorative function, so it is recommended to remove them

If it is not possible to use fresh bream, cold smoking can also be applied to frozen or chilled fish. It is important to pay attention to its appearance. The eyes should not be cloudy. The scales of a quality product retain their natural shine. When you press on fresh bream, the meat instantly compensates for the deformation.

Most types of river fish have very bony fillets. This is why it is recommended to avoid cold smoking of too small carcasses. The optimal size of bream is 1 kg - such an individual has enough fat for an ideal taste. Bream that are too large lose their characteristics. In addition, large individuals may simply not fit into the smokehouse.

The head of each fish is cut off, then the belly is cut open and gutted. All dorsal and ventral fins are removed with a sharp knife. The bream is thoroughly washed under running water, after which it is sent for further preparation.

Pickling

Long-term aging in a salt mixture will not only significantly improve taste characteristics, but also increase shelf life by destroying potentially dangerous microorganisms. You can pickle bream for cold smoking using several recipes. The most popular method is to simply rub the carcasses and keep them in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. For those looking for a bolder flavor, you can create a simple mixture using the following ingredients:

• 200 g salt;
• 20 g ground pepper;
• 2 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• 1 tbsp. l. ground coriander.

All seasonings are mixed in a small container. The prepared mixture is rubbed on the outside and inside of the bream. The carcasses are kept in the refrigerator for up to 10 hours. The fish is washed to remove spices in cold water, dried with a towel and slightly dried.

Pickling

The use of aromatic brine allows you to significantly diversify the taste of the finished product. For the simplest marinade, use 100 g of salt per 1 liter of water. Bream is soaked in this liquid for up to 10 hours. Before cold smoking, it is wiped dry and hung in the open air for a couple of hours.

Complex brines can significantly improve the taste of the finished product

For a brighter taste, various spices or specific ingredients are added to the marinade. If desired, you can get a sweet, spicy or wine brine. For the most common cold smoking marinade recipe you will need:

• ½ lemon;
• ½ orange;
• 1 onion;
• 50 g salt;
• 2 bay leaves;
• 1 tbsp. l. granulated sugar;
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon;
• a pinch of thyme.

Citrus juice is mixed with 1 liter of cold water. Salt, sugar and seasonings are added to the mixture. It is heated to a boil, then cooled. The finished marinade is poured over the fish and kept for 6 to 8 hours. The bream is cold-smoked for 2-3 hours. Only after drying can you begin to smoke treatment.

Preparing the fish

The preparatory stage includes cleaning and salting. Before salting bream for smoking, the carcasses are washed. The scales are not cleaned because they act as a barrier and will not allow excess juice to drain. The dish will turn out juicy and tender. The gills must be removed. Small fish can be smoked along with their entrails. Large carcasses are best gutted. An incision should be made from above, along the ridge. It will help the meat salt better.

Dry salting

Dry salting is popular due to its simplicity. For 5 kg of bream you will need 50 g. salt. Each fish is rubbed separately and placed in a container.

If the fish is gutted, do not forget to coat it inside. Salting must be done in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

Salting in salt brine

To prepare brine (saline solution) for 1 liter. Take 90 grams of water. salt. The fish is poured with prepared brine and left to marinate for 5-13 hours. It is possible to add spices and herbs to the brine, which will make the taste refined and original. Additional ingredients may also be present in dry salting.

Regardless of the chosen salting option, after marinating, the bream is soaked in water. The duration of the procedure is 12-24 hours. In this case, it is necessary to change the water 23 times. After soaking, the fish are wiped and dried. Drying salted fish allows you to remove excess moisture so that during hot smoking the bream is not cooked, but smoked.

How to cold smoke bream

There are a huge number of ways to prepare a delicious fish delicacy. The most popular method for bream is cold smoking - it involves long-term treatment of carcasses with smoke. If you do not have the necessary equipment, you can use home appliances - an oven or a convection oven. You can reproduce the taste of cold smoking using liquid smoke. In small doses, this substance is absolutely safe for the body.

How to smoke cold smoked bream in a smokehouse

This method allows you to obtain the highest quality delicacy, but it will require serious technical equipment. An essential component of a cold smoked smokehouse is a smoke generator. This device provides a continuous supply of cold smoke to the main room of the smokehouse. If in more expensive devices it is built-in, home-made options most often have to be completed manually.

Simply following the instructions will result in a finished product of the highest quality. Given long-term smoke treatment, it is important to ensure a continuous supply. Chips that are too small will burn out quickly. It is best to make it yourself from the wood of fruit trees. The wood chips are soaked for 1-2 hours in cold water. It is then placed in a special bowl inside the smoke generator.

Choosing wood chips for cold smoking is a fairly simple task. Since during the cooking process hot fat does not fall on wet wood, almost any type of raw material can be used - from alder to cherry. The main thing is not to use coniferous wood chips, otherwise you can seriously spoil the taste of the product.

Smoke treatment may take up to 24 hours

The main cabinet of a cold smoked smokehouse should be quite large in order to accommodate several large carcasses. The bream are tied with twine and hung on special hooks. The smoke generator is connected to the smokehouse and the cooking process begins.

Treating bream with cold smoke is a rather lengthy procedure. It will take about 24 hours for a kilogram carcass to be fully prepared. Then the delicacy is hung out in the open air for an hour for ventilation. The fish is served cold as an appetizer with other dishes.

Cold smoked bream with liquid smoke

The lack of a smokehouse with a smoke generator should not discourage you from enjoying delicious dishes. Using a little secret, you can get that same smoky aroma. For the recipe you will need:

• 1 liter of water;
• 100 ml liquid smoke;
• 1 cup onion peel;
• 3 tbsp. l. salt;
• 1 tbsp. l. granulated sugar;
• 2-3 bream.

First you need to prepare a flavorful marinade. Onion peels are crushed and filled with water. The liquid is brought to a boil, salt and sugar are added. After the seasonings are completely dissolved, the marinade is removed from the heat and cooled. Liquid smoke is poured into it and mixed thoroughly.

Liquid smoke allows you to preserve the bright taste of smoked meats

Pre-prepared bream is placed on the bottom of a wide pan. They are poured with marinade and placed under pressure. The fish is stored for 2 days in a cool place - a refrigerator or basement. The finished product is thoroughly washed, dried with a towel and served.

Recipe for cold smoked bream in an air fryer

To obtain the perfect delicacy, you can use your usual kitchen appliances. An air fryer with the ability to set a minimum temperature of 50-60 degrees is best suited for these purposes. Stronger heat will not allow you to get the same taste and consistency of cold smoking.

Before proceeding with direct heat treatment, the bream must be prepared. It is cleaned, gutted, and the head and fins are cut off. The carcasses are thoroughly washed in water, then generously coated with a special mixture for smoking, consisting of liquid smoke and spices. The fish is placed under oppression for 3 days, then washed and dried.

You can place several chips of alder or apple tree on the bottom of the air fryer.

The bream is cut into portions 4-5 cm wide. They are laid out on oiled air fryer grates. The minimum temperature is set on the device and it is turned on. Cold smoked bream in an air fryer will be ready within three hours. The snack is ideal for a quick snack.

Smoking in several stages

The best option for smoking is fresh catch. But such an outcome is not always possible, so we have to go to the store. There are several tips to choose fish with a suitable expiration date and not be deceived.

• First of all, carcasses should be assessed according to external parameters. The fish should not be damaged, and its color should be monotonous.
• If bruises are visible through the scales, then you should refrain from purchasing, since the shelf life has clearly been violated.
• Negative signs include cloudy eyes and the presence of sticky, matte mucus on the carcasses.
• Bream meat is very elastic, so pressing with your finger will serve as an indicator of freshness. The resulting hole should disappear fairly quickly.

Remember that smoking of bream will be uniform only if the dimensions of all carcasses are approximately the same.

First you have to prepare the fish by gutting it properly. It is not advisable to remove the scales, as they will serve as a protective frame during smoking. Hot smoking makes the fibers loose. The scaled fish will fall apart into pieces. In addition, the protective layer will preserve the juice that is released during the cooking process, and the meat will not be so dry.

An incision is made in the abdomen and the entrails are removed through it. Don't forget to get rid of the gills. But small carcasses can be salted without preliminary cutting. To complete the preparation, an incision is made along the back. Since the meat in this part has the maximum layer, the mentioned cut will help for more effective salting and smoking.

There are two main ways to salt fish before placing it in the smokehouse. The first method is to rub it with salt, and the second is to prepare a liquid marinade.

1. For dry salting, only coarse salt is used. It must be taken in quantities of at least 1.5 kg per 10 kg of fish. This calculation is approximate, since excess salt will simply remain on the cutting table. The carcasses are thoroughly rubbed, and cavities are not left unattended. You must try to rub the composition under the scales. The processed carcasses are carefully placed in a suitable container so that the tails and heads alternate with each other. It is necessary to provide a slight pressure from above, for which oppression is placed. A simple ambassador in the presence of oppression will be somewhat more effective. As a result, salting takes about 12 hours.
2. Liquid brine is prepared using water by adding salt. You need to marinate bream with a mixture prepared in the following ratio: 80 grams of salt per liter of water. There is no fundamental difference between these methods, but experienced experts say that if you marinate fish with liquid brine, you can save time, and if you salt it with simple salting, the meat will be softer.

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Additional spices are added to both dry and liquid marinade. It is believed that not all seasonings are suitable for fish, and some lovers of home-smoked fish generally refrain from adding additional flavors or odors.

The final stage of preparing the carcasses will be soaking in water. Although it is believed that meat does not take in more salt than it should, it is still necessary to get rid of the excess amount. Half an hour in the water will be enough, but do not rush to start smoking the fish, let it dry a little.

The walls of the cavity must be spread apart and secured with wooden sticks. It is possible to speed up the process if you first wipe the carcass with a towel or napkin. We have presented the base for hot smoking. All other existing recipes describe the same procedures step by step, only the composition of the ingredients is supplemented in accordance with the cook’s imagination.

How and how long is cold smoked bream stored?

Using a large amount of salt can significantly increase the preservation of the finished delicacy. The shelf life of cold smoked bream in the refrigerator can be up to 2 weeks if the necessary conditions are met. The temperature should not exceed 4 degrees. It is important to have a separate drawer for fish so that the strong aroma of smoke does not spoil the neighboring products.

To keep cold smoked bream in the refrigerator much longer, you can use a trick - use a vacuum sealer. This device completely protects the product from oxygen, thereby minimizing oxidation processes inside the meat. The shelf life of the fish in this case increases to 1 month.