Hello to all those who love to cook delicious and satisfying meals. My name is Pavel and I am a person who loves to cook outdoors and especially in my garden. Agree, there is nothing better than preparing a delicious dish on the grill, in the company of family or close friends.
Today in the section “Cooking on the grill”, I bring to your attention a simple and tasty recipe for making hot smoked bream at home. To be more precise, the article will be in the form of detailed instructions with full accompanying photographic material.
Here we go…
Ingredients and prices
As I said earlier, the process of preparing hot smoked bream is quite simple, and therefore the ingredients are also simple and affordable.
Ingredients for hot smoked bream
| ingredients | quantity | price |
| Fresh large bream | 1.5 kg | 140 rub/kg |
| Rock salt (coarse grind) | 1 kg | 40 rub/kg |
| Pepper mixture | 1 sachet 40g | 80rub/piece |
| Total price of one smoked bream | 330 rubles |
Agree, it is absolutely inexpensive compared to the pleasure you will get in the process of preparing and eating food. Prices are valid for 2021.
As they say, we have food, let’s go cook...
A metal barrel is a universal version of a smokehouse for a summer residence
It is convenient to smoke large bream and other large-format products in a structure made from an ordinary metal barrel. The bottom and lid are cut off to form a hollow cylinder. A lid is needed to close the container during the smoking process, and from the bottom you can make a tray for laying wood chips, reducing its diameter by 15-20 cm.
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A metal grid of a suitable size is suspended inside the barrel at a distance of 25-30 cm from the top edge on wire hooks. To make it easier to install and remove the barrel from the fire, you can make through holes at the top rim, into which you can insert metal rods - these will be handles. The rods will also come in handy if there is a need to hang any product on a hook inside the barrel.
In working condition, a barrel smokehouse looks like this: • a small fire is made from small firewood in a designated area; • above it, at a height of 20-25 cm, a pallet is placed on a couple of bricks, onto which moistened wood chips are poured; • a barrel is pushed onto the pallet from above, which also stands on bricks; • Place the fish on the grill and close the lid tightly.
The fire in the fire should be small so that the wood chips do not flare up, but smoke. If during the process of hot smoking bream there is a need to add it, you can pour wood chips directly from above, through the grill with the fish. In the middle of the smoking process, the bream should be turned over. To avoid getting burned, you should wear long sleeves and gloves.
It takes 40-60 minutes for a large hot-smoked bream to be fully cooked; the white bream cooks twice as fast.
The recipe involves pre-treating the fish with salt and spices, after which you need to leave it for several hours. At this time, you can start installing the smokehouse. First you need to equip a place for the fire, lay bricks around it, on which to place the smokehouse. Chips are poured inside it, and grates are placed on top of them, on which the bream is placed. The fish must be placed so that they do not touch.
How to prepare fish for smoking
There is a good saying: “It’s not the road….., but its preparation.” Joke!!!!
Since river fish, including bream, are usually sold unsolicited at the market, therefore the first stage of preparation is its cleaning. And for this:
1. In our family, we prefer to remove scales from all fish, including those for smoking. We remove the scales.
Cleaning the fish from the outside
2. We cut into the abdomen and take out all the intestines.
We gut the bream
3. We take out the gills so that the fish does not have a bitter taste after cooking in the smokehouse.
Removing the gills from the bream
4. Place the fish in any large container (basin) and thoroughly wash it from the blood and, if necessary, remove the remaining scales.
My cleaned bream in a basin
5. Place our bream on the board, blot it thoroughly with a paper towel and let it dry for about 10-15 minutes. An excess of moisture will result in our fish being baked rather than smoked.
Blot the bream with a paper towel
The second stage of preparing hot smoked bream is salting it.
How to prepare bream for hot smoking
To put fish into the smokehouse for one time, it is advisable to select fish of a similar size for one smoking session - this will avoid a situation where a small fish has dried out and a large one is not yet ready. First, the bream is thoroughly washed and the gills are removed. There is no need to remove the scales, as they will preserve the juiciness of the product during cooking. For large fish, the belly is opened and the entrails are removed; small fish are salted whole and not gutted. Then, for uniform salting, a shallow cut is carefully made on the back.
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How to pickle bream for hot smoking. Simple Ambassador
To make hot smoked bream more flavorful at home, there are quite a few ways to marinate fish, for example: spicy marinade, honey marinade. soy marinade and others...
Today we will use the simplest salting, just pepper and salt. Because I personally adhere to the principle, the simpler the better and tastier.
The procedure for salting bream for hot smoking is as follows:
1. Place clean and dry bream on a cutting board, take a knife and make even cuts, about 3-4 cm apart, along the entire body on both sides. This will allow the fish to salt faster and more evenly.
Uniform cuts for salting bream
2. Take salt, a mixture of peppers and thoroughly rub our fish on all sides, including the inside. The amount of salt and pepper, everyone has their own taste
salting bream for hot smoking
3. Leave it alone for two hours to completely salt the fish before cooking.
Ready salted bream for hot smoking
Now we have completed our preparation and are moving on to the hot smoking process itself.
Salting bream for hot and cold smoking
There are several ways to smoke bream. Cold, hot and with liquid smoke. Salting is the same in all cases. But it can be of two types:
Dry when the fish is rubbed with salt. After this, the middle bream carcasses are left to lie:
- for 8-12 hours before hot smoking;
- for 2-3 days - before cold smoking.
Wet when the fish is soaked in brine. To prepare the brine, boiling water (1 l) is mixed with salt (3-4 tbsp). If desired, you can add laurel, pepper and your favorite spices. The fish should be soaked in brine for 2-4 hours.
After salting, the fish must be rinsed from salt. Then put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours to dry the carcasses.
Hot smoking process at home
I will use an industrial smokehouse, because it is quite airtight, which will allow the entire cooking process to be carried out more efficiently and efficiently.
But you can also use homemade installations from buckets, barrels or large pans for this. But regardless of the type of unit, the process of smoking bream in a hot smoked smokehouse must be carried out according to technology, which makes our food not only tasty, but also safe.
The process of hot smoking at home is as follows:
1. While our bream is being salted, we go to the barn, collect firewood and light up our grill, where we will place our hot smoked smokehouse.
Preparing coals in managle
2. To maintain a constant temperature, we chop about 15-20 wood chips, which we will place in the coals to maintain a constant temperature under the bottom of the smokehouse.
Small firewood for the process of hot smoking fish
3. An hour before cooking, the wood chips that we will use for smoking need to be soaked in cold water. In our treatment I will use yavlewood chips, but chips from any fruit trees or alder may work.
Preparing wood chips for hot smoking
4. Place the smokehouse on the grill.
Installing a smokehouse in a barbecue
5. Place food foil on the bottom and place pre-soaked wood chips in an even layer over the entire bottom of the smokehouse (layer thickness approximately 3-4 mm). This is done so that the wood chips do not stick to the bottom during smoldering, which will subsequently facilitate the procedure of washing the smokehouse and extend its service life.
Chips on foil at the bottom of the smokehouse
6. Place a tray to collect draining fat.
Putting the grease tray in place
7. Place the smoking grate and place the bream there.
Place the bream with the grate in the smokehouse
8. Close the lid tightly. Cooking time for bream weighing from 1 to 2 kilograms is 20 minutes.
Seal the lid on the smokehouse
9. During the smoking process, periodically add pre-prepared wood chips to maintain a small and uniform flame.
Maintaining temperature while smoking bream
10. After the time has passed, we take out our bream and place it on a clean plate.
Taking the bream out of the smokehouse
11.To improve the taste and aroma of the finished dish, bream should be cooled before serving.
Cooling hot smoked bream
12. Final result of smoking
Ready-made hot smoked bream
In fact, smoked bream is not only a tasty fish, but to the extent of its consumption, it is also a useful product for the human body.
How to smoke bream?
Cooking smoked bream is a fairly simple process. It will be easiest for the lucky owners of home smokehouses to deal with it. But even if such a device is not available, you can use available materials, such as an unpainted metal bucket or pan.
Here we present a video of cold smoking of bream, and below we will describe the whole process in more detail.
How to properly prepare bream for smoking?
First of all, you need to start preparing the smokehouse. Particular attention is paid to the lid - it must close very tightly, even a 1-2 mm crack can lead to burning of wood chips and fish. If the unit has already been used before, a tarry coating has probably accumulated on its tray, lid and side walls. It can be removed using any thin metal plate or a regular spatula - this will help avoid bitterness and deterioration in the appearance of the finished fish.
The bream should be washed well under running water and gutted. It is not necessary to cut off the head. Bream can be placed in the smokehouse either whole or cut into pieces.
We recommend: How to smoke flounder
Preparing for cold smoking
In the process of cold smoking, fish is processed with cold (about 25°C) smoke. In order for bream smoked in this way to be not only tasty, but also healthy, it must be properly prepared - salted. This is done either by rubbing with salt or by soaking in a salty solution.
Useful qualities and calorie content of bream meat for the human body
Hot smoked bream is a source of high nutritional value, which is primarily useful for people who follow a strict diet.
This is due to the low calorie content of the fish. Nutritional value of smoked bream
| nutritional value per 100g of product | gram |
| Fats | 32,8 |
| Squirrels | 4,5 |
| Water | 60 |
| Carbohydrates | 0 |
| Alimentary fiber | 0 |
| Calorie content | 150-180 Poop |
Also, smoked meat contains important micro and macroelements, such as: potassium, calcium, chlorine, sodium, chromium, nickel, iron and phosphorus.
All of the above substances contribute to the normalization of the human cardiovascular, digestive, immune and nervous systems.
One of the main beneficial qualities of smoked bream is the absence of carbohydrates, which are difficult for the body to digest.
If you have not had time to consume all the finished product on your table, then subject to storage conditions, the product will retain its taste for another three days and be safe for humans, i.e. it will not spoil.
Calories and nutrients
Smoked bream retains all vitamins and minerals. Meat contains microelements that are responsible for all metabolic processes in the body - potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, chromium and iron; it is a source of calcium, nickel, sodium, which support the functioning of organ systems.
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Meat does not contain as many other useful substances as plant foods, while fish contains B vitamins, as well as A, C, E.
Animal products are rich in proteins with relatively low fat content. Therefore, 100 grams of smoked bream gives the body:
- Calorie content - 142 kcal;
- Proteins - 26.5 g;
- Fats - 4.0 g;
- Carbohydrates - 0 g.
Bream fillet reduces the risk of developing hypertension and stroke, promotes weight loss and is recommended for dietary nutrition.
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The peculiarity of this recipe is the speed of preparing the fish and the abundance of spices, which give the finished dish a special aroma.
- bream – 1 pc.;
- salt – 50 g;
- coriander – 5 g;
- seasoning for fish – 5 g;
- bay leaf – 1 pc.;
- cloves – 1 pc.
You can hot smoke bream at home if you have a special smokehouse. Before smoking, the insides of the fish are removed and rubbed with spices or kept in a salty solution for several hours.
Before smoking, bream must be washed
Storage conditions for smoked bream
In order for the finished fish to retain its taste for three days, it must be stored in a cool place. These include a refrigerator or a cellar if you live in a village.
In winter, smoked bream can be stored outside if the ambient temperature is below zero. In apartments, this storage place can serve as a balcony, loggia or external hanging box. In the village, as a rule, this is a terrace.
During storage, smoked fish must be wrapped in a plastic bag or food foil. The product will thereby retain its taste and will not absorb the odors of nearby products.
Storage conditions for smoked bream
Smoked bream can also be temporarily frozen in a sealed package, but when defrosting it, all the nuances and rules must be taken into account, otherwise the fish will simply spoil and will be unsuitable for consumption.
After all of the above, I would like to draw some conclusions.
