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

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

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

So is it really possible to cook smoked fish yourself? What needs to be taken into account and what mistakes should be avoided? What is the technology for 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 treating food with wood smoke in order to preserve it for long-term storage. This method is very useful and practical, since the prepared products contain the maximum amount of beneficial vitamins and minerals, and can also be stored for a long period of time.

However, the cold smoking method is quite lengthy and labor-intensive. It involves a long process that requires some effort.

What is the technology of cold smoking fish? In short, pre-salted fish is smoked for several days in a specially built structure. During this process, substances contained in wood smoke are released, which have antiseptic properties and prevent the product from being damaged by bacteria of rotting and decomposition.

There are official government documents regulating the production technology of cold smoked fish. Such regulations have the abbreviation name “GOST”. Cold smoked fish, according to accepted state standards, goes through several phases of its preparation, starting from defrosting, washing and cutting the carcass and ending with its salting and smoking. For each stage of this technological process there is a necessary, fixed instruction.

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

Well, let's gradually try to reveal the secrets of the technology for preparing cold smoked fish.

Preparing for smoking

Salmon is famous for its taste, no matter what dish you decide to cook. But various smoked meats have always been considered a truly royal snack. The price of smoked fish, especially of the salmon family, is quite high, but you want to enjoy your favorite dish not only on major holidays, but also on a weekday. The solution is to smoke fish at home.

Before preparing any dish, you will definitely have to do some preparatory work. Smoking of fish could not be done without them. The whole process can be divided into several stages: selection of carcasses, cutting, salting, drying and smoking.

Usually the salmon carcass is quite large, so there is no reason to leave it whole. The most common cutting method is filleting.

To do this, the abdomen is cut open and the entrails are removed. The head will also have to be cut off. The flesh is cut in a horizontal plane along the spine. Similar manipulations are performed on the other side.

Salmon has virtually no waste; you can only throw away the insides. The backbone and head are smoked along with fillet pieces, because there is a lot of meat left in them. The cutting is not finished yet. The dorsal fin, as well as fat from the abdomen, are also cut off. You can smoke salmon bellies as an independent dish, because they are always available for sale. Salmon ridges, heads and bellies with fins are an excellent dressing for fish soup or fish soup.

Required types of fish

Is it really important which fish is best smoked in a smokehouse? Yes, because not all fish can be cold smoked, because during processing the taste and nutritional properties of the product are lost.

So what kind of fish is best to smoke in a smokehouse? The most delicious and appetizing are mackerel and salmon, followed by carp, silver carp, herring, sterlet, eel, flounder and others. The main thing is that the fish is fresh, fatty and, if possible, the same size (so that salting 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.

What kind of fish is suitable for smoking with cold smoke?

Any type of fish has a special taste, the meat has different fat content, differs in density and fiber consistency. Suitable sea, river and ocean fish. Any type of raw material can be cold smoked, but carcasses with high fat content are especially tasty: butter mackerel, ide, silver carp, salmon, salmon, trout, savorin. Less fatty carcasses of pike, bream or omul will turn out fibrous, but just as tasty.

For simultaneous bookmarking, you should select copies of the same or similar size with maximum freshness

Smokehouse. Construction process

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

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

Dig a trench in the ground with a slight rise towards the smokehouse and measuring two to three meters long, half a meter wide and a quarter meter deep.
Cover the top of the ditch with pieces of non-flammable metal and turf, and sprinkle with soil.
Build a fireplace at the bottom of the trench.
At the top of the ditch, install a wooden frame, the height of which would be one and a half meters, and the width - one meter.
Cover the sides of the frame with polyethylene film, and put wet burlap on top.

In order to use this smokehouse constantly, it is necessary to strengthen the trench by lining it with bricks, and also replace the fragile frame with a durable wooden or brick structure. You can also purchase a ready-made smokehouse in a store or build it from a large barrel, an old refrigerator and other rarely used, large items of your household.

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

Fish quality

High-quality fish raw materials have a number of distinctive characteristics: a bright red tint of the gills under the plates, a neutral odor without foreign impurities and putrefaction, bulging shiny eyes, elastic flesh that fits tightly to the bones.

When cutting fish for cold smoking, large scales should be cleaned in advance against growth using a knife or fish scraper. Small salmon scales can be left behind. For fish such as sockeye salmon, perch or eel, it is better to remove the skin.

For carcasses with spiny fins, the needles should be removed to eliminate the risk of injury and cuts. Semi-finished products for smoking can be of the following types: whole with heads, ungutted small specimens, with and without gills, balyk back, fillet plates, pieces.

A smoke generator will help us

This type of smokehouse is very simple to build with your own hands without special skills. However, recently many innovations have appeared that help smoke fish even better and more productively. The introduction of such innovations in cold smoked fish technology 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 pleasant modern innovations is the installed smokehouse with a smoke generator. The essence of this device is to produce the required amount of smoke and supply it to the smoking container, while working in autonomous mode.

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

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, and also to make doors for the lids and firebox. But the result will be worth it - you will get tasty, evenly smoked fish meat without much effort.

Of course, you can buy a smoke unit, which will make its design and operation easier.

Types of smokehouses

Stationary smokehouse

Such a DIY product means that cold cooking is carried out regularly, without fuss or moving around the area. That's why:

each element is created based on the longest possible service life;
both cameras are of a capital nature;

A smoke generator can be made from old metal cylinders, barrels, scraps of a metal electrical cabinet, etc. An option made from brick or rubble stone with a bonding mortar of clay, cement and sand is also suitable. Often this element is dug into the ground below the level at which the remote smokehouse will be located. Average dimensions 30x40 cm, height 35-50 cm;

The parameters of the smoking chamber depend on your appetites and the needs of your family. If you want to make a small smoking apparatus with your own hands, use a barrel or metal tank with a capacity of 200-250 liters (or even less). For large workpieces, build a permanent house with a full-height sealed door. Materials: brick, natural stone, edged boards, old wooden boxes. A very successful experiment - the body of a used refrigerator;

The chimney is firmly fixed in a stationary state, firmly connected to two chambers, and is not afraid of external influences and seasonal temperature changes (as a rule, a ready-made metal pipe is used or a smoke-conducting hose made of tin or galvanized sheet is welded with one’s own hands).

Before making a tin or pipe chimney, make sure the metal is safe. Some sheet materials have a highly volatile chemical coating. Even at low temperatures, aggressive substances will get onto the prepared food.

Mobile design

The name speaks for itself:

The smokehouse is light in weight;
prefabricated product;
easy to transport from place to place

The smoke generator is made of metal by welding (either ready-made containers are taken, or welding work is done with your own hands using sheet iron);

The smoking chamber can be either metal or in the form of a wooden box (this natural material is not afraid of cold smoke);

The chimney, like the stationary model, consists of a pipe or metal sheet.

Do-it-yourself hiking option

In field conditions, cold smoking is carried out according to a simplified scheme:
The function of a smoke generator can easily be accomplished by an ordinary earthen pit into which a metal sheet with sawdust is installed. From below it is heated by burning wood;
the role of the chimney is played by a trench dug directly in the ground and covered with some available material (for example, a metal sheet or a fairly wide board);
The smoking chamber can be easily made from polyethylene, stretched in the form of a dome on wooden stakes driven into the ground.

A DIY “camping” smokehouse must be hermetically sealed at the top so that wood smoke does not escape through the hole. Simply pull the top edge of the plastic film into a bun and secure with a rope. The vent slot is optional - loosen the cord any time you see fit.

Wood used

What kind of firewood and sawdust is best to use for the fireplace?

The technology of cold smoking fish involves the use of hardwood. The most commonly used trees are maple, aspen, oak, rowan, pear and apple, which practically do not emit resins, but produce antibactericidal smoke.

For smoking, it is necessary 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 properties of the smoked product. For example, ash gives fish a rich taste, hazel gives a sharp and intense aroma, and maple imbues smoked fish with the taste of meat.

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

If you want your finished fish to have a tart taste and an 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, you can experiment with using all kinds of wood, creating different combinations. For example, blackberry, currant and grape leaves and twigs added to the hearth give a characteristic unique taste. Fish and hornbeam sawdust will impart a unique, specific taste.

It is best to use several types of wood fuel, while maintaining a simple ratio: there should be a little more fruit wood than regular wood.

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

You should also not add firewood contaminated with fungi, mold and rot. Before using wood, it is necessary to remove the bark, since during combustion it can release toxic substances and give products an undesirable bitter taste.

You should be very careful when using birch wood, as it can impart unnecessary bitterness to the smoked product.

It should also be mentioned that under no circumstances should you fan the fire in the hearth. During cold smoking, the wood should smolder actively and intensively; for this purpose, the broken branches should be covered with fine sawdust.

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

Cooking methods: salting or marinade

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

Before smoking, preferably in the evening, it must be thoroughly washed and cleaned. The entrails, milk and gills should be removed from the belly of the fish. It is not necessary to cut off the head. Also, you should not scrape off 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 salt and smoke evenly and quickly.

How does the salting process work? There are several options for processing fish with salt. For example, you can grate the fish inside and out, add spices, onions and put it under pressure for six to twelve hours.

Another salting option is to prepare a strong, saturated salt solution and place the mackerel in it for twenty to thirty minutes.

Fatty fish should be salted in a slightly different way: the product, generously rubbed with salt and spices, is wrapped in foil or parchment and placed in a tightly closed plastic, glass or enamel container for two to three days.

Salted in this way, cold smoked mackerel will have a pleasant and delicate taste and aroma.

In addition to salting, fish can be soaked in marinade. This will make its meat even softer and juicier, and also give it the necessary flavor properties and shades.

For marinating, you will need a quarter of a glass of salt, half a glass of lemon juice, a glass of white wine and soy sauce (the ingredients are calculated for a liter of water). You can also add onions and your favorite spices and seasonings.

The marinating time for mackerel ranges from eight to ten hours. It is noteworthy that pickled fish should be kept in a closed container in the refrigerator.

Salting before smoking

There are several types of salting fish before placing it in the smokehouse. This procedure allows you to obtain salted, appetizing and tender pulp. You should use plastic, glass, or stainless steel containers in which the fish should be salted flat.

Cold smoked salmon

For the simplest dry salting, you need to generously grease the inside of the carcass and along the skin with a mixture of salt and crushed pepper. It is permissible to add a little twisted onion to this mixture.

Place the semi-finished product in a common bowl and press down on top with pressure. Place in the refrigerator for 12 hours, remove, shake off the salt and soak the fish for 30-40 minutes.

Salting in liquid is intended for specimens weighing 500-600 g and involves preparing strong brine. Soak the fish in it for at least 30 minutes, completely immersing the carcasses in the brine. After this, wrap each fish individually in film and place it on the refrigerator shelf for a day.

For brine, dissolve 100 g of medium-ground salt in each liter of water. Small sabrefish, underbream, and rudd are suitable. In hot weather, you can use a syringe to inject brine into the thickness of the pulp and immerse the workpiece in the brine. The difference in salting depends on the weight of the carcass.

To give smoked meats a piquant flavor and neutralize the smell of mud, you will need not just salting, but also marinating the pulp. To do this, boil 1 liter of water for the marinade, add 50 g of salt and pepper. Pour in freshly squeezed lemon juice to speed up the breakdown of the pulp and quickly soak the carcass. Cool the marinade and pour over the fish. Let it stand for 9-10 hours, dry it and continue cooking.

Spring salting involves cooking fatty sea fish: halibut, mullet or asp. Hang the carcasses in a container, fill with brine, cover with a lid and place in the refrigerator for a day until ready.

For salting, you should choose medium-ground salt without additives, since large crystals will not stay on the carcass, and small ones will turn into a crust and will not saturate the pulp. If the brine becomes cloudy and its smell has changed, the fish should not be eaten.

Important! The prepared brine cannot be reused, so the brine should be prepared again for a new batch of fish.

Penultimate stage: drying and drying

After salting, 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, without covering 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 salted specimen. If the fish smells bad or has loose meat, it should be thrown away.

After drying, the carcasses are hung in a smoking cabinet, trying not to touch them to 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 move on directly to the smoking process.

How sturgeon and salmon are salted

To improve the natural taste of salmon and sturgeon, dry, wet salting and marinades are used. Salting the fish is very important; this is the only way to remove excess moisture from it and get rid of possible parasites. For sturgeon, the following options are used:

Standard brine

Prepared from 1 liter of water and 80–100 g of salt. Add black peppercorns and bay leaf to taste.

Dry mix

The carcasses are rubbed with a mixture of salt and black pepper, and other spices are added to taste.

With onion powder
. The marinade is prepared from 2 liters of water, 200 g of salt, adding 1 tsp. onion powder, black pepper.
With rum or cognac
. Take 800 ml of wine, rum or cognac, add 4 tbsp. l. salt, 2 tsp. sugar and black pepper.
With dill
. Prepare a marinade from 1 liter of water, salt, and fresh dill. During marinating, lemon slices are placed in the belly.
With coriander
. Prepare a mixture of fresh herbs: mint, rosemary. Add chopped coriander and juice of 2 lemons. Bring to a liquid consistency with oil, add salt and pepper to taste.
For cold smoking
. Make a marinade from 1 liter of water, adding 1 tsp. dried dill, basil, 2 bay leaves, 120 g salt, 1 tbsp. l. sugar and peppercorns.

The first two recipes are also perfect for traditional hot smoking of salmon. Dry salting can also be used for cold technology or you can choose other options.

The note

Vladimir Kuznetsov

Professional smoker

To smoke salmon, you can completely omit the spices by rubbing it with salt and sugar or marinating it in brine with black pepper, salt and bay leaf.

Dried herbs will help complement the aroma: basil, rosemary, parsley, dill. You can add fish seasoning or suneli hops to the mixture. However, the tender red meat of salmon, sockeye salmon and trout does not need additional notes.

Mandatory smoking time

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

How long to smoke fish is a fairly common and popular question, the answer to which suggests itself: with 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 for cold smoking of fish depends on its size and fat content. On average, this takes several days.

The technology of cold smoking fish does not involve cooking it during a one-day trip to nature. If you are planning to relax outside the city for quite a long time, then feel free to take on smoking even the largest and fattiest fish carcass.

How long does it take to smoke small fish? Typically, small fish are smoked for two to three days, while larger fish can be smoked for four or more.

Experienced chefs recommend starting smoking in the morning, in sunny, windless weather. During the first 24 hours, it is necessary to ensure that smoke flows into the smoking cabinet continuously, and only then, due to circumstances, there may be slight deviations in its flow. So, even one person can handle the task of cold smoking!

Processing stages

Conventionally, processing is divided into several stages:

ambassador;
soaking;
drying;
smoking.

How to salt and cook cold smoked fish yourself:

There are 2 main methods of salting before smoking - dry and wet. Moreover, regardless of which one is chosen, the fish can be smoked in a homemade smokehouse or factory equipment, which is purchased in a professional store.

Preparatory procedure

Preparation begins with cutting and cleaning the fish carcass. First, the fish is gutted very carefully. Those who have already gotten their hands full can pull out all the insides in one motion. You can learn to do this too.

Make a cut with a very sharp knife in the throat area exactly between the fins and pull it down 3 cm. It should end literally a centimeter before the gills. Using the blunt side of the blade, pry up the innards in the cut and pull them out carefully and slowly so as not to tear the intestines. Ideally, all the insides are removed at once.

Removing fish entrails

Next you should cut out the gills, but not one at a time. As is often practiced, and immediately the entire shoulder girdle. This will bleed the fish. And it will give it a beautiful look in its finished state.

If the shoulder girdle is not removed, blood will be released during smoking and leave dark marks on the carcass. This doesn’t affect the taste, but you definitely can’t call it beautiful.

Ambassador

Before smoking, you should salt the fish. There are two types of salting - wet, dry. Small fish are sprinkled with salt and spices (dry salting), and large fish are subject to wet salting. It is believed that this method allows the fish to be salted completely and evenly.

In essence, wet salting is marinating in brine (saline solution). Depending on its concentration, the soaking time is selected.

Per liter of water, 50-80 grams of salt, this results in a 5-8% brine solution, in which the fish is marinated for 12 hours.

Per liter of water, 270-330 grams of salt - 27-33% brine solution, where the fish is kept for no more than 2 hours.

Spices for cooking

Experienced fishermen advise using a variety of spices to add piquancy to the taste, as well as neutralize the specific aroma of some fish. This could be pepper, coriander, thyme, fennel. You can buy ready-made preparations for fish, and also use herbs.

After the fish has been soaked in the solution, it is washed, cut into pieces, bandaged and completely dried. Before smoking, medium carcasses are cut into pieces or fragmented.

In a cold smoked smokehouse, any fish is smoked only dry! Wet fish does not absorb smoke!

Smoking

A special place is equipped for the smoking procedure. When fishing, fishermen build dugouts, tents, and sheds or other outbuildings are suitable for houses. Crossbars are placed in the room on which the fish is hung upside down.

To build a fire, take various basins and buckets and place them under the fish. A fire is built in containers, and then pieces of rotten wood and sawdust are added to the smoldering coals in order to create and maintain smoke. It is with its help that the smoking process will take place.

It is not recommended to use sawdust and logs from coniferous trees because of the resin, which gives the fish an unpleasant, bitter odor.

The smoke supply is maintained for the first eight hours. You need to stock up on fuel in advance, rotten deciduous trees are best. The fire should be controlled from ignition; it should smolder, emitting a large amount of smoke.

Smoking time

Carcasses of small sizes and weight up to 500 g. smoked for about two days, and average ones can take four days. For a large specimen, a week should be set aside for smoking in a designated place. After completion, the carcasses remain in the smokehouse for another two days according to the technology of the manufacturing process. In this process, a pleasant, rich aroma is acquired, the carcasses become golden in color and are fully dried. But the longer the fish hangs, the better its taste. Large individuals can hang for up to 4 days.

Benefits of cold smoking

Smoking fish at home in a cold smoker provides many beneficial properties. First of all, smoking is a method of preservation by smoke. It has antibacterial properties, killing harmful germs. Unlike frying and boiling, smoking does not create excess fat and water in the fish. The fish is not treated with acids or over-salted, which provides great advantages and benefits.

There are a lot of cooking recipes today. If you use special liquid smoke instead of wood, you can get an aromatic, tasty product without the absence of harmful substances such as volatile carcinogens. According to experts, you can smoke sea and river fish, depending on your personal preferences.

Instant mackerel recipe

Is it possible today to use a quick way to smoke cold meats with your own hands without a fire? Maybe! Professional chefs advise preparing cold smoked fish using onion peels (dye) and commercially produced smoking liquid.

For example, you can take mackerel. It should be washed, gutted, and the head cut off. Take an enamel pan in which the brine is boiled.

For 2 liters you will need;

100 -150 g onion peels,
8 tbsp. spoons of salt,
4 tbsp. spoons of sugar.

The smoking mixture is pre-cooled, and the brine is filtered so that no husks remain in the liquid. Then liquid smoke - 3 tablespoons is poured into the brine and mixed. The prepared fish is placed in brine and covered with a wooden circle, on which a weight is placed as a press. The fish container should be kept in the refrigerator for 3 days. Next, the carcasses are removed, hung in a convenient place, marinated by the tail, and kept at room temperature for a day.

Tips from fishermen

In order for the fish to turn out tasty and, most importantly, safe for health, fishermen advise performing several simple, useful steps before work:

As soon as you bring your catch or buy fish in a store, you should immediately cut it up and salt it;
If possible, freshly caught fish, even large species, are gutted, washed and rubbed with salt. If fishing is delayed, it should be wrapped in a rope and hung upside down, covered with gauze or cloth to prevent flies and midges;
Before starting work, be sure to wash your hands with soap;
When working with fish, take care of your hands. It is better to work with thick gloves at all stages;
Cold smoked fish can be stored for a long time, but it should be kept in a dry, clean room where the temperature does not rise above 3 degrees.

How to cut pike for cold smoking

Mandatory smokehouse temperature

What is the required temperature for cold smoking fish? It is imperative to ensure that the air in the smokehouse does not rise above thirty degrees Celsius. The most optimal temperature is twenty-five degrees.

In this case, you should regularly check the air temperature inside the chamber itself in order, if necessary, to regulate the smoldering hearth.

However, we must remember that you should 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 entire process.

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

Hot smoking

There are a huge number of recipes on how to smoke salmon. The best results are achieved when using a smokehouse, preferably a factory-made one - they allow you to control the cooking temperature, which is very important when smoking, especially for the cold method. Moreover, such devices can be purchased at a very affordable cost.

Traditional recipe

Its peculiarity is the use of dry salting and cut into steaks or fillets of fish parts. Steaks can be smoked with the skin on; it comes off very easily after cooking.

The classic composition for pickling is 3 parts salt to 1 part sugar. You shouldn’t get carried away with spices, but adding a small head of garlic is acceptable, as is using lemon juice.

Dry salting of salmon

How to cook fish:

The fillet should be salted more thoroughly on the thick part, applying less mixture to the thin part of the meat. The salmon should infuse for 3-4 hours;
after salting, the pieces are thoroughly washed and dried with paper towels;
place the fish on a greased rack covered with parchment paper, meat side down;
the smokehouse is heated until smoke begins to emerge from the fruit chips;
smoke for 12-15 minutes, making sure that the smoke is not too intense.

Pieces should be removed from the grill only after the fish has cooled; the skin should be removed before serving.

Wet pickling recipe

Let's look at how to smoke salmon in a smokehouse using a liquid marinade. With this method of salting, the fish will turn out to be especially aromatic with a bright, memorable taste.

As in the previous case, the base of the brine is salt, 100 g per liter of water, you can add a little allspice and a couple of bay leaves. Mix everything, pour the brine into the bowl with the salmon, and leave to marinate for 4-6 hours.

Salmon in marinade

When the fish is salted, it is washed, dried, and can be hung out for airing for several hours.

To start the smoking process, light a fire, place fruit chips on the bottom of the smokehouse, and install a container to collect fat. If the design does not provide for such an element, it can be made from foil. Place a wire rack on top and lay out the salmon, being careful not to let the pieces touch. Close the top compartment with a lid and smoke for about 40 minutes. If the pieces are relatively small, the fish will be ready 10 minutes earlier.

During hot smoking, the degree of denaturation of meat is quite high, so it is not recommended to remove the finished fish with tongs - it will simply fall apart. You need to let it cool and remove it using a wide spatula.

With semi-liquid marinade

We have already mentioned that the marinade can be semi-liquid. A whole carcass is prepared as follows:

first, the fish is rubbed with coarse salt outside and inside;
Prepare the marinade with a sour cream consistency: add salt, 4 tbsp. to a glass of olive or sunflower oil. l. sweet paprika, a couple of tsp. black pepper, stir;
make transverse cuts on the carcass every 3-5 centimeters;

Salmon with cross cuts
rub the carcass with marinade, coating the cuts;
wrap the fish in foil and place on a wire rack;
vegetable lovers can add tomatoes and/or peppers to the fish;
from the moment when smoke begins to emit from the wood chips, time it for 40-45 minutes;
before the end of smoking (5 minutes before removing the smokehouse from the heat), pour fresh orange juice over the fish.

You need to remove it only after the carcass has completely cooled. If you cannot remove the whole carcass without damage, cut it into pieces at the places of the cuts.

Rum smoked salmon

The original recipe involves cutting a whole carcass into boneless steaks. It is recommended to remove the skin before smoking to better absorb the smoke.

For salmon weighing 2 kg. you will need half a glass of salt, a glass of sugar, 300-400 ml. light rum, pepper to taste, some fresh or dried herbs.

Cooking method:

mix the dry ingredients, place the steaks in a bowl and pour in rum;
after 15 minutes of marinating, drain the rum, wipe the pieces dry with paper towels, rub with the dry mixture and let it brew for 3 hours;
pre-soak apple or alder chips in water for an hour;
When cooking on a smokehouse, the smoking time will be up to 2 hours; in a grill at 170°C, it will take a maximum of half an hour to bring the salmon to readiness.

Smoked salmon on a cedar board

Salmon smoked on a cedar board
Smoking salmon in a smokehouse not on a grate, but on a cedar board is a rather unusual way of cooking, but the taste and aroma will be unforgettable.

For one large fillet you will need a little more than a teaspoon of salt, a little less allspice and the juice of one lemon.

How to cook:

rub the prepared meat with a mixture of salt and pepper and let it brew for 30-45 minutes;
the cedar board is soaked for 40 minutes, the salted fillet is placed on it;
It is advisable to soak the wood chips too, so it will give more aromatic smoke;
Place the board on the grill, close the smoking compartment, cooking time is about 40 minutes.

The cooled salmon is poured with lemon juice.

Smoked bellies in the apartment

For cooking at home, the best option would be a vertical (cylindrical) type smokehouse, for example, Bravo.

For 1 kg of salmon bellies you will need:

2 tbsp. l. coarse salt;
half the sugar;
40 g wood chips;
1 tsp. lemon zest;
3-4 dried juniper berries.

Smoked salmon bellies
Before salting, remove the seeds from the bellies, then grind the berries in a coffee grinder and mix with salt, zest and sugar. Rub the mixture on both sides of the pieces. Wrap it in a bag and place it in the refrigerator for several hours. There is no need to rinse after salting; just wipe the pieces with a napkin.

It is advisable to smoke in a suspended state, tying the bellies in pairs. A container for collecting fat is required. You need to cook for 40 minutes at a temperature of 75°C.

Finnish smoking

The recipe came to us from the north, and for smoking we will need either a special grill.

It is better to smoke a large carcass weighing several kg, filleted and pitted. For the marinade, take 250 ml. sunflower oil, the same amount of soy sauce, salt to taste (taking into account the salinity of soy sauce), 2 tbsp. l. sugar, a couple of cloves of garlic.

Lubricate the fillet on both sides with marinade, place it on foil and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. After salting, the fish is placed on boards, and racks are placed and tied on top. All these structures are mounted around the perimeter of the Finnish grill. Smoke at 55-60°C for up to 50 minutes, periodically checking the degree of readiness of the meat.

Fish prepared in this way is so tender and tasty that it does not need a side dish.

Smoking heads

Smoked salmon heads
We have already said that almost everything can be smoked in salmon, except the insides. Here is an interesting recipe for hot smoking salmon heads (you can cook it in your apartment if you have a cylindrical apparatus like Bravo):

preparing brine. In 1 l. water, add 100 g salt, a little red hot pepper, 1 tbsp. l. honey (instead of sugar), a couple of bay leaves, a handful of coriander grains. Cook the mixture for 15 minutes, cool;
put the heads in a bowl with the marinade and salt them for about a day;
Before smoking, the heads must be ventilated by hanging them in the fresh air for 10-12 hours;
wood chips are placed in the smokehouse, dried tangerine peel is added;
put the heads in the smoking compartment, close the lid;
bring the temperature to 50°C, smoke for 45-50 minutes.

The finished heads need to be ventilated by hanging them for several hours. A great dish to pair with beer!

Smoking the ridges

Smoked salmon ridges are a frequent guest on the shelves of fish departments of stores. You can prepare them yourself.

For a kilogram of ridges, on which a lot of meat remains in any case, take 3 tbsp for salting. l. salt mixed with 1 tbsp. l. Sahara.

With the dry method, rub the fish with the mixture, place it in a plastic container, and sprinkle a pinch of pepper on top. Salting in the refrigerator lasts at least 5 hours.

After washing the ridges, they are soaked for about an hour, tied in 2-3 pieces and dried for 30 minutes, hanging in the fresh air.

Drying salmon ridges

The prepared smokehouse is heated to 100°C, the ridges are laid, the temperature is reduced to 80°C and the fish is smoked for 20 minutes. You can smoke in any other device of a suitable type (microwave, oven, convection oven).

Salted smoked salmon with liquid smoke

One of the easiest and fastest ways to prepare a smoked delicacy.

For cooking 1 kg. salmon will need 5 tbsp. l. coarse salt, half the amount of sugar, and 3 tbsp. l. flavoring

How to cook:

Fish cut into large steaks is marinated in a brine of liquid smoke, salt and sugar. Carefully coat each piece with this marinade with a brush or fingers;
wrap the steaks in cling film, preferably in several layers, to ensure complete tightness, leave in a cool place for a day;
wash the fish and wipe dry with napkins.

Ingredients for preparing salmon brine
Cut mono steaks into strips, serve with sandwiches or canapés, or add to salads.

Smoked salmon in the oven

You can smoke Atlantic salmon in a regular oven. Believe me, this cooking option will be in no way inferior to cooking salmon in a smokehouse.

Smoked salmon in the oven

One of the most popular recipes:

the halves of the carcass are rubbed with a sugar-salt mixture and left for 4-5 hours;
turn on the oven at 180°C, place wood chips on the bottom baking sheet, wait until they begin to emit intense smoke;
After salting, the fish is thoroughly washed, wiped dry, laid out on a baking sheet, previously covered with parchment paper, and placed over wood chips;
Smoking will take about half an hour.

The fish is served in a sauce made from mustard (4 parts) and honey (1 part). They are mixed and beaten with the addition of vegetable oil.

The second recipe, baking in foil with wood chips in the sleeve, is no less common:

the fish, preferably cut into steaks, is salted, rubbed with a mixture of salt and sugar, you can add a teaspoon of fish seasoning. Salting lasts about half an hour;
The chips (alder or apple) are placed in a bag made of thick foil, the edges are folded up and the sleeve is placed on the bottom baking sheet of an oven preheated to 200°C. Holes for smoke are made in the upper part of the bag;
the steaks are washed, dried with paper towels and placed on a baking sheet covered with food foil;
how long to smoke salmon in the oven depends on how large the pieces you have prepared; for fillets it is at least 50 minutes, for thin steaks – 35-40 minutes.

Smoking with tea

You should definitely try the recipe using dry black or green tea.

Ingredients for smoking salmon with tea

The marinade can be made in two ways: using soy sauce or using thyme.

In the first case, we will need 100 ml. soy sauce, equal parts of salt and sugar (1-2 tbsp.), 3 tbsp. l. tea leaves, two pinches of dried mint and 1 tbsp. l. fresh lemon juice.

The second recipe involves preparing the marinade in vegetable oil, adding a little dry thyme, and equal portions (3 tablespoons each) of salt, sugar, tea leaves and steamed rice.

The salting is the same in both cases: the fish is placed in a bowl with the marinade and left for 30 minutes.

The smokehouse can be made from thick foil by placing wood chips in it and wrapping it so that the ends remain slightly open and look up. All this stuff is placed on the bottom of a thick-walled pan. Place the fish on top of the grill for cooking manti and cover with a lid. Light the fire, wait for smoke to come out of the foil, reduce the heat to low and smoke for 20 minutes. The salmon needs to be cooled before serving.

What is it, a finished dish?

So, the cooking time and temperature have been maintained, 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 tightly to the ridge. And of course, a properly prepared product should not have an unpleasant odor or aftertaste.