Homemade fish smoking

To begin with it is worth considering that fish must be salted before smoking. Fishermen often salted fish immediately after the catch. It is especially good to salt fish on winter fishing, in the cold. It is necessary to mix the snow with salt and mix the fish well in this snow solution. Fish freezes immediately. In Siberian villages such a fish is considered ready to eat. She is dipped in cold water and eaten. At home, salting fish is simple: simply sprinkle it with salt and rub it into the fish.

Consider two kinds of smoking: cold and hot. Home-smoking fish involves these two methods, depending on the equipment that you use.

Cold home smoking of fish most suitable for fatty fish. This is mainly mackerel, burbot, halibut, catfish, herring. Cold smoking is beneficial because the fish is both smoking and drying up. Nevertheless, it does not overdry, although it loses its fat content.

The simplest cold smokehouse is easy to make: we tie the fish to the perches, put a bucket underneath, into which, as the fire is kindled, we put in small gnilushki or sawdust. Do not use sawdust sawdust, otherwise the fish will be bitter and resinous.
Smoldering rye straw is best for cold smoking.

It takes 3-4 days to smoke fish. On the 4th day the fish is completely ready, despite the fact that it may seem to you damp. Do not worry, the cold smoking is exactly what this effect requires. Just be careful that the bucket in which you smoke does not flare up, otherwise your "inventory" will turn into a hot smoking equipment. After smoking, the fish should become golden. You can hang it for 2-3 days in the fresh air, so that it becomes elastic, and then wipe with sunflower oil. The fish will be golden and shiny.

Hot homemade fish smoking most often produced on grates in a furnace. Salted fish is placed in an oven, which is melted with aspen or alder. This is the ideal wood for hot smoking. Thus, the fish is first baked, and then the fire is extinguished, the pipe valve closes, and for 2-3 hours the fish is smoked in a closed oven.

You can use usual grill for hot smoking. The scheme is the same: first with a stove, then with a smoke. Just put the fish on special grilles. Some believe that it is best to bake fish in the wood itself. Do not risk, otherwise the fish will break down or completely burn. Grilled fish are smoked for 20-30 minutes, covered with a metal lid. Be careful: overdo the fish - it will break and will have an unpleasant aftertaste. Only in the oven you can smoke fish for more than two hours. Grilling in time is limited.

Home smoked fish can be produced on both gas and wood smokehouses. It all depends on the conditions in which you are engaged in this process.

Do not treat fish with liquid smoke!! This method is mainly used by producersdelicacies. In doing so, they prove that the fish was indulging in a full-fledged smoking. This is a lie. Treatment with "liquid smoke" is poisoning the product with toxic phenol. Phenol is advantageous if the manufacturer wants to hide the unpleasant smell of stale product. After this treatment, the product can last for a couple of days, but it is impossible, at least because you have already heard about the dangers of such questionable smoking.

Home-smoking fish is a very entertaining and fruitful process. Do not be afraid to experiment. Fulfilling all the rules of smoking, you will not cause harm to the product or your health.