Cold-smoked mackerel at home. Multiple recipes

Mackerel - an excellent version of fish for cooking at home. There are not many small bones in it, and the flesh itself is dense and fat. About how to make a mackerel cold smoked, we will tell in this article. Here are some simple recipes available to any hostess. Let's try to cook!

Salt plus smoke

The magic of these two ingredients has long been known to cooks of different countries. Smoking provides meat and fish with a unique taste and aroma. In addition, it is an excellent way to store the product. Some landladies think that preparing a mackerel cold smoking in the home is difficult, because the process itself will require special equipment. But it is not so. Homemade cold-smoked mackerel will turn out very tasty and fragrant if you use the recipes listed below.

Methods of smoking

There is a significant difference between the types of smoking: cold and hot. Cold - it's rather a drying process at 25-30 degrees. It gives the dish a wonderful smoky aroma and a delicate taste, is a way of preserving, preserving fish. Hot - the preparation of the product occurs at a sufficiently high (up to 120 degrees) temperature.

Preliminary preparation of fish

Mackerel at the beginning should be salted, as this process will remove excess liquid from the fish carcass. As a result, we get a more saturated flavor. Take the stone salt (large). Fish, placed on a cutting board or baking sheet, thoroughly rubbed on all sides and leave for half an hour to lie down. If the carcasses are large, let them soak for about an hour (the bigger the fish, the more salt).

Home smokehouse

Cold-smoked mackerel at home is very well prepared in homemade smokehouse. It is easy to build from an old large pot (or one that does not mind). On its sides we drill several holes at a height of fifteen centimeters. In these holes we insert a metal lattice on which the fish will be. The pan should also have a snug cover.

The process itself

Put a layer of sawdust on the bottom of the pot. In this case, any non-coniferous species: cherry, apple, alder, and oak - the most popular ones. We put the pan on a small fire. Try to keep the prepared sawdust barely smoldering (so that they do not burn, some cooks periodically sprinkle the raw material with water from an ordinary spray bottle with a sprayer). On the grate we put pre-salted carcasses. The lid is closed. Smoke should form a lot, but it should not be too hot (maximum - 40 degrees). Then mackerel cold smoked at home is gentle and soft. And the way of cooking will be cold.

If you have a private house or cottage, this delicacy can be cooked right in the yard, on the hearth, barbecue, barbecue. If you cook in an apartment, open the windows wide open (and warn neighbors, since during cooking there is a lot of smoke)!

Marinade

Instead of pure salt, some housewives use marinade (pickle). It's easy to cook. You need to dilute a half kilo of salt, a glass of sugar, lemon juice, a mixture of peppers, garlic in four liters of warm water and bring to a boil, but do not boil! If the marinade is too much, then it is possible to store the excess in the refrigerator for ten to fifteen days. By this time, you, perhaps, something else you want to smoke. Carcasses of mackerel or fillets are placed in a prepared warm brine for an hour (or better - at night, then the fish will be completely ready to smoke and cook quickly).

We take the fish out of the brine. Dry with a kitchen towel. We put it on a grate, oiled with lean oil. Koptim on sawdust on the weakest fire. Remember that the smoking temperature should not be high!

Cooking time

Most likely, you will need at least half an hour to cook a treat. Although for fillets sometimes enough and twenty minutes. Everything depends on how pre-marinated the future mackerel of cold smoking in the home: the longer, the faster the process of smoking goes. Ready fish can be stored for a long time in the refrigerator (if tightly wrapped and sent to the freezer, then a month later it will be delicious).

Fake mackerel of cold smoking: recipe

We need three mackerel fish, onion husks, half a cup of salt, two large spoons of sugar, lean oil, liquid smoke (for those who do not know, it's a water solution of wood smoke).

1. First prepare the mackerel. You can take and carcasses without heads, so it will be much easier. You do not need to cut the tail. They will come in handy when the cold-smoked mackerel is cooked at home.
2. Onion husks are put in a saucepan (you can take about a kilogram of onions and just clean it). Add water (about one liter). Cook on low heat for ten minutes. In this case, the liquid will become a brownish shade. Turn it off, then cool. We remove the welded husk, and add salt, liquid smoke and sugar to the water.
3. Now we need a container for smoking (in marinade), where all carcasses could fit well. Fill them with a solution and put in the cold for several days. Periodically turn the mackerel to make it properly prepared. In the same way, you can make fillets and rolls from this wonderful fish. Bon appetit everyone!