We smoke fish in two main ways

Appetizing smoked fish is an excellent dish both in its own form and in the role of snacks for beer. That's just store products do not please the composition and technique of cooking. The output is simple - we smoke fish independently. This is not so difficult as it might seem at first glance.

Some secrets of cooking

So, it is decided: we smoke fish on our own! What is needed for this? First of all, the right choice of firewood. Best are juniper or alder. Try to take those that are really dry, raw wood can not be used. If it is difficult to find enough juniper, take a few twigs - to give a special color and flavor, they will be enough. In addition, you can use oak, walnut, ash, maple, apple, pear or cherry twigs. If you want to take a birch, remove from it the bark - in it tar. Do not take coniferous rocks, since they are full of resin. Before smoking, the twigs should be broken into small chips and sawdust. Fire make small, but hot.

How to smoke hot smoked fish?

Before cooking, you need to slightly salinize the fish. Count on the following proportion: per kilogram of salt should be sixteen kilograms of fish. Large carcasses must be opened and cut, medium gutted, and small ones can be cooked entirely. Sprinkle salt on the fish, rub salt into the carcass, moving it on the table with pressure. If the fish has a thick back, it needs to be cut and rubbed into the salt cuts. After that each carcass is salted from a day to four days. If you took a fatty fish, you need to cook a little differently. Each rubbed with salt, the fish must be wrapped in separate pieces of parchment, so that the fat does not oxidize, and only then clean up on the prosalt. After the necessary time has elapsed, the fish should be kneaded for about an hour, hanging it on the string. After that, rinse off the remains of salt and smoke fish. Dilute the fire and place the carcasses away from it, using a special wire stand. With its help, the fish will be baked and soaked in smoke evenly. Lay the fish in one layer. At the beginning of smoking, the fire should be strong enough, after which it must be filled with sawdust to form a thick smoke. When hot smoked dampers in the oven do not need to open much. In an hour or three the fish will be ready. You can store it for no more than four days.

How to smoke a cold-smoked fish?

Before picking the carcass must be tied, stringing on the twine through the eyes. It is necessary to salt, taking a kilogram of salt for every ten kilograms of fish, and the time should go more, up to fifteen days. After this, the carcass should be soaked in water and air dried for about three days. To smoke too it is necessary longer - from day to six. We smoke fish without a strong fire, the smoke should not be hotter than twenty-five degrees, for the source it is used sawdust. With this smoking, the fish loses moisture and can be preserved by smoke from the fire, its meat is dense enough, with a rich taste and a beautiful golden color.