Contents
Cold smoked mackerel: how to smoke fish at home? Video
Smoked mackerel is a favorite product of many true gourmets. Nutritious and appetizing fish with a unique smoke aroma can be used in delicious cuts of snacks, and can be a great addition to vegetable garnishes. You don’t have to go to the store to decorate your table with this dish. There are affordable ways to smoke fish at home.
Cold smoked mackerel: how to smoke at home
Cooking cold smoked mackerel
Ordinary onion peel (used as a natural dye) and store-bought smoke flavoring “Birch fog” will help you to quickly and tasty cook fish by cold smoking at home. Rinse fresh mackerel thoroughly in running water, gut and cut off the head carcasses. If necessary, completely defrost the raw material beforehand.
Boil the brine in an enamel saucepan. For 2 liters of water you will need:
– onion husks (100–150 g); – coarsely ground table salt (8 tablespoons); – sugar (4 tablespoons).
Cool the finished smoking mixture, then filter it thoroughly so that no onion husks remain in the liquid. Pour in 3 tablespoons of liquid smoke, mix everything. Immerse the prepared mackerel completely in the resulting brine, cover with a wooden circle and press down with a suitable weight. Keep the dishes in the refrigerator for 3 days, then hang the marinated carcasses by the tails and keep them in this state at room temperature for XNUMX hours.
It is recommended to store ready-made mackerel in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped in foil. In this case, the product will remain juicy for a long time and will not dry out.
How to smoke fish at home using the hot method
For cooking smoked mackerel with heat treatment, you will need a smoking pressure cooker with a capacity of 7-10 liters. The bottom of the dish must be covered with two handfuls of sawdust, shavings, small twigs of birch, raspberry, cherry or other fruit trees. After that, install the floors from the grates and place: on the first – a tray for collecting grease and moisture; on the second (if possible and on the third) – washed and gutted fish carcasses without heads (3-6 pieces).
In a homemade pressure cooker, not only mackerel is perfectly smoked, but also red fish. Be sure to remove the bones from it and put the fillet on the wire rack with the skin down
Sprinkle the mackerel with coarse table salt, granulated sugar and other spices and spices to your taste. Keep the carcasses in a covered bowl overnight on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, then rinse and pat dry with a cotton towel. In the pressure cooker, the dish will cook in just 20 minutes. After this time, turn off the heat and let the contents cool down. Wrap the mackerel in plastic wrap, keep it cold for 1,5-2 hours – and an excellent homemade snack can be served.