Marinade for fish for hot smoking

5 minutes Author: Konstantin Pavlov 12231

A unique aroma and delicate taste distinguishes fish cooked through the smoking process. It’s easy to create amazing dishes yourself; they will decorate any holiday table. At home, you can smoke any fish, river or sea. It is better to stick to fresh fish - mackerel, herring, perch, catfish, pike perch. This type of processing allows you to preserve taste, increasing the shelf life of the product.

To obtain an unusual rich taste, it is recommended to prepare a marinade for smoking fish. A simpler option is to salt the carcasses, but this method will not reveal all the benefits of processing. Ingredients are selected based on your own taste preferences; salt, pepper, sugar, and bay leaf are required. Both cold and hot smoked marinades often include spices. These are cloves, basil, coriander, saffron, dill, parsley, and also citrus fruits - oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits. Honey, white and red wine of varying strengths, and even kefir are often used.

Marinade recipes

To marinate fish, you first need to prepare it. Whether or not to remove the scales and head depends on individual preferences, but the insides must be removed. After rinsing thoroughly under running water, place the carcasses on a paper towel. Then you can safely start preparing the marinade.

Classic marinade

30 gr. salt;
5 gr. Sahara;
Bay leaf;
dry dill, parsley;
5-8 peas of allspice and black pepper.

Combine spices, mix in a saucepan, add 2 liters of water. Bring to a boil, hold for no more than 5 minutes, then remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Send the prepared carcasses to the marinade; the whole process takes from 8 to 12 hours.

Marinade with herbs

basil;
saffron;
parsnip;
celery;
coriander;
100 gr. salt;
50 gr. Sahara;

Take a tablespoon of each seasoning, add to boiling water (1 liter), add salt and sugar. Turn off after 3 minutes, when it cools down, pour in the fish. Marinate for 6-12 hours, the recipe is suitable for different smoking methods.

Marinade for cold smoking

800 ml water;
300 gr. salt;
100 gr. Sahara;
3-4 limes;
75 ml wine vinegar;
5 cloves of garlic;
Art. a spoonful of a mixture of mint and basil herbs.

Heat the water, add salt and sugar, boil for 5 minutes. Enrich the still hot brine with lime juice, wine vinegar, chopped garlic and spices. After stirring, pour over the prepared fish, the marinade recipe can be supplemented with any spices, herbs - ginger, fennel, coriander, keep for 3-4 days. Afterwards, dry the fish in the fresh air for 5-7 hours, then you can start smoking.

Preparing fish for salting

Before salting, the fish must be cut. This procedure is somewhat different from the one that is usually carried out before frying. For example, the scales or skin are not separated, nor are the fins. Many avid lovers of natural taste advise not to even remove the offal, but this is an extreme, they will give a bitter aftertaste in any case. In addition, fully prepared fish looks more aesthetically pleasing.

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The entrails are removed along with a thin black film covering the surface of the abdominal cavity. If you decide to leave the head (and there is a reason for this), then the gills should be removed. Carcasses with the head on are more juicy.

After all the above manipulations, the fish should be rinsed well in running water. If desired, you can cut the fillet if the dimensions of the carcass allow this. A horizontal cut is made along the ridge on one side and the other. There is usually a lot of meat left on the skeleton. Depending on the type of fish, the ridges can also be smoked (pink salmon, chum salmon). The rib bones remained in the cut layers. If you remove them, you will get a fillet.

A medium-sized fish should not be cut into pieces. The entire procedure, which involves removing the entrails and gills, is aimed at preparing the entire carcass for smoking. Some fish species do not grow large. Smelt, capelin or roach can only reach 20 cm in length and weigh only 120-200 grams. These fish do not need to be gutted, but they will definitely need to be washed in clean water.

Marinade with white wine and honey

2 liters of water;
100 gr. salt;
80 gr. honey;
300 ml dry white wine;
3 cloves of garlic;
5 gr. black pepper;
5 gr. nutmeg.

For this hot smoked marinade, it is better to choose fatty types of fish; wine can make the meat dry. Heat water, add spices and wine, cut garlic into thin slices, cook for 5-7 minutes. If you want to achieve a more intense taste, finely grate the cloves. Place the fish in the prepared marinade and then place it in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

Selection of products for smoking

Meat, poultry, game, fish, sausages, and cheeses are smoked. Much less often - fruits, vegetables and nuts.

The basic principle of proper smoking is a careful approach to the selection of raw materials. For example, the freshness of meat is determined by assessing its appearance, smell, color and consistency.

The meat should be elastic, dense, with a dry surface. When you touch it, nothing should stick to your hand. Its color should be typical for a certain type of animal, for example, a pig - pinkish-red. Raw meat produces clear juices.

When forming sausages, you should also use exclusively fresh meat products, this directly affects their shelf life. In addition to standard types of meat (beef, pork, veal), horse meat, lamb, venison, poultry, and game are also used for sausages. It is better if it is the meat of an older individual, since young meat is loose and oversaturated with moisture.

Hot smoked marinade with citrus fruits

1 liter of water;
2 gr. thyme, basil, sage, rosemary, cinnamon;
5 laurel leaves;
5 coriander peas;
10 gr. Sahara;
30 gr. salt;
10 gr. mixtures of red and black pepper;
green cilantro;
orange;
grapefruit;
bulb.

Place the water in a saucepan on the stove, after boiling, add all the ingredients, cut the onion and citrus fruits into large slices. Cook over low heat for no more than 10 minutes with the lid closed. Afterwards, cool the brine and place the prepared fish. Marinating will take at least 12 hours, then the carcasses need to be ventilated in fresh air for an hour.

Red wine marinade

1 liter of water;
500 ml red semi-sweet wine;
40 gr. salt;
20 gr. ginger;
5 carnation stars;
5 gr. cumin and rosemary.

Preparing fish for hot smoking

Hot smoking fish is a fairly simple process and can easily be done in nature if you have a smokehouse. It consists of several stages - processing of carcasses, salting or marinating, drying and direct smoking.

Preparing fish products for marinating

Frozen products must first be defrosted in a container with cold water. This will take a lot of time, but you shouldn't use hot water.
Small fish can be smoked with the head and entrails.
For large specimens, it is worth separating the head and removing the inner part.
It is better to cut large fish into steaks.
There is no need to remove the scales - this will help the meat retain moisture and will not allow some of the harmful substances from the smoke to escape.

General rules for marinating

It is important to properly prepare fish for hot smoking. This is the key to getting a delicious dish at the end. Before putting it into the smoking apparatus, you need to marinate or salt the fish.

The best container for keeping fish in sauce is wooden.

There is no need to add vinegar and wine to the fillings for freshly caught fish.

In order for it to be better soaked in the sauce, it is better to divide it into parts.

For fatty fish, marinades containing ginger and soy sauce are well suited.

Not all ingredients for filling may be on hand. Soy sauce can be replaced with lemon juice, ground pepper, mayonnaise with added water. Instead of Provençal herbs, take dill, parsley, and celery.

How long should fish be marinated before smoking? Unlike drying, it does not need to be kept in brine for a long time, since this will be followed by hot processing, which will make the product completely safe for health.

If the fish is marinated for several hours, it must be placed in a cool place.

About preparing for smoking

How to prepare fish for smoking
There is no need to clean and gut the fish, this will make it more juicy. The fish should be covered with salt at the rate of 100 g of salt per 1 kg of fish. Rub the fish with salt evenly and leave for 2-12 hours. It won't be completely salted in two hours, but sometimes you need to cook the fish quickly.

To speed up salting, you can make shallow oblique transverse cuts on the sides of the fish.

Wood chips for smoking

For smoking you need wood chips, they are sold in the store, although you can make it yourself. In childhood, for smoking, we used a knife to plan thin willow or alder twigs, having previously cleared them of bark.

Nowadays you can buy wood chips of various varieties: from alder, apple, pear, quince, juniper, etc. Naturally, I use alder wood chips, since my family obliges me. In fact, no matter how much I smoke on different wood chips, the taste of the finished product is not was different.

Marinade recipes

Simplest

Ideal for preparing red varieties such as salmon or trout for smoking. You will need brown sugar. They need to sprinkle the pieces of fish and leave for several hours.

Classic

water – 2 liters;
salt – 30 grams;
allspice peas – 6 pieces;
sugar – 5 grams;
black peppercorns;
Bay leaf;
dried dill;
parsley

Place sugar, salt, spices and herbs in a container, add water, and put on fire. After boiling, keep on the stove for 5 minutes, then remove and cool.

With honey and olive oil

For this recipe you need the following ingredients:

olive oil – 150 ml;
natural liquid honey – 50 g;
lemon juice – 100 ml;
garlic – 3 cloves;
mixture of dry spices – 20 g;
parsley - a bunch;
salt - teaspoon;
ground black pepper - to taste.

Combine olive oil with lemon juice and mix thoroughly to obtain a homogeneous mixture. Add honey, spices, chopped parsley. Crush the garlic and add to the marinade, pepper, salt and mix again. Pour the prepared sauce over the carcasses and leave to soak for 4-6 hours.

Universal

lemon – 1 piece;
water – 1 liter;
garlic – 3 cloves;
salt – 1 glass;
sugar – 1 glass;
onion peel;
Bay leaf;
black pepper.

Bring water to a boil, add salt, sugar, onion peels and bay leaves. Then add lemon juice, pepper, chopped garlic. When the marinade has cooled, dip the fish into it so that they are completely covered with it, and leave for 6 hours.

With red wine

water – 1 liter;
ginger – 20 grams;
red wine – 0.5 liters;
salt – 40 grams;
rosemary and cumin – 5 grams each;
cloves - 5 pieces.

Boil water, add cloves and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, cool, pour in the wine, add the remaining ingredients, mix well. Place the fish in the marinade for 4 hours. Thanks to the wine, the smoked fish will be tender and juicy.

With lime

lime – 2 pieces;
olive oil – half a glass;
garlic – 4 cloves;
basil, lemon balm, mint;
salt;
ground pepper.

Squeeze the juice of two limes, add olive oil, mix thoroughly. Crush the garlic, chop the herbs, add to the prepared mixture, add salt and pepper, and mix again. Marinate the fish for 2-4 hours.

With herbs and spices

water – 1 liter;
salt – 100 grams;
granulated sugar – 50 grams;
coriander;
celery;
parsnip;
saffron;
basil.

Grind the herbs and spices and put each tablespoon in boiling water, then add salt and sugar, keep on fire for 3 minutes, cool. Place the fish and marinate for 2-4 hours.

With ginger

garlic - two cloves;
olive oil 4 tablespoons;
natural liquid honey - a tablespoon;
soy sauce – 4 tablespoons;
ginger root - a small piece;
dried cherries - a tablespoon;
dry white wine – a tablespoon;
sesame oil – tablespoon;
pepper and salt.

Grate the garlic and ginger. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and pour the resulting marinade over the fish pieces. Leave to soak for several hours, then smoke.

With orange and grapefruit

water – 1 liter;
grapefruit – 1 piece;
orange - 1 piece;
sage, cinnamon, rosemary, basil and thyme - 2 grams each;
bay leaf – 5 pieces;
salt – 30 grams;
sugar – 10 grams;
coriander peas – 5 pieces;
onion – 1 piece;
mixture of peppers – 10 grams;
cilantro.

Cut the orange, grapefruit and onion into large slices. Pour water into the pan, put it on the fire, when it boils, put all the ingredients, cook under the lid for about 7 minutes. Place the prepared fish into the cooled marinade and let stand for several hours.

With coriander

coriander - tablespoon;
water - one liter;
bay leaf - five pieces;
sugar – two table. spoons;
salt - two tablespoons;
carnation;
pepper.

Pour water into a saucepan, place on the stove and bring to a boil. Add salt, granulated sugar, remaining spices, let cool. Place fish carcasses in the marinade for several hours (from 2 to 12).

With mustard

This marinade is well suited for red fish, herring and mackerel.

water – 0.8 l;
Dijon mustard – 50 grams;
soy sauce – 75 ml;
wine vinegar – 50 ml;
sugar – 50 grams;
Provençal herbs – 10 grams;
garlic – 2 cloves.

Heat water in a saucepan, add chopped garlic, soy sauce, mustard, sugar, wine vinegar, herbs and stir. Leave on the fire for 10 minutes, then cool and add the fish.

Recipes: how to marinate fish for hot smoking in a smokehouse at home

Each marinade recipe for treating a product with smoke is based on one general principle. Firstly, it saturates the carcass with moisture, which prevents it from drying out during the process, and secondly, it gives the smoked meat a refined taste. To prepare mixtures, you usually use ingredients according to your preferences.

Below are several classic recipes that can serve as a basis for individual solutions. For cooks who know how to smoke shanks, it will not be difficult for them to develop their own sauce for cooking seafood.

Spicy marinade

To prepare one liter of solution you need the following ingredients:

Salt – 2 tablespoons.
Onion – 1 pc.
Bay leaf – 2-3 pcs.
Sage, rosemary, thyme - 0.5 g of each spice (on the tip of a knife).
Sugar, cinnamon, pepper mixture - 1 teaspoon each.
Lemon, orange - 1/2 each.
Water – 1 liter.

Before marinating fish with this marinade for smoking in a home smokehouse, boil water. Then add salt, onion cut into half rings and all other ingredients. Boil the solution for 5-10 minutes and leave to cool.

Fish carcasses are placed in a container with an aromatic mixture for 12-14 hours. After the marinating process, the meat must be dried in a draft for three hours so that carcinogens from the smoke do not penetrate inside along with moisture.

Soy marinade

To prepare 1 liter of marinade mixture, you will need the following ingredients:

Soy sauce – 50 g.
Salt – 50 g.
Sugar – 50 g.
Lemon juice – 70 g.
Dry white wine – 100 g.
Garlic – 2-3 cloves.
Basil, coriander, a mixture of peppers - on the tip of a knife for each spice.
Water – 1 liter.

Cooking and marinating procedure:

Dissolve sugar and salt in boiling water, then cool.
Add soy sauce, wine, lemon juice, crushed garlic and other spices. Mix.
Place the semi-finished fish product in a container with sauce so that it completely covers the carcasses. Keep in cool conditions for 12-14 hours.

After brining, the carcasses must be dried for two to three hours. Lemon juice and white wine make the fish especially tender, and spices create a unique aroma.

Honey marinade

Home cooks who know how to quickly and correctly marinate fish for smoking in a smokehouse pay attention to the sophistication and flavor of this sauce. At the same time, to prepare it, you need very little per kilogram of product:

Vegetable oil – 200 ml.
Lemon juice – 100 g.
Parsley – 20-30 g.
Honey – 120 ml.
Garlic – 2 cloves.
Salt – 1 teaspoon.
Ground black pepper – 1-2 g.

To all of the above, you can add one package of fish seasoning. The greens and garlic need to be chopped and then mixed with the rest of the ingredients. Pour the mixture over the carcasses and leave in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours. After hot smoking, the fish will acquire a sweetish taste and an appetizing crust.

Red wine marinade

For 1 liter of brine you need the following ingredients:

Salt – 2 tablespoons.
Dry red wine – 150 ml.
Cloves – 4-5 pcs.
Cumin, allspice – 1 tsp each.
Water – 1 liter.

Pour salt and cloves into boiling water and boil for ten minutes. Cool the solution, then add the remaining elements and stir.

Pour the prepared marinade over the carcasses and leave in a cool place for six hours. The recipe is very simple, but the wine and cloves make the pulp juicy and aromatic.

Marinade with kefir

The list of ingredients is calculated for one kilogram of semi-finished fish product:

Kefir – 200 ml.
Salt – 1 tbsp.
Sugar – 1 tsp.
Vegetable oil – 50 g.
Garlic – 2 cloves.
Ground black pepper - to taste.

Pour kefir over the crushed garlic, add the remaining ingredients and mix. Place the fish in a kefir solution and leave for 5-8 hours. This is one of the fastest marinades, however, the product turns out juicy and tasty.

Salting fish

If you don’t like the taste of pickled fish, you can simply salt it dry or wet.

The carcasses are placed in layers in a suitable container or box, generously sprinkling each layer with coarse salt, and rub the large fish inside. Long-term salting is not required before hot smoking. How long should you salt fish before smoking? The time depends on the weight: small ungutted ones are rubbed with salt on the outside against the scales and left for an hour and a half, gutted ones are also rubbed on the inside and kept for no more than 30 minutes; the average takes two hours; large - two and a half.

How to salt fish for hot smoking in brine? Typically, this method is used for small fish whose weight does not exceed 500 grams. Pour coarse salt into a bowl and pour hot water. Pour the cooled brine over the fish and keep the carcasses in it for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the size of the fish.

Fresh fish salts faster than frozen fish.

If you salt the fish before smoking using only salt, it will still turn out delicious, with a smoky flavor.

How to smoke hot?

Now let's look step by step at how to smoke hot smoked fish.

What kind of fish is best to smoke?

A novice smoker is primarily interested in what kind of fish is suitable. It can be anything, sea or river. The main thing is that it is fresh. Of course, defrosted fish are also smoked if they are frozen fresh. Most often in practice, fish of carp species (asp, bream, sabrefish), sturgeon (sterlet, sturgeon), as well as catfish, eels, smelt and cod are smoked.

The size of the carcass is not particularly important. Preference can be given to fatter individuals. It is better if in one batch there are fish of the same species, approximately the same size. Then all this fish will be salted and then smoked evenly.

Small fish weighing up to 400 g, as a rule, are not gutted: they are salted and smoked whole carcasses. Medium-sized fish up to 3 kg are most often gutted, leaving the scales and head.

Large specimens are gutted and then stripped, always cutting off the head. They can be halved along the back or smoked in pieces cut crosswise.

Pickling

This is an extremely important stage, because the final taste of the fish depends on the degree of salting.

Fish or fillet pieces prepared for smoking are salted in brine (high concentration brine) or dry.

Small individuals are “put on” twine through the eye sockets. Large ones are tied in pairs by their tails. Large pieces of fillet are simply tied with twine.

When dry salting, the fish is placed in layers in some container, sprinkling salt on each layer. Particularly large fish are simply rubbed with salt, then wrapped in parchment.

When wet salting, the fish are immersed in brine. With this method, the salting time is greatly reduced (up to two hours).

The salting stage for hot smoked fish lasts from three hours for small fish, up to 12 hours for large ones.

Drying

After salting, the fish must be dried to ensure even saltiness. The fish need to be tied with twine and hung so that the brine drains. To protect against insects, you can make a gauze canopy by folding the fabric several times, then moisten it with vinegar.

Before smoking begins, all prepared carcasses must be carefully tied with twine for easy hanging in the smokehouse. This will also prevent the fish from falling apart during cooking.

Cooking in a barrel smoker

At the bottom of the barrel you need to place pre-prepared wood chips with sawdust of suitable wood species. Layer thickness is 2 cm. Be sure to prepare several juniper branches for flavoring.

One or two grates and a lid must be adjusted to the size of the barrel in advance. Install the gratings at a suitable height, one above the other. It is better to lay the fish in one layer; the carcasses should not touch each other. It is better to place large fish on the lower grid, closer to the bottom, and small ones - at the top. There is no need to remove the twine straps from the fish: the smoked fish will simply fall apart.

Then it’s time to make a fire. Let it be small, but give a uniform, long-lasting heat. After this, the smokehouse must be closed with a lid. The first stage of cooking fish in a smokehouse is about a quarter of the time, this is the drying stage. The smoke temperature is approximately 80 degrees Celsius. Smoking itself will begin when the smoke temperature in the barrel reaches 100 degrees.

By splashing water on the lid of the barrel, you can determine in general terms the “conditions” inside the smokehouse. Evaporating rather than boiling water is a sure sign that smoking is going well.

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It is better not to open the lid itself during the process so that the penetrated air does not ignite the chips.

How to quickly salt and marinate fish for smoking

Smoked fish is an excellent appetizer and decoration for any holiday table. It is sold in most stores, but the store-bought version is not as tasty as the home-cooked version. There is nothing difficult about making salt and smoking yourself. You don’t even need to buy a special smokehouse for this. Instead, you can use improvised devices, for example, a metal bucket or box. It is important to properly prepare the ingredients before smoking. You need to marinate for the hot or cold method so that the resulting dish turns out more aromatic, spicy and appetizing. If desired, you can add salt without adding brine. To prepare, you can use the recipe you like, which tells you what ingredients you need to take and how much you need.

Preparing fish for marinating

It is not recommended to salt unprepared fish, since an unprocessed product can ruin the entire dish. It is important to thoroughly rinse and remove scales from carcasses intended for hot or cold smoking before cooking. If the fish is fresh, then it is allowed to cook it along with the entrails. However, it would be better to gut it before you start salting. It won’t take much time, but it will turn out tastier.

Small fish do not need to be cleaned or gutted

If you select a large fish that does not fit in the smokehouse, it should be cut into medium-sized pieces. But, for example, mackerel or perch can be salted whole. They themselves are small, and even a few pieces can fit on the grill.

Whether to marinate with your head or not, everyone can decide for themselves. The recipe allows for both options. As a rule, if you salt the fish along with the head, it will not be any worse.

How to salt fish for smoking

The recipe for salting fish will be useful to everyone who loves smoked meats. You can implement it at home, without any special equipment. The process can take several hours or a couple of days. It is believed that it is best to pickle for at least a day to get a great taste. But if you need to cook it urgently, you can reduce the salting time for hot or cold smoking.

For the simplest salting, only table salt and the fish itself are required. They take the carcasses, washed and prepared before smoking, and cover them with salt. It is up to the cook to decide how much food additive to add. The main thing is that it gets on the carcasses from all sides, otherwise the salting will be uneven. After this, the fish is placed in a container and covered with a lid. Leave in a dark place for a day (can be kept at temperatures up to +15 C°). After the specified time, when the salting is complete, the carcasses are sent to the smokehouse for hot or cold smoking.

Quick salting method

There are other ways to salt fish to make it tasty and aromatic. It is recommended to use spices to make the recipe more interesting. The ambassador should be carried out as follows.

The washed and gutted carcasses should be placed in a container, covered with salt and spices added. It is recommended to add salt with pepper, paprika, basil, and how much to add depends on your desire.

It is also recommended to add about 2 tablespoons of sugar as it speeds up the salting process. After this, the product must be covered with a lid and placed in the refrigerator for a day. It is acceptable to start cooking it after 3-4 hours, but it is better to wait longer. If the ambassador was done correctly, the end result will please you.

How to marinate fish

You can prepare a marinade for smoking fish if you want a more unusual and delicate taste. Salting is easier, but it is marinating that makes the product very appetizing. A properly selected recipe is the key to success and a guarantee that everyone will like the dish. Therefore, you need to pickle at home by carefully selecting the ingredients and preparing a good brine.

Brine brine is considered one of the most popular and proven. A strong brine solution is perfect for preparing fish before cold or hot smoking. It is important to correctly determine how much salt to add. To do this, place potatoes in boiling water and begin to sprinkle salt. It is believed that when the potato completely floats to the surface, the brine is ready.

How many ingredients will you need:

bay leaf - 5-6 pcs.; garlic - 4 cloves; sage, thyme and rosemary to taste; sugar, cinnamon and pepper - 1 tbsp each. spoon; lemon - 2 pcs.; orange - 1 pc.; onions - 3 pcs.

You need to add all the listed ingredients to the brine; their quantity can be reduced or increased as desired. Onion, orange and lemon will need to be coarsely chopped first. Everything should be boiled. The recipe calls for the brine brine to cook for about 10 minutes. Then the finished marinade for smoking fish should be added to the container with the carcasses and left for 12 hours. During this time, the brine will give the meat an amazing aroma. This is how marinating is done before subsequent cooking.

Brine for fish

A cold smoked recipe that uses food nitrate is worthy of attention. In addition to other ingredients, saltpeter is added to the brine to extend the shelf life of the product. To prepare the marinade you will need to take approximately 10 g of this additive.

saltpeter - 10 g; garlic - 6 cloves; sugar - 2 tbsp. spoons; salt - 2 tbsp. spoons; pepper to taste.

Brine for cold smoking is prepared as follows.

For the marinade, saltpeter, sugar, garlic, pepper and salt are taken. You decide how many spices to use for the marinade. All ingredients are placed in boiling water and boiled for 5 minutes. After this, the brine is poured into a bowl with the carcasses.

This marinade for smoking fish will help achieve the taste that regular salting gives. How long will it take to steep the product before smoking? From several hours to a day.

Marinate fish for cold smoking

The cold cooking method does not require many ingredients, because the taste of the fish will already be quite rich. Usually fish is marinated by dry or wet salting.

Dry salting method

First of all, we prepare the product, clean it and wash it. Then put it in a bowl where you previously added salt. Sprinkle salt on top of the fish as well.

If you choose the cold method, then you will need more products, so the fish can be laid in layers - sprinkling the next layer with salt.

The bowl is covered with a lid, which should be slightly smaller in diameter, and pressure is placed on top. Leave the product to salt for 3-7 days. To ensure that the carcasses are salted evenly, they should be turned over periodically.

After the time has passed, place the fish in cold water for 5-6 hours to soak. Afterwards we dry it in a ventilated place for about 24 hours. Now you can start cold smoking.

Wet Ambassador

Salting generally occurs in a similar way, with the only difference being that the fish is filled with brine after placing it in a bowl.

The solution is prepared from salt, sugar, water and spices. That is, in 1 liter of water you need to mix 0.1 kg of salt, 10 grams of sugar and spices to taste. The temperature, which is quite important, should be below room temperature and not exceed +4 degrees.

If you add onion rings or garlic, hot peppers or, for example, juniper berries to a bowl of food, the pickling will be more spicy and aromatic.

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There should be a lot of salt solution in the container, that is, so that the contents “drown” in it. After laying the oppression, the brine may begin to pour out - the excess must be removed.

In terms of time, such salting will last for 10 or even 30 days. Such long periods of time are due to the fact that mostly large carcasses are marinated in this way, and accordingly, it takes many times more time for them to be evenly salted.

When the salting of fish for smoking is finished, the carcasses should be washed thoroughly and taken out into the fresh air to dry. Please note that to protect the product from midges and dust, the pieces should be wrapped in a cloth or towel.

Mixed salting method

This method looks like this:

The carcasses are first rubbed with spices, salt and pepper and left to simmer in a bowl for some time. That is, as with the dry method.

After aging, pour brine into it, close it with a lid and put pressure on top.

There are no specific dates for salting, because everything will depend on what spices were chosen and what size of the carcass. It could be about 5 days, or it could be 4 weeks.

Marinades for hot smoking - general principles of preparation

• Marinades used for marinating meat, carcasses or fillets of poultry and fish for hot smoking can be either liquid or semi-liquid. They can be boiled or cooked without it.

• There are many options and methods for preparing marinades for smoked meats, but the basic principle of preparation is to properly mix all the ingredients.

• Marinades for hot smoking are prepared with water, wine, sour cream, and soy sauce. They are varied with spices and spices according to recipes or even selected at their own discretion.

• To enhance the softening effect, food acids are introduced - table vinegar, including apple or lemon juice; mustard is often used for the same purposes.

• Adding granulated sugar or honey to the marinade not only gives meat and fish a pleasant sweetish taste, but also contributes to the formation of a golden brown crust on its surface during hot smoking.

• Food saltpeter is often added; this is done if smoked meats are planned to be prepared in large quantities for long-term storage.

• Also, for longer storage, before marinating, products must be soaked in a strong saline solution or sprinkled with salt and left for a day. Then rinse well. If the pieces have taken a lot of salt, soak them slightly and only then put them in the marinade.

• After marinating, the poultry, fish or meat must be dried well, hanging in a draft, and only then smoked.

Recipe for preparing greenling fillet

In the smokehouse you can cook not only whole sea bass carcasses, but also its fillets. It turns out spicy, with a pleasant, delicate taste and rich aroma.

greenling – 2 pcs;
sour cream – 3-4 tbsp. l;
chopped dill, cilantro - 3-4 tbsp. l.

Greenling carcasses need to be cut into fillets, salt and pepper, and thickly greased with sour cream mixed with chopped herbs. Leave to marinate for 1-2 hours.

After this, each fillet should be greased with butter, placed on a sheet of foil, skin side down, and placed in the smokehouse. The fish should cook for about 25-30 minutes. It is served with fresh or baked vegetables.

Smoked greenling is a tasty, appetizing and easy-to-prepare dish that will decorate any everyday or holiday table. You can cook fish yourself, at the dacha or in a city apartment, using a smokehouse

It is very important to strictly follow the smoking technology - this will help to obtain an impeccable taste and aroma of the greenling

Marinade for hot smoking chicken with vinegar

Ingredients for 4 carcasses:

• a tablespoon of coarse garden salt;

• three tablespoons of 3% table vinegar;

• half a teaspoon each of ginger, coriander, allspice and black pepper (ground);

• a teaspoon of sugar;

• two large bay leaves;

• two large cloves of garlic;

• eight juniper berries.

Cooking method:

1. If you took a domestic chicken, carefully pluck it and burn it over an open fire. Remove the insides, trim off excess fat and rinse well, especially from the inside. The paws and neck should also be cut off. It is enough to rinse purchased poultry well with warm water and remove fat.

2. Then wipe the carcasses dry with a towel and cut into two halves. To do this, first cut the bird's breast with a knife, open it and cut along the ridge.

3. Rinse each chicken half again, pat dry and place between two cutting boards.

4. Then hit the top board a few times with a rolling pin. This is done so that the joints break and the bird marinates better.

5. Bring three liters of drinking water to a boil. Remove from heat and dissolve salt and sugar in boiling water.

6. Pour in vinegar, add spices, and add bay leaves. Press the garlic into the marinade using a press. Drop in the crushed juniper berries with a rolling pin and cool the marinade.

7. Place the prepared bird halves in a large container. Pour the marinade over the chicken until it completely covers it. Place a pressure on top of the meat and put it in the refrigerator for four days to marinate. Turn the chicken daily.

8. Wrap the marinated chicken halves in several layers of gauze and hang in a well-ventilated area for at least 12 hours. Drying time depends on the weather and can last up to a day.

9. After this, the well-dried bird can be smoked.

Citrus marinade for hot smoking fish

Ingredients for 3 l. strong saline solution:

• one large orange;

• two medium lemons;

• a tablespoon of ground pepper, cinnamon and granulated sugar;

• sage, rosemary and thyme to taste;

• three onions;

• six large bay leaves;

• four cloves of garlic.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the citrus fruits well and cut into slices, chop the onion into large rings.

2. Place a small potato in boiling water and add salt until the tuber floats to the surface. After this, remove the potatoes and place citrus slices, onion rings, and all the herbs and spices in the saline solution. Boil the marinade at a low simmer for 10 minutes, and then let cool well.

3. Pour cold marinade over the processed fish carcasses and leave in it for 12 hours in a cold room or refrigerator.

4. Then rinse the fish thoroughly under the tap, wipe dry with a towel and dry in a draft.

5. After this, you can place the fish carcasses in the smokehouse.

How to properly cut a fish carcass for smoking?

First, sort the fish so that the carcasses for future marinating have an identical size. If you choose small fish, then wash it thoroughly and then salt it.

Leave the heads on small and medium-sized fish, but it is advisable to remove the gills. Cut off the head of a large fish. By the way, large fish rarely remain in good condition.
The chopped carcass will be salted and cooked faster. Cut the fish crosswise. You should have even steaks. If you prefer fillet, then cut the carcass along the spine.

We cut the carcass

As a general rule, scales should be left on the fish. As a result, carcinogens will not penetrate into the fish. If you look at this method from the other side, the juice does not flow out, remaining inside the meat.