Delicious Hot Smoked Fish

The whole family is very fond of fresh hot smoked fish (it will never be so fresh in the store). And when the husband is a lover of fishing, the house is always in an abundance of different types of fresh fish that can be smoked. I offer you our recipe for smoking fish, which we have been using for several years, and what kind of fish have not been smoked in this way.

Summary

Ingredients

• Fish (to your liking, we had a perch)
• Coarse salt

  Besides products:

• Chips (according to your taste, we most often use alder or cherry)

Instructions

1. We cut the fish along the abdomen; there is no need to clean the scales.
2. We take out the insides. Do not forget to remove the gills with the insides. We wash the fish and let it dry a little from the water.
3. Salt each fish inside and out. If the fish is large, you can also make cuts along the top fin and salt there. We put the fish in a container (saucepan, basin, etc.). We leave in a cool place for a day or two (depending on the size of the fish), in our case a day is enough for a perch.
4. We take out the salted fish and thoroughly rinse it from salt. Let the fish dry a little.
5. If the fish is large or you like dry smoked fish, then you need to dry it a little before smoking. To do this, tie the fish with string (as shown in the photo) and hang it in a well-ventilated place, away from direct sunlight. Everyone determines the measure of dryness for himself and depending on the type and size of fish. With perches, this step is not required.
6. We prepare the smokehouse and barbecue, make a fire. IMPORTANT: NOT COALS! It is fire on the wood. We fill the chips with an even thin layer on the bottom of the smokehouse. You can choose different chips for smoking, according to your taste, I most often take alder or cherry, from the latter the fish becomes a beautiful brownish color.
7. We spread the fish on the grates of the smokehouse: larger fish – on the lower grate, smaller – on the upper one. We spread it so that the fish do not come into contact with each other and with the sides of the smokehouse.

   

8. We put on fire. It shouldn’t be very strong, but the heat from the coals is not enough, so I always use wood to start a fire, coals are not suitable for smoking! The smoking time depends on the size of the fish and the thickness of the iron in the smokehouse. For perches in our smokehouse, 20 minutes is enough. IMPORTANT! The lid of the smokehouse should be tightly closed – if there is even the slightest gap, you need to press it down with something heavy. After the required time, 20-30 minutes (in our case, 20 minutes), we remove from the heat and wait about 5 more minutes for the smoked fish to reach. Only after that we open the lid. White eyes and raised fins can be indicators of fish readiness.

Enjoy your meal!