A fragrant smoked mackerel can be cooked at home without much effort. The taste of such a fish can not be compared with the product purchased in the trade network. And if you take into account that now almost every manufacturer uses various preservatives, flavor enhancers and liquid smoke in the production of the product, the advantages of smoked home-made mackerel in front of the purchased fish are increased by a hundredfold.
If you already have a smokehouse , or you are going to buy it or build it on your site, but do not know how to smoked mackerel at home, then this article is for you.
How to smoke mackerel in a smoking smokehouse?
Before smoking the carcass of mackerel we clean from the entrails, wash it, rub it generously with salt and send it to the refrigerator for ten to twelve hours. Then we wash off the salt crystals and let them dry out by hanging the fish by the tail or wiping them with paper towels. If desired, you can also marinate pre-mackerel in various spices, but this is an amateur. In the classical version, only salt is used.
At the bottom of the smokehouse lay wet alder chips. If necessary, we soak them for a short time before the smoking process in the water. Then we establish a lattice on which fish carcasses are placed at some distance from each other. We advise before this to connect the mackerel with twine and not to get rid of it from the head, thus we will save more fat and inner juice of the ready dish.
Close the lid of the smokehouse tightly and put it on the brazier with the burning wood or any other such kind of device. Maintain a strong fire until a stable white smoke emerges from under the cover. Now a little reduce the heat supply and maintain the average carcass for twenty minutes, and larger half an hour.
Some experts advise to slightly open the lid of the smokehouse during the process to release excess smoke and thereby protect the fish from unnecessary bitterness. But we would not recommend this, since it is dangerous and you can get quite severe burns. And to avoid the bitter taste of mackerel, it is enough to use a well-moistened rather than dry chips.
After the time of smoking, we carefully remove the smokehouse from the fire, hold it for a while, and only then gently open the lid and extract the fragrant and appetizing fish.
How to smoke mackerel in a smokehouse?
Thanks to the cold smoking method, the fish acquires a stunning taste and aroma, as well as the ability to remain fresh for a long time, and have a longer shelf life. This is due to the natural chemical substances that make up the smoke. With such smoking, mackerel is not subjected to heat treatment, thereby retaining all its useful properties.
As well as before hot smoking, we save the fish from the viscera and rinse it. With a cold smoking you can remove the head. We rub well with a large salt and let it stand in a cold place for twelve hours. Then wash the salt and hang the carcass for about two hours to dry.
Now determine the fish in the smoking chamber. It is fundamentally different from the hot smoking chamber, since the smoke from which the products are processed in it must flow into it already cooled to twenty-five degrees. This is the main and important condition that must be observed in the cold smoking procedure, like mackerel, and other products.
So, our fish is already in the smokehouse. After twenty-four hours of constant smoking at a temperature, as we have already said, not more than twenty-five degrees, we can get a ready-made aromatic snack. It is completely ready for use. Bon Appetit!