Smoking has become one of those methods that allows us to enjoy a shiny slice of loin, appetizing pieces of meat or fish with a subtle smell of fire.
A home smokehouse is an opportunity to get great pleasure from your own cooked balychka or fish.
Technological progress has simplified man’s task as much as possible, and today there is no need to even worry about preparing firewood.
The Bradley Smoker electric smoker allows you to hot smoke, cold smoke and cook real delicacies at home. This smokehouse uses special fuel briquettes, which successfully replace sawdust and are much more convenient to use. During the smoking process, the choice of briquettes is of key importance.
Different types of wood create those amazing aromas that distinguish smoked food. Bradley Smoker has taken care to create a variety of fuel briquettes that include applewood, alder, maple, curry, cherry, mesquite and special blend briquettes. If the aromas of the product and the fuel briquette are chosen harmoniously, they will create a real symphony of taste.
Hot smoking in a home smokehouse uses hot smoke, and cold smoking uses low-temperature smoke. Successful home smoking depends not only on the perfection of the smokehouse itself, be it a gas smokehouse, a summerhouse smokehouse or just a camp smokehouse, but also on the quality of the product itself.
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Only fresh, not frozen meat, as well as young poultry, are suitable for smoking. Wild meat is tougher and therefore requires longer pre-processing. When preparing minced sausage, pork must be added to such meat.
Fish of medium fat content is ideal for smoking. Salmon, asp, herring, whitefish, cod, sea bass are an excellent choice for smoking. Low-fat products are smoked mainly using the hot method. Sprat and herring are tasty if smoked at a temperature of 60-80 °C. Ram, mullet, omul, roach, nelma balyk, whitefish, muksun are suitable for cold smoking. Fat eel is also smoked in a similar way. Cold smoked fish has a longer shelf life due to increased salt content and dehydration.
Preparing meat and fish for smoking
Although the process of home smoking today, especially with Bradley Smokers, is ridiculously simple, the products still require preparation.
As for meat, with all the variety of recipes, the general technology for preparing meat is as follows: before smoking, the meat must be rubbed with a mixture of salt and spices so that it releases the juice. While the meat is aging, it needs to be turned over from time to time. To check if the meat is ready for smoking, you need to pierce it with a fork. If a light-colored liquid appears on the surface and there is no blood, the meat can be smoked.
If cold smoking is intended, then the meat or fish is soaked in advance in a weak salt solution at the rate of 1/3 cup of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar per 1 cup of water. Beginners often have problems with proportions. There is a great way to check the quality of the brine using an egg. A whole egg is dropped into a solution cooled to 12-15 °C. If there is enough salt, then the egg does not sink, but if it sinks, then you need to add salt until it floats. The leg, loin, and shoulder are also rubbed with a mixture of salt, sugar and spices. This is the so-called curing mixture, which is prepared depending on the recipe.
The pre-salting technology is approximately as follows: the ham is thickly sprinkled with the curing mixture (the shoulder and loin are treated with a smaller amount of the mixture, the brisket - only a little).
The sprinkled pieces of meat are tied with several layers of gauze and placed in a prepared container and kept there for about two weeks (plus or minus two days) at a temperature around zero. After this, a wooden circle and pressure are placed on the meat, and brine is added. The shoulder and ham will be ready for smoking in 11-14 days; for other products, it is enough to be kept in brine for 3-6 days. It is enough to soak chicken meat for 12 hours before smoking.
Meat is smoked not only in whole carcasses, but also in pieces. Meat prepared for smoking is pre-cut into pieces, the average thickness of which is 3-4 cm. The meat is rubbed with salt and spices, after which it is also hung to dry for up to two days.
Fish can be smoked fresh. In this case, small fish are not gutted or cleaned; the giblets of large fish are removed, rubbed with salt (outside and inside), a mixture of any spicy herbs is added to it and placed in a smokehouse. If the fish is very large, it is cut into layers along the spine; the head, tail and fins can be separated.
Fish, on average, should lie in brine from several hours to two days. After the fish is removed from the brine, it is washed with cold water and dried thoroughly. Then the prepared product is hung on a hook to dry. The fish hangs upside down. So it hangs for up to two days. The ideal place for drying is a well-ventilated area (barn or shed), where there is plenty of air, but there is no access to direct sunlight. The time it takes to dry the fish varies depending on the recipe, but at least one hour is usually enough for all the liquid to drain from the fish and you can start smoking. If you use mackerel, horse mackerel, catfish, flounder or other very fatty fish for smoking, then after salting it is advisable to wrap it in food tracing paper for a day. It is well known that small fish are salted faster, and large ones - slower.
The exact smoking time depends on the design and type of smokehouse. Cold smoking takes longer than hot smoking. When hot smoking, the Bradley Smoker uses not only a generator, but also a heating element. The hot smoking process takes on average several hours. The products are very juicy and aromatic, because during hot smoking a minimum of moisture is lost. Cold smoking produces drier products.
Selection of raw materials
There are several recipes for smoking fish at home. Regardless of which option is chosen, it is important to find the right raw materials. The main selection criterion is the freshness of the product. If possible, then it is worth preparing the catch that has just been caught for smoking. But you can also use frozen carcasses. It is recommended to give preference to those options that:
- bright, red or pink gills;
- clean, shiny eyes without cloudiness;
- elastic surface.
The volume of ice should not exceed 5%, and the meat should be firmly adjacent to the bones.
On a note! For smoking at home, it is recommended to choose pieces or carcasses of the same size so that they are well-evenly salted and smoked at the same time.
Suitable varieties for smoking
You can smoke almost all types of fish with your own hands in a home smokehouse. But the smell, degree of density and taste characteristics will be different. Fatty options are excellent for hot smoking: asp, mackerel, pink salmon, greenling and sterlet. You can also use flounder, haddock, pollock, cod, pollock.
River varieties are no less tasty. For smoking you can prepare:
- pike;
- perch;
- crucian carp;
- soma;
- pike perch, etc.
Small carcasses are quickly salted, and smoking them takes little time. At the same time, the aroma and taste of the dish are beyond praise.
Smoking meat
Hot smoking
Brisket “Spicy”
5 kg brisket, 4 tbsp sweet ketchup, 3 tbsp homemade vinegar, 1 tbsp pepper mixture, 1.5 tbsp salt, 3 large cloves of garlic
The ingredients are mixed, the garlic is chopped and added to the marinade. In the resulting marinade, the meat is kept for about half a day under pressure at a low temperature (3-5°C).
The brisket is then dried and sent to the Bradley Smoker. This brisket is hot smoked for about 6 hours at a temperature of 80°C. It is recommended to use Oak briquettes.
Brisket is served sliced with mustard or sour cream sauce.
Brisket “Irkutsk”
2 kg brisket, 1 liter of water, 3 teaspoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of salt
The water is brought to a boil and sugar and salt are added to it. The brine is brought to a boil again, after which it is cooled to room temperature. The meat must be kept in this brine for about 2 days at low temperature (3-5°C). The meat is then hung out to dry for 12 hours in a cool, well-ventilated area.
The meat is hot smoked in a Bradley Smoker at 110°C for 3 hours, and then additionally cooked in boiling water. When smoking Irkutsk brisket, it is recommended to use Alder briquettes.
This meat can be stored for several days, but its taste is simply amazing. The meat is served with any sauces as a meat appetizer.
Ham “Sultry”
5 kg pork or beef ham, 1 cup salt
The ham is thickly rubbed with salt and aged for 6-7 hours. Then it should be soaked in water: this soaking lasts up to three hours. The soaked ham is dried in a draft.
The ham is then processed in a Bradley Smoker with hot smoke for 12 hours at a temperature of 45-60°C. It is recommended to use “Oak” or “Maple” briquettes. When the crust of the ham has acquired a brownish-yellowish tint and looks well dried, this means the ham is ready!
This ham is intended for subsequent boiling or baking. It is served with a potato side dish.
Pork fillet “Piggy”
5 kg pork fillet, 5 liters of water, 1 kg of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/3 teaspoon of saltpeter*
Fillet comes from the best cuts of meat - this is a good reason to create culinary delights, especially when you have a home smokehouse. Pork fillet is pre-soaked in brine, which is prepared by dissolving salt, sugar and nitrate in water. The fillet is kept in brine for 1 week at low temperature, then thoroughly washed in cold water, after which it is hung out to dry and wiped with a natural cloth. Before smoking, a piece of fillet must be tied with twine.
Pork fillet is hot smoked in a Bradley Smoker until brown (approximately 4 hours), using Oak briquettes is recommended. The finished fillet is wrapped in gauze or paper and stored in a cool place.
Fillet goes well with vegetable side dishes and herbs.
*Saltpeter (a salt of nitric acid) is actually used in food production, because it is a good preservative and helps meat retain color during heat treatment. However, saltpeter must be used with extreme caution - of course, it must be food grade and well purified. Errors in dosage can turn food into poison.
Brisket roll "Original"
5 kg pork belly, 5 liters of water, 1 glass of salt, 5 large cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp red pepper, ½ tbsp allspice
The breast part is great for making smoked rolls. The meat, freed from bones, is placed in brine for 7 days. An ordinary brine made from water and salt must be boiled for several minutes, cooled, and only then can meat be added to it. After soaking in brine, the meat is washed in cold water and dried using a natural cloth. Then the layer of meat must be rubbed with a mixture of crushed garlic, red and allspice, rolled into a roll and tied with twine. The distance between the turns should not be more than 3 cm.
The roll is hot smoked in a Bradley Smoker until it turns brown, 3 hours. It is recommended to use Mesquite briquettes.
The “Original” roll is served with herbs and cheese.
Practical cooking tips
• At the same time, only one type of food can be cooked on several tiers: fish with fish, meat with meat (lard), poultry with poultry. • Choose wood chips based on the product and your own taste. Cherries go great with beef and pork. Oak performs well during long-term smoking. Apple wood has a sweet taste, which will also affect the taste of the final product. Suitable for pork, poultry, fish. Light and sweet, alder is good for smoking fish and poultry. • To prevent the wood chips from burning too quickly, soak them in water first. • Before cooking, the meat can be marinated and the fish sprinkled with spices. The products should be at room temperature. • Ready smoked meats need to be “aired” a little before serving or storing. • Clean any grease from the container after each use.
Cold smoking
Ham “Hunter”
5 kg pork ham, 1 cup salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, ½ cup lemon juice, 1 teaspoon allspice, “Universal mixture” spices
The ham is rubbed with a mixture of salt, sugar and spices, and aged in a cool place under pressure for 6-8 hours. Wash with cold water, dry and rub with lemon juice.
Raw smoked ham can be stored for a long time. To do this, you need to cold smoke it in a Bradley Smoker using Curry briquettes. The smoking time is from 4 to 6 hours, the temperature is 30°C. After smoking, the ham is hung in a cool, dry place (1-4°C) for about a month - this is the time it needs to dry. The finished ham tastes like raw smoked ham.
The ham is served as sliced meat or serves as an ingredient for hot dishes.
Monastyrskaya ham
5 kg of meat, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp saltpeter, 1 cup salt, ½ tbsp red pepper
The hind and front legs of beef are suitable for this dish. It is well known that meat begins to deteriorate near the bones, so the legs are processed in two ways. In the first case, the bones are removed so that the cartilage remains in place; in the second, the meat is carefully separated from the bones with a wooden spatula and the gap is filled with salt.
Now the meat can be salted. For dry salting, a mixture of sugar and saltpeter is prepared. The meat is first rubbed with this mixture and then with salt. The meat is placed in a wooden container. Sprinkle it thickly with salt on top to prevent air from entering. In this form, the meat is aged for about two weeks at low temperature (2-4°C).
Dry salting can be replaced with brine. It is prepared from a mixture: 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of saltpeter, one and a half kilograms of salt per bucket of water. Bring the brine to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. During the cooking process, foam appears that must be skimmed off. The finished solution must be cooled. The meat, placed in a wooden container, is pressed down with a wooden lid and filled with brine. The ham is kept in brine for a week. After soaking in brine, the meat is soaked in cold water for several days. The water must be changed periodically.
After soaking in water, the meat is hung for an hour, drained, placed in a Bradley Smoker and smoked at 30°C for 8 hours. When cooked, the ham has a brownish-red hue. Ham will acquire a particularly delicate aroma if you use “Maple” or “Alder” fuel briquettes to smoke it.
The finished ham is sprinkled with red pepper, wrapped in parchment paper and stored hanging in a cool place.
Monastyrskaya ham served with lemon, mustard sauce and herbs.
Saltso “Derevenskoe”
5 kg lard, 1 cup salt, 2 tablespoons (partial) red pepper
Excellent fat comes from both the back and chest parts of the carcass. The lard must be salted first. The lard, cut into layers, is thickly rubbed with salt both on the skin and on the inner surface. The grated layers are placed in a jar or any other suitable container. The lard is placed so that the skin is at the bottom. The resulting voids in the container can be filled with small trimmings and salt. After three weeks, the lard is suitable and can be smoked. The salt is cleaned off, the lard is thoroughly washed in cold water. The lard is smoked in a Bradley Smoker at 30°C for 4-5 hours, and it is recommended to use Alder briquettes. The finished lard has a pleasant golden-brown color.
It is advisable to grate the finished pieces with red pepper, which adds spice and makes the lard even softer and more tender. This lard is stored in a cool place and used as a snack and for preparing various dishes.
Smoking poultry
Hot smoking
Home-smoked poultry “Fowl”
A carcass of domestic duck or goose (2-3 kg) is suitable for this recipe. For 1 liter of liquid you will need half a glass of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, ¼ teaspoon each of cloves, cinnamon and pepper, 1-2 bay leaves
The bird is plucked and gutted, washed with water, then the carcass should be generously rubbed with salt, placed in a closed container and placed in a cold place for several days.
After this, the bird needs to be kept for several more days in a special decoction. It is prepared like this: add salt, sugar, cloves, ground cinnamon, a mixture of peppers, or ground allspice and bay leaf to the water. Salt, sugar and spices are added to boiling water. The solution is brought to a boil again and then cooled. The resulting solution should be poured over the poultry carcasses and mixed so that the salt that was on the bird is completely dissolved. The poultry is kept in the brine in the cold for 3 days. The soaked poultry carcasses are hung out for several hours to dry, and then sent to the smokehouse for 15 hours. Apple and Cherry briquettes are perfect for cooking Fowl poultry in the Bradley Smoker.
During the first stage of smoking, the temperature should be 80°C, at the end of smoking it can be lowered to 60°C. Fowl smoked poultry cooked in the Bradley Smoker can be stored for up to 6 months at low temperatures.
The bird is served with broth and a boiled egg.
Smoked poultry “Starosvetskaya”
A chicken, duck, goose or turkey carcass is suitable for this dish. 1.5-2 kg of poultry meat, ½ tbsp salt, ½ tsp chopped cinnamon and ginger, 1 tsp sugar, 3 cloves chopped garlic, 2/5 tbsp table vinegar
Wash the carcass and cut into 2 parts along the spine. Then the halves of the carcass should be beaten a little with a wooden hammer so that they become flatter. Killed carcasses are hung in a cold room for 5-6 days. This is necessary to make the smoked poultry meat more tender.
After cold aging, the meat must be kept in the cold. This brine does not boil. Salt, cinnamon, ginger, sugar, garlic, and vinegar are added to already boiled warm water. If desired, you can add black and allspice, dried basil.
Bird half-carcasses are soaked in the prepared brine in a cool place for 48 hours. During soaking, the half carcasses need to be transferred several times into containers so that the lower pieces of meat are at the top and the upper ones at the bottom. If the chicken meat is lean, you can stuff it with lard.
Half carcasses soaked in brine are hung out to drain. There is no need to pour out the brine - it will come in handy when smoking.
At the beginning of smoking, poultry meat is processed in a Bradley Smoker at a temperature of 70-80°C. During the smoking period, half carcasses should be dipped several times in the remaining brine. You should smoke until the shiny crust begins to separate freely from the meat (4-5 hours). When smoking Old World poultry in a Bradley Smoker, it is recommended to use Maple briquettes.
The bird is served with vegetables, potato side dish or sauces.
Smoked poultry "Smoky"
Poultry carcass weighing 1.5-2 kg, 200g salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 4 bay leaves, ¼ teaspoon cumin, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon coriander, ½ teaspoon ginger
The bird is filled with brine (1 glass of salt per 1 liter of water) and infused under pressure in a cool place for 3-4 days (temperature should be within 1-4°C). The carcass is wiped, rubbed inside with lemon juice, rubbed inside and outside with a mixture of spices, and then placed in a Bradley Smoker. “Smoky,” like any other bird, is smoked while hanging, feet up.
The bird is smoked at a temperature of 70°C for 6-7 hours using Maple or Oak briquettes.
The bird is garnished with vegetables, herbs, and mustard.
Smoked chicken “Peasant style”
Chicken carcass 1.5-2 kg, 1 tbsp salt, ½ tsp sugar, 6 cloves garlic, universal seasoning “For meat”, 7-8 bay leaves
The chicken is gutted and washed thoroughly. Garlic cloves are peeled, cut into thin slices and “driven” under the skin of the chicken. The outside and inside of the chicken is rubbed with a mixture of salt, sugar and spices. The chicken is placed in a bay leaf, wrapped in foil and put in a cool place for 24 hours (the temperature should be between 2-4°C).
The chicken should be smoked hot in a Bradley Smoker for 1.5-2 hours at a temperature of 80°C. It is recommended to use “Oak” or “Cherry” briquettes.
Poultry “Peasant style” is served with sour cream, potatoes and chopped herbs.
Cold smoking
Poultry smoked in bran “Ostrenkaya”
For 1 kg of meat: 1 tbsp salt, 200 g bran, 1 tbsp lemon juice, ½ tsp red pepper
Place the thoroughly washed and gutted bird under pressure for 48 hours in a cool place (2-4°C), after rubbing it with lemon juice. Before smoking, the meat must be rolled in a mixture of bran and pepper in advance. In this case, the bird should be thickly boned both outside and inside.
Poultry should be smoked cold in the Bradley Smoker (30°C) for 7 hours. When smoking, it is recommended to use “Oak”, “Maple” or “Cherry” briquettes.
Poultry “Ostrenkaya” is served with pickled and salted vegetables and mushrooms.
Two words about safety
• When cooking in a house or apartment, place the smokehouse on a heat-resistant surface (wooden board, ceramic tile). • Make sure that the area where the unit is running is inaccessible to children and pets. • Do not load food into the electric smoker immediately after washing without drying it. • Place floor and above-ground containers away from the table and play area, on a flat surface to prevent falling. • When using the smoker, do not touch the walls and handles with bare hands, use gloves. • When opening the lid to check the readiness of the product, do it smoothly to prevent large amounts of oxygen from entering at once. • Do not fill the container with water after cooking: just close the lid, the coals will go out on their own.
Smoking sausages
Cold smoking
Cold smoked sausage “Otradnaya”
First of all, raw meat is prepared for sausages. From 4 kg of beef, 3 kg of lean pork and 3 kg of bacon, 10 kg of good raw meat comes out. For this amount of meat you need 2 cups of salt, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of black pepper and 1 teaspoon (incomplete) of saltpeter
The raw materials for homemade smoked sausages must be fresh, and when preparing them, you must especially carefully monitor the frequency of the dishes and the cooking procedure, because homemade sausages do not undergo preliminary heat treatment. The meat is pre-salted by dry salting and kept in the cold for 5 days. Then minced meat is prepared from it, which is thoroughly mixed with sugar, pepper and saltpeter. In a wide bowl, the minced meat is distributed in a layer of 10 cm and kept in the cold for another two days. After this, the minced meat is tightly packed into the intestines. It is necessary to avoid the formation of air bubbles under the sausage casing; if they appear, they must be pierced with a needle. Bandaged sausages are hung out for 1 week to dry at a low temperature (no more than 5°C).
The sausage is cold smoked in a Bradley Smoker for up to 12 hours using Cherry briquettes. The sausage should acquire a bright red color and elasticity when pressed. Then the finished smoked sausage is kept for a month in a cool, dry place.
Sausage is served as a meat delicacy.
Hunting sausage “With smoke”
1 kg of meat, ½ tbsp salt, 4-5 cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, 100 g lard, ½ tsp potato starch, ½ tsp ground pepper and cumin, ¼ part chopped nutmeg, ¼ tsp ginger, 50 g vodka
This sausage is prepared from different types of meat and the more there are, the more interesting the taste of the sausage will be. This recipe is especially good for hunters, because deer, wild boar or elk meat is excellent for preparing this sausage. When choosing meat for sausage, you need to keep in mind that it is better to mix wild animal meat with pork.
The meat is cut into cubes and laid out on a wooden surface in a well-ventilated, cool room. Periodically, the meat pieces are turned over and mixed. The meat pieces are kept in this form for 3 days. Boar or elk meat is aged for up to 1 week. After airing, the meat pieces are rolled into minced meat along with garlic and bay leaf. To make the meat tender, lard is added to the minced meat. Meat minced several times becomes even more tender.
The rolled minced meat is transferred to a suitable container, where it is mixed with potato starch, black pepper, cumin, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Salt is added to taste. Vodka is used as a homemade preservative in this recipe. Vodka is added to the minced meat, replacing water.
After thorough and repeated mixing, the minced meat is driven into the intestine using a syringe, and the ends of the sausages are tightly tied.
In the smokehouse, the sausages are positioned so that they do not touch each other. At the beginning of smoking, the sausages are intensively heated, and then cold smoked in a Bradley Smoker for about 7-8 hours. It is advisable to use Alder briquettes. The sausage is ready when it feels firm to the touch.
Sausage is served with boiled potatoes, herbs and garlic.
Important points when choosing a smokehouse
Whatever you choose, there are a few general things to consider. • Container depth: should provide a distance between the product on the grill and the source of smoke; • Fat tray: it is advisable that the sides be high. If there is a lot of fat and drops get into the hearth/heating element, you will get an unpleasant mixture of odors, and the taste will have an expressive bitterness. • If you're looking for an at-home option, make sure the container is airtight and the lid fits snugly on top. In addition, you need to choose a smokehouse with a water seal - a small recess for water. Water is denser than smoke, so it cannot penetrate outside. Water must be added as it evaporates. • Container material: cast iron, heat-resistant steel and stainless steel. Cast iron is a very durable material, but also very heavy. Heat-resistant steel is short-lived. The best choice is a stainless steel smokehouse. • Wall thickness: at least 1.5 mm, and preferably 2 mm. The walls will be constantly exposed to high temperatures, so to prevent the metal from deforming and the unit to last as long as possible, it is better to avoid thin-walled models. • Thermostat: optional, but desirable option. This will help the smoke distribute evenly, and you won't have to monitor the cooking. • The possibility of automatic cleaning will make the operation of the smokehouse as convenient as possible.
Smoking fish
Hot smoking
Smoked fish "Experienced Fisherman"
1 kg fish, 1 tbsp salt
First, oblique cuts are made from the ridge towards the abdomen. A few cuts are enough to smoke the fish better. Then the fish is rubbed with salt. The prepared fish is strung upside down onto wooden splinters split on top. For the torch, it is advisable to use hard wood, such as larch, apple tree or oak. If the fish is large, then it is cut into medium-sized pieces. Pieces cooked on splinters are also very tasty.
The fish is placed in a smokehouse heated to 100 °C for 3-4 hours. If the fish is successful, the flesh is well separated from the scales. When smoking, it is recommended to use “Apple Tree” and “Cherry” briquettes.
This fish is best eaten right out of the oven with hot sauce and herbs!
Smoked fish “Spicy Poseidon”
1 kg of fish, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice, ½ tsp cumin. Suitable for this recipe are perch, carp, cod, bream or eel.
Gutted but uncleaned fish are rubbed with salt. For every kg of fish there is 1 tablespoon of salt. The fish is left in a cool place for salting for several hours. Before placing in the Bradley Smoker, the fish is washed with water, wiped dry with a natural cloth and hung for 2 hours to dry. Spices are placed in the belly: cloves, allspice, cumin or chopped fresh herbs (dill, parsley), depending on the season.
The fish is hot smoked in a Bradley Smoker for 1-3 hours at a temperature of 90-100 °C using Alder briquettes. The finished fish takes on a brownish-golden hue.
Fish serves as an excellent addition to a vegetable or rice side dish.
Smoked salmon "Delicacy"
1 kg fish, 1.5 tbsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp allspice, 100 g chopped dill
Gutted fish is rubbed with salt inside and out. The tail and head are separated. A longitudinal cut is made along the back and the meat is separated from the ribs and spine. The fish meat is sprinkled with a mixture of sugar, pepper, salt and dill (you can use either fresh or dry dill). The fish halves are placed under pressure for a day.
You need to smoke fish in a Bradley Smoker at a temperature of 80-90 °C for 2 hours, the temperature should drop to 50 °C. It is recommended to use Cherry briquettes.
Salmon is served in fish slices or on sandwiches with butter.
Hot smoked fish “Zastolnaya”
1 kg fish (for example, mackerel), 100 g salt, 25 g sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, fish seasoning spices
The fish is scaled (if necessary) and gutted. If the fish is large (more than 500 g), then it is cut into medium-sized pieces. Pieces of fish are rubbed with salt and kept at a temperature of 1-5°C for up to 12 hours. Dried pieces of fish are washed from salt, rubbed with lemon juice and dried in a ventilated room for 24 hours at the same low temperature. The fish is rubbed with a mixture of sugar and spices, and then placed in a Bradley Smoker.
The fish is smoked using a Maple briquette at a temperature of 80°C for 4 hours.
The fish is garnished with vegetable salad.
Cold smoking
Smoked pike "Mother's Lunch"
1 kg pike, 1 tsp fish seasoning, 1 tbsp salt
The pike is freed from its scales and gutted. If the fish is very large, cut the pike into large pieces and rub thickly with salt. Before direct smoking, the pike is aged for two days in a cool place. Deep longitudinal cuts are made on the fish, after which the pike is rubbed with spices mixed with sugar.
Pike is cold smoked (30°C) in a Bradley Smoker for 7-8 hours using Maple or Alder briquettes.
It is recommended to season the “Mother’s Lunch” pike with sour cream or mayonnaise.
Wood shavings and sawdust
Finally, you need to choose firewood - something has to smolder. The best “fuel” is considered to be dried branches, sawdust or shavings of fruit trees (apple, plum, cherry), alder, oak, beech, aspen, walnut and birch (only without bark, it contains tar).
Juniper added at the end (can be combined with berries) gives a refined taste and aroma; heather, sage, rosemary, mint or laurel are also good. Americans use corn cobs and pecans for smoking on barbecues, while the Chinese smoke eggs on poplar sawdust.
However, you can do without sawdust. For example, the Finns prepare their famous hot smoked fish, palvattukala, at home in a rather original way. Place it on the bark of the smoking tree and put it in the oven. Of course, you have to constantly monitor so that the slightly smoldering bark does not ignite, but the fish turns out very tasty, with a delicate smoky aroma.
Traditionally, conifers are considered unsuitable for smoking, since the resinous substances they contain give the product a bitter taste. But there are no rules without exceptions: for example, in French Savoy, sausages are smoked in spruce smoke, and in Charente, mussels are smoked exclusively in the smoke of pine needles. Yes, and we once used both spruce cones (on the White Sea) and pine sawdust (on the Volga).
