Cold-smoked mackerel

Procuring fish for future use has been practiced for centuries. This time was enough to invent a wide variety of ways to extend the product life. One of them is smoking. In modern living conditions it is not always convenient to practice hot smoking from a practical point of view, and therefore the more common and simple are the recipes for cold smoking, which we will devote this material to, analyzing technology using mackerel as an example.

Cold smoked mackerel in smokehouse

If you have a small automatic smokehouse, then for the preparation of mackerel, it will fit perfectly. Almost the entire process will take place without your participation, it will only be necessary to prepare the chips and the fish itself.

Before picking mackerel for cold smoking, it must be cleaned and gutted, then thoroughly dried and then after choosing the favorite salting method: wet or dry. We decided to pour the mackerel with a concentrated saline solution (80 g salt per liter of water) and leave it for about 2 hours. The salted mackerel is then rinsed and dried, and afterwards we put it into the smokehouse. Fill the compartment with chips, set the timer for 24 hours and select the temperature of 28 degrees. After the end of the smokehouse, remove the mackerel of cold smoking and take the sample.

Cold-smoked mackerel with liquid smoke

If you do not have any smokehouse or the desire to tinker with real smoke, you can try the recipe with a liquid smoke, a small portion of which can be added to the solution for soaking the fish.

Ingredients:

Preparation

Having prepared the fish, that is, by gutting it, cutting off the fins and head, then rinsing and drying the carcass, put it back in side and grasp the solution for "smoking". After bringing the water to a boil, put onion on it and a few tea bags. Leave the solution under the lid, brew, then strain, mix with salt and sugar, and allow to cool completely. After cooling, drip some liquid smoke into the marinade, lower the cleaned carcasses of the mackerel and cover the fish with a smaller diameter dish so that it acts in the manner of the cargo. Leave the mackerel marinate in the fridge for 3 days, and after a while let it dry completely. Cold-smoked mackerel at home is ready, grate its skin with a drop of vegetable oil and can be served.