Hello! Today I will tell you how to cook smoked mackerel at home in a cold and hot way. If such an appetizer is a frequent guest at your table, it is useful to learn how to make it yourself. This will allow you to save significantly, since the store delicacy is more expensive than fresh fish and additional ingredients.
First, I will focus on important nuances that must be considered before starting work:
- Smoked mackerel will be very tasty only if the original product is high-quality and fresh. Before buying, inspect the carcasses - the skin should be smooth and without damage, the eyes should be shiny and dull, the abdomen should be firm but not swollen.
- Choose meaty fish. This can be determined by the black strip running along the back, from head to tail. In suitable individuals, it is wide, partially moving to the sides.
- Having selected several copies, ask them to weigh them. You need carcasses weighing at least 300-350 g. Smaller ones will not work, they will turn out dry when smoked.
Cold Smoked Mackerel
- Cooking time: 2 hours preparation / 2 days smoking / 1 day drying.
- Servings Per Container: 7-8.
Sea fish are rarely sold fresh, supermarkets and shops sell it frozen. In this case, the first and important stage of work is proper defrosting. Leave the mackerel overnight on the middle shelf of the refrigerator or for several hours at room temperature. Do not fill it with water in order to accelerate the thawing, it should occur naturally. A microwave is also contraindicated - when heated, the carcass will soften and lose elasticity.
Ingredients for smoking:
- mackerel - 1 kg (3 pcs. medium size);
- water - 1.5 l;
- coarse salt - 4 tbsp. l .;
- sugar - 2 tbsp. l .;
- onion peel - 1 glass;
- black tea - 2 tbsp. l or 4 sachets;
- liquid smoke - 3-4 tbsp. l .;
- vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. l
Tip. When smoked in onion husks with tea and liquid smoke, the dishes in which the fish was located are very colored and acquire a characteristic smell. It’s easier to use a 2 liter water bottle, and after cooking just throw it away.
Operating procedure:
- Pour water into the pan, put the washed onion husks and put on medium heat. When the liquid boils, reduce heat and cook for half an hour, stirring occasionally with a spatula. The water will evaporate, but you do not need to add it - you will need about a liter of the finished broth.
- After 30 minutes, remove the container from the heat, pour black tea and leave to insist and cool. It will take at least an hour.
- Now there is time to go fishing. It’s not scary if it hasn’t completely thawed yet; it’s more convenient to work. Gut the carcasses, scrape off the black film and blood clots remaining inside the abdomen with the blunt side of the knife. The head can not be cut off if the mackerel is placed along the length of the bottle and so on. But the gills must be removed necessarily.
- Rinse the mackerel under cool running water, and if it has not yet thawed completely, leave it at room temperature until it is fully defrosted.
- Strain the cooled broth, add sugar and salt, mix until the grains dissolve. Then pour in liquid smoke.
- Cut the neck of the bottle and put the carcasses with their heads (if any) down.
- Pour in the prepared brine. Ponytails can half peek out of the liquid.
- Put the container in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Then take out the mackerel, dry it, put it in a colander or on the wire rack, turn down the bowl where the liquid will drain.
- Hold the “design” in the refrigerator for another day.
- Lubricate the dried delicacy with vegetable oil.
Smoked mackerel is ready. You can cut it in portions, decorate with onions or chopped feathers of green onions and serve.
Quick Hot Smoked Fish Recipe
- Cooking time: 1 hour.
- Servings Per Container: 4-5.
Cooking a delicacy in a classic way takes several days, and this is not always convenient. I offer an express recipe for smoked mackerel in air grill.
Ingredients:
- fish - 2 carcasses;
- salt - 2 tsp;
- liquid smoke - 3 tbsp. l .;
- alder shavings - a handful.
Operating procedure:
- Defrost and gut the carcasses, cut off the gills, rinse thoroughly under a tap, let dry.
- Rub the inside and out with salt. Be careful not to damage the skin - this is important because when it smokes, it retains part of the moisture, which will help to avoid excessive dryness of the finished product.
- Lubricate the fish with liquid smoke. For 2 pieces should take about 2 tbsp. l concentrate.
- Soak the alder shavings with the rest of the flavor, put it on the bottom of the air grill, and place the carcasses on the grill (steamer).
- Smoke mackerel for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees and average fan speed.
That's all! After the fish has cooled, you can try it. Perhaps it will turn out not quite the same as a store snack, but also very tasty.
Cold Smoked Mackerel
Ingredients
- 1 kg Mackerel
- 1,5 l Water
- 4 tbsp Coarse salt
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 glass Onion peel
- 2 tbsp Black tea
- 3-4 tbsp Liquid smoke
- 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
Step-by-step instruction
- Pour water into the pan, put the washed onion husks and put on medium heat. When the liquid boils, reduce heat and cook for half an hour, stirring occasionally with a spatula. The water will evaporate, but you do not need to add it - you will need about a liter of the finished broth.
- After 30 minutes, remove the container from the heat, pour black tea and leave to insist and cool. It will take at least an hour.
- Now there is time to go fishing. It’s not scary if it hasn’t completely thawed yet; it’s more convenient to work. Gut the carcasses, scrape off the black film and blood clots remaining inside the abdomen with the blunt side of the knife. The head can not be cut off if the mackerel is placed along the length of the bottle and so on. But the gills must be removed necessarily.
- Rinse the mackerel under cool running water, and if it has not yet thawed completely, leave it at room temperature until it is fully defrosted.
- Strain the cooled broth, add sugar and salt, mix until the grains dissolve. Then pour in liquid smoke.
- Cut the neck of the bottle and put the carcasses with their heads (if any) down.
- Pour in the prepared brine. Ponytails can half peek out of the liquid.
- Put the container in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Then take out the mackerel, dry it, put it in a colander or on the wire rack, turn down the bowl where the liquid will drain.
- Hold the “design” in the refrigerator for another day.
- Lubricate the dried delicacy with vegetable oil.
