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First of all we are no artists, just keen amateurs, but smoking is really easy. We have smoked Mackerel and Cod and both have been lovely.
You can make yourself brine with water, sea salt(do not use iodized salt), brown sugar, garlic and ginger, or you can add soy sauce, or anything you like really. If you do this soak the fillets in the brine overnight in the fridge before smoking. We have tried this method which works great, but usually we just bung them on fresh.
The smoking process is pretty easy and smokers are fairly cheap these days in DIY stores, or you can make your own from a calor gas bottle, an old metal bread bin or any metal container really, if unlike me, you are good with your hands. We were lucky and a friend made one for us from an old calor gas battle.
There are a few ways to create the smoke, but this is what we do. Get yourself some charcoals and spread them evenly over your smoker(not in a pyramid as you may do with a BBQ). screw up newspaper(like you used to do to light the fire at home) and light the paper. Do not use briquettes, as they are soaked in petrol and will ruin the taste of the fish. Once the charcoals are about halfway to becoming white hot, add the wood chips to the flames. We use Johnny Walker wood chips which are about £6 for a small bag that should do 4 smokes. You can also just get ordinary wood chips and soak them in whisky or rum, experimenting until you find what you like best is part of the fun. Once the charcoals are white hot, place the fillets, skin side down, on the smoker, close the lid and leave for about 15 minutes, you can check the fillets if you like, the smoke quickly builds up again. Soon you will have your smoked fillets.
The fillets should look something like this after smoking. If you have soaked them in brine, you will get a brown covering on the fillets.
I am sure there are more complicated ways of smoking fish, but the above method is quick, easy and seems to work a treat.
Fresh smoked fish is amazing and Mackerel can be eaten hot off the smoker, or cold the next day. We often take the cold fillets the next day and make smoked mackerel pate. Again there are many recipes for pate, but this simple one works for us.
Ingredients : Smoked mackerel, creme fresh, onion, sea salt, black pepper, garlic cloves, chilli flakes.
Method : Chop the onion and garlic cloves, take 4 parts mackerel to 1 part creme fresh, add the sea salt garlic and chilli flakes, put everything in a bowl and mash them all up, or put all ingredients in a blender if you are posh!
Hope the above is of interest.
PS Don't forget the cold beer/wine while you wait for the fish to smoke!
You can make yourself brine with water, sea salt(do not use iodized salt), brown sugar, garlic and ginger, or you can add soy sauce, or anything you like really. If you do this soak the fillets in the brine overnight in the fridge before smoking. We have tried this method which works great, but usually we just bung them on fresh.
The smoking process is pretty easy and smokers are fairly cheap these days in DIY stores, or you can make your own from a calor gas bottle, an old metal bread bin or any metal container really, if unlike me, you are good with your hands. We were lucky and a friend made one for us from an old calor gas battle.
There are a few ways to create the smoke, but this is what we do. Get yourself some charcoals and spread them evenly over your smoker(not in a pyramid as you may do with a BBQ). screw up newspaper(like you used to do to light the fire at home) and light the paper. Do not use briquettes, as they are soaked in petrol and will ruin the taste of the fish. Once the charcoals are about halfway to becoming white hot, add the wood chips to the flames. We use Johnny Walker wood chips which are about £6 for a small bag that should do 4 smokes. You can also just get ordinary wood chips and soak them in whisky or rum, experimenting until you find what you like best is part of the fun. Once the charcoals are white hot, place the fillets, skin side down, on the smoker, close the lid and leave for about 15 minutes, you can check the fillets if you like, the smoke quickly builds up again. Soon you will have your smoked fillets.
The fillets should look something like this after smoking. If you have soaked them in brine, you will get a brown covering on the fillets.
I am sure there are more complicated ways of smoking fish, but the above method is quick, easy and seems to work a treat.
Fresh smoked fish is amazing and Mackerel can be eaten hot off the smoker, or cold the next day. We often take the cold fillets the next day and make smoked mackerel pate. Again there are many recipes for pate, but this simple one works for us.
Ingredients : Smoked mackerel, creme fresh, onion, sea salt, black pepper, garlic cloves, chilli flakes.
Method : Chop the onion and garlic cloves, take 4 parts mackerel to 1 part creme fresh, add the sea salt garlic and chilli flakes, put everything in a bowl and mash them all up, or put all ingredients in a blender if you are posh!
Hope the above is of interest.
PS Don't forget the cold beer/wine while you wait for the fish to smoke!
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