Smoked Salmon - General Cooking Principles
Today, there are many authoritative studies designed to whiten the gourmets of the whole world that eating smoked foods is not very useful. Meanwhile, this does not stop anyone, and people continue to feast on smoked fish, pork or chicken. In fact, most doctors agree in the following - everything that is in moderation is useful.
We agree with this statement, and therefore share interesting recipes for smoked salmon. Do you think that fish can be smoked only by those who have a real smokehouse at their disposal? The technology has gone ahead, and therefore today you can get smoked meat without leaving your home.
Smoked salmon - preparation of products and utensils
Salmon are most often smoked in its entirety - it is the whole fish that turns out to be the juiciest, while maintaining the original taste and juiciness. You just need to cut off your head and gut the fish, making an incision on your belly.
However, you can also clean the meat from bones and skins by getting fillets - this method of smoking will allow you to get fish, ready to eat or use in salads.
Let's move on to the issue of salmon acquisition. How not to buy a spoiled product? This topic is perhaps the most urgent, because it is more profitable for traders to sell the "missing" salmon than to throw it away. Therefore, it is frozen or salted, posing as slightly salted. Fresh fish has a bright color pleasant to the eye - pink or carrot. As soon as it begins to deteriorate, the color begins to render blue. As for frozen fish, here you should be careful when buying. So, do not take that fish that has a thick crust of ice. As for the color, the frozen salmon loses its brightness, and has a smooth scarlet matte color.
The recipes will list the components, taking into account that the carcass of the fish weighs about a kilogram. However, salmon are different in size. Keep this in mind when preparing products.
Smoked Salmon Recipes:
Recipe 1: Smoked Salmon at Home
For this recipe you will not need a smokehouse or other sophisticated machines. However, something still comes in handy - it is "liquid smoke". Today it can be bought today at any major store. It is worth opening a bottle with this tool, and the smell will take you to the field where the barbecue is prepared. It is this "smoke" that will allow you to "soot" the fish and make salmon truly fragrant.
Ingredients Required:
- Salmon - 1 carcass
- Water - 1.3 liters
- Husk from 3 large onions
- Sugar - 2 tablespoons
- Liquid Smoke - 1.3 tablespoons
- Salt
Cooking method:
- Prepare salmon for "smoking". To do this, cut off the head of the fish and gut it.
- Cook the marinade. Heat the water, as soon as there are bubbles on the surface, pour sugar, salt, husk, mix and let it boil for 3 minutes. After this, cool the broth, strain through cheesecloth. Add “liquid smoke” to the warm liquid.
- Place salmon in a container, fill with liquid and leave at room temperature. The fish should be pickled for about 28-30 hours, after which it must be rearranged in a cold place and left there for 40 hours.
Recipe 2: Quick-Smoked Salmon at Home
Smoked fish can be cooked very quickly. We will prepare the marinade for this recipe according to the scheme, which will allow salmon to become "smoked" in just two days. The secret lies in the fact that the marinade will be aged for a day before we fill them with fish.
Ingredients Required:
- Salmon - 1 carcass
- Water - 1.2 liters
- Husk from 3 bulbs
- Sugar - 2.3 tablespoons
- "Liquid smoke" - 1.5 tablespoons
- Salt
Cooking method:
- We start cooking with the preparation of the marinade. Onion husk should be boiled in water for 25 minutes, then remove the water and, without filtering, leave for 12 hours to infuse in a warm place.
- In the cold broth, add the dry ingredients and "liquid smoke", mix.
- Cut off the head of the fish and gut it.
- Pour the fish with marinade and refrigerate for 48 hours.
Recipe 3: Smoked Salmon (in Air Grill)
It is very good if you have an air grill at home. This universal thing is suitable for preparing any dishes and today is no less popular than a slow cooker.
Ingredients Required:
- Salmon - 1 carcass
- "Liquid smoke" - 3 tablespoons
- Spice
Cooking method:
- Prepare the fish. To cook smoked salmon with an air grill, it is best for you to make a filet. Cut the head and tail, cut the fish. Remove the spine and bones, and then pick up the skin with a knife and remove it.
- Salmon meat is rubbed with salt on all sides and spread with "liquid smoke". Place the fish in the refrigerator under oppression for half an hour.
- Make a foil bag. Put salmon in it and add two more tablespoons of “liquid smoke” to the bag.
- Put a bag of fish on the bottom grill (the one closest to the bottom of the air grill bowl). Turn on the temperature at 200 degrees and set the cooking time to 30 minutes.
Recipe 4: Smoked Salmon (using an electric smoker)
Today, many people buy a small smokehouse for home powered from the network. This thing allows you to create real smoked products, and very quickly and in conditions comfortable for the owners. If you want to cook smoked salmon with an electric smoker, then do not forget to prepare sawdust, best fruit.
Ingredients Required:
- Salmon - 1 carcass
- Sugar - 1 tablespoon
- Finely leafy black tea - 1.5 tablespoons
- Salt
Cooking method:
- Prepare the fish: cut off your head and gut it.
- Rub salmon with salt. You can also add spices, such as ground allspice or suneli hops.
- Prepare an electric smokehouse for work. Put fish in it and cook for the first ten minutes without smoke.
- Gently lay the sawdust on a pallet with a thin layer, sprinkle them with tea and sugar on top. Lower the pan into the apparatus and cook fish with smoke for 25 minutes under the closed lid.
- Then turn off the smokehouse, but do not get salmon - let it be under the closed lid for another half hour.
Recipe 5: Smoked Salmon
If you have a country smokehouse, fish can be smoked immediately after you clean it. If you want smoked salmon to be salty, you will need to marinate it before cooking.
Ingredients Required:
- Salmon carcass
Cooking method:
- Clean the fish. If you want salmon to be salty, rub it abundantly with salt, wrap in foil and leave it in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
- You will need fruit chips or sawdust from alder. Lay them in a thin layer on a grid, and on top lay the branches of apple or cherry. Place a carcass of dry salmon on top. Smoke the fish for about half an hour.
Smoked salmon - secrets and useful tips from the best chefs
If you cook salmon in an air grill or smokehouse, then the fish should be absolutely dry. Blot it with napkins.
You can add lemon to the salmon you smoke in the air grill or in the smokehouse. To do this, put thinly sliced slices inside the gutted carcass. A few more ingredients to give the fish an interesting aroma - garlic, basil, red hot pepper.
If you want the fish to be more tender in structure, rub it with a mixture of salt and brown sugar. Use a little sugar, approximately in the ratio of 1: 5.
