Which of us has ever tasted smoked meat or fish?
Perhaps there are no people who do not remember this amazing aroma and great taste of smoked meats.
Of course, because of the great love for smoked meats, many people buy them in shops and supermarkets, for example, at the holiday table, but such products are often of dubious quality.
What to do if you want to eat smoked chicken, but don’t want to take risks when buying "store" products, and they are not cheap at all?
There is a solution, and it is very simple - smoke products at home! This can be done much easier than you think, and such products are stored much longer than usual, since smoke has the ability to preserve and also destroy all harmful microorganisms and bacteria.
Types of smoking at home and the necessary equipment
Home smoking can be done both in the courtyard of a private house, and in a city apartment. If you want to pamper yourself regularly or occasionally with fragrant smoked meats cooked at home, then first of all you need to take care of a good smokehouse, and it should be factory-made. It is not difficult to find such a smokehouse, since there are a lot of them on the market today. Factory smokehouses make home-smoked safer, as well as eliminate the problems with the removal of excess smoke.
You can make a smokehouse with your own hands, using an ordinary tin bucket or a metal box for this. The capacity can be of any volume, everything will depend on your requests for the number of manufactured products per unit time. As a heating element, a stove can be used.
Before you start smoking at home, you need to prepare the following list of components:
meat;
a fish;
salt
sugar
spice;
sawdust;
a bucket or box (in the absence of a finished factory smokehouse);
cover with oppression;
lattice;
pallet.
There are only two ways of smoking: cold and hot. Smoked products also have their own classification: smoked, smoked-baked and smoked-cooked. The latter include poultry and meat products, and smoked-baked products include fruits and vegetables, but not necessarily, it all depends on each person’s personal preferences. It is also worth noting that only cold smoked products are cooked and baked, this does not apply to hot smoking.
General principles of smoking at home
Before proceeding directly to the preparation of smoked meats, it is necessary to observe the simple technology of the smoking process:
1. Do not start the smoking process in adverse weather for him, it is better to wait for "calm" - calm, calm weather, no precipitation is expected.
2. The smoking process is best to start in the morning. The fact is that if you decide to smoke fish, rabbit meat, sausage or small meat pieces by cold smoking, then this procedure will not take you too much time. But when it comes to smoking, for example, whole ham, when the process can drag on for several days, and it is better that there is a good supply of time for the mood of the smokehouse before going to bed.
3. In order for smoke to pass freely, pallets are needed, which will be slightly smaller in dimensions of the base of the smokehouse itself. You need to place them between the source of smoke closer to the base and products. You will need pallets for two reasons at once:
firstly, when smoked by hot smoking, the pallet will cover the sawdust from draining fat, that is, the quality of the smoke will not deteriorate and the sawdust will give its aromas;
secondly, with hot smoking, suspended products can break off at any time, and the first person to be in the way of products to sawdust will be a pallet.
4. Do not open the lid unnecessarily, because each such curiosity will cost you an extra 10 minutes of smoking.
5. Wood should be exclusively recommended species that do not contain resins;
6. Observe the desired temperature for each method of smoking. It is advisable to have a special thermometer with you, but you can do without it. You can determine the temperature without a thermometer like this: 50-60 ° C can be determined by the back of the hand, it is hot enough, but you can tolerate. To determine higher temperatures, for example, 95 ° C, you need to spray some water on the smokehouse, it will not hiss, but it should evaporate immediately.
The temperature may vary depending on the height of the smokehouse, below it is usually higher. Thus, temperature measurement should be done at the level where the products are located. There is no need to worry too much about temperature accuracy; in the smoking technology, temperature differences of +/- 5 ° C are allowed.
Recipes (ingredients and method of preparation)
So we come to the most interesting - the direct smoking process. As already mentioned, there are two types of smoking: hot and cold. We will analyze how you can cook smoked fish or meat at home.
To prepare food using the hot method, at the bottom of the smokehouse you need to lay out sawdust (preferably alder), previously moistened in water, increase the temperature to 90-100 ° C and gradually reduce it. Products will be prepared quickly enough, in an hour and a half you will already receive ready-made smoked meats, but their shelf life is very short.
Cold smoked food preparation is a much more complex and lengthy process. It occurs by prolonged supply of smoke while maintaining a low temperature level:
meat - 20 ° C;
fish - 40 ° C.
You also need to prepare the firebox. It is necessary that a trench 3-5 meters depart from it, at the end of which there should be a tank. Products will be suspended in this container, but not too tightly to cover each of them with smoke. We put firewood in the furnace, on top of which alder sawdust and maintain weak burning for five days.
Cold smoked products are able to maintain their original taste and aroma for a long time, and their shelf life in a cool room is 6 months.
First you need to prepare the products necessary for smoking. For this, meat or fish need to be pre-salt. This is done like this: pieces of meat, 2.5-3 cm thick, sprinkle well with salt and grease with spices. Smoked meat is not recommended; it should be kept in the cold for at least 72 hours. As for the fish, it must be gutted and put in a solution of salt for 25-36 hours, then rinse thoroughly under running water. Then the meat and fish are hung in a well-ventilated room and dried for a couple of days, while the fish should be hung upside down.
There are 2 ways of salting: dry and salting in brine. When preparing the products in the first way, you need to thoroughly rub them with salt and put them in a container. When salting in a brine, you need to fold the products in a barrel, but not too tightly, and pour in previously prepared, cooled brine. To do this, pour so much water into the container to completely cover the product, put 10% of its salt weight, 1 tbsp. l saltpeter and 2 tbsp. l sugar per 5 kg of product. For cold smoked cooking, meat should be salted for 30 days, lard and fish - 5 days.
If you need to smack large pieces of meat, such as, for example, a ham or a shoulder, you need to mix spices, sugar and salt in a separate plate. We rub the meat on all sides with the prepared mixture, put it in a bowl with a deep bottom and sprinkle abundantly on top with the same mixture. Then we cover the bowl with gauze, fill with brine and leave it under oppression for 1-2 weeks. The aging time depends on the size of the pieces.
Sawdust must also be prepared beforehand, almost any tree species that do not contain resins are suitable for smoking, juniper chips give a very good aroma. We grind to small pieces of wood, remove the bark from it, moisten it a little and scatter them along the bottom of the smokehouse. After that, we install in the smoking grate for products and a tray for draining juice. Make sure that the lid is tightly closed.
We lay out the products on the grill in one layer. We expose the smokehouse to the fire and tightly close the lid, crushing it with oppression. Ensure that the internal temperature does not exceed 120 ° C.
If you smoke small pieces of meat and fish, then 30-50 minutes will be enough. Before removing, try to taste if it is smoked enough. After several independent smoking, you will be able to more accurately determine the desired smoking time.
Smoking at home - tricks and tips
Well, in conclusion, a few simple recommendations:
if you are cooking hot smoked products, make sure that the smoking lid is tightly closed. It should be installed above the firebox or fire and give hot and thick smoke;
the shelf life of hot smoked products is small - only 2-3 days, the most delicious products - smoked meat or fish, just cooked;
try adding herbs (sage, mint, rosemary) to the sawdust, this will give your products an amazing shade of taste;
Do not forget that smoke contains carcinogens, so you don’t need to get too carried away with smoked foods.
That's probably all you need to know before doing home smoking. If you have a festive table, then you can please the guests with meat or fish cooked by hot smoking, because they cook very quickly - only 1-2 hours.
Cook with pleasure!
