Hot smoked pike perch

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 6 hr

1. STEP 1

   

   How to hot smoke pike perch at home? Prepare all the necessary ingredients. Choose large, fresh fish without signs of damage. If desired, you can use lemon. It will make the taste of the fish brighter and richer.

2. STEP 2

   

   Clean the fish from scales in a way convenient for you. To do this, I first pour a small amount of boiling water over the fish carcass.

3. STEP 3

   

   Now the scales can be easily removed by moving a knife from the tail to the head. Also remove the insides of the fish and rinse it with cold water.

4. STEP 4

   

   Rub the pike perch carcass, washed under running water and dried with a paper towel, with pepper and salt. Don't skip the gills - a small amount of spices should get there too. Rub the fish not only outside, but also inside. Place the fish on a plate and place in the refrigerator to cure. The time is determined at the rate of 2 hours for each kilogram of fish. In our case, a two-kilogram fish will be salted for 4 hours.

5. STEP 5

   

   After completing the salting process, rinse the pike perch with cold water, washing off all excess salt. Leave the fish to ventilate in the fresh air for 30 minutes. Don't forget to cover it with gauze from flies and other insects.

6. STEP 6

   

   To smoke pike perch, it is better to use sawdust and chips from fruit trees, as well as alder and currant trees. Soak the sawdust in water for about 10 minutes. Wet sawdust gives a nice thick smoke.

7. STEP 7

   

   Squeeze out the sawdust and spread it in a thin layer on a cloth to drain excess water.

8. STEP 8

   

   Stuff the belly of the fish with lemon wedges. If you don't like the combination of fish and lemon, then you can skip this step.

9. STEP 9

   

   Spread the sawdust evenly on the bottom of the smoker.

10. STEP 10

    

    Place the pike perch on the grill.

11. STEP 11

    

    Close the smokehouse with a lid and place it on pre-lit coals. The heat from them should be moderate, but constant. Smoke the fish for 30-40 minutes. The exact time depends on the heat temperature, the design of the smokehouse and the size of the fish.

12. STEP 12

    

    When the pike perch is ready, remove the smoker from the coals. Leave the fish in the smoker for another 15 minutes. The finished pike perch is very tender, so in order to maintain its shape, you must remove it from the grill very carefully. Bon appetit!

Comments on the recipe

Moderator Ksenia

13.10.2023

4.5

We have an electric smoker at home and use it from time to time. This time it came in handy to cook hot smoked pike perch at home. The pike perch weighed 1.8 kg. I was cleaning and salting fish. For this I used 40 grams of salt and 20 grams of pepper. The salting lasted 4 hours. The husband was responsible for smoking. He used alder wood chips. An electric smoker takes longer to cook fish than a fire. It took about three hours to smoke. The fish turned out excellent: tender, tasty, with a pleasant aroma and taste of wood chips, moderately salty and moderately spicy. Thank you very much for the recipe!