Smoked eel

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 3 hr 30 mins

1. STEP 1

   

   How to smoke hot smoked eel at home? Prepare the necessary products. First of all, we need fresh eel, water and salt. For smoking, it is better to use unfrozen fish, so the result and taste of the finished delicacy will be much better.

2. STEP 2

   

   If the fish is still alive, then place it in a strong saline solution and leave it for a while. When the eel stops moving, remove it from the liquid and remove the mucus from the surface of the carcass. It is very important to remove all the mucus, otherwise the final taste may be different.

3. STEP 3

   

   Remove all the insides by making a cut on the belly. Leave the heads and tails, this will make the finished fish look more appetizing. Prepare the marinade; to do this, dilute salt in water at the rate of 5 to 1. That is. For 5-6 liters of cold water, take 1 kilogram of table salt. Place the eel in the marinade and leave for 20-30 minutes. Next, remove the carcasses from the salt water and wipe with napkins.

4. STEP 4

   

   Hang the fish with a rope or thick thread outdoors. It is good if the drying process takes place in a small draft or in the wind. Leave it this way for an hour or a little more. If there are insects outside, it is better to dry the eel in a net.

5. STEP 5

   

   Prepare the smoking apparatus. Its preparation depends on the model. In the recipe, the eel was smoked in a “Steam Locomotive” apparatus; I laid foil on the bottom and installed a wire rack above it.

6. STEP 6

   

   Next, light a fire in a special compartment for firewood. Wait until the temperature in the smokehouse rises to 80-90 degrees, place a thin layer of pre-soaked chips from fruit trees on the coals, do not use chips from coniferous trees, they can impart bitterness to the finished fish.

7. STEP 7

   

   Place the eel on the grill at some distance from each other so that the smoke evenly envelops each carcass. You can make spacers in the belly of the fish; I didn’t do this because my eel was small.

8. STEP 8

   

   Cover the apparatus with a lid and smoke for 1-1.5 hours (depending on the size of the fish and the model of the smoking apparatus).

9. STEP 9

   

   The finished fish acquires a beautiful brown-golden hue, the meat becomes white and aromatic. Remove the eel from the apparatus, cool and let it sit for a while.