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Hot smoked mackerel at home in a smokehouse. Smoking mackerel - the best recipes. How to properly cook smoked mackerel at home

To make hot smoked mackerel really tasty, you first need to salt it. The recipe is easy, so anyone can handle it. First you need to rinse the fish under cold water. There is no need to cut off its head, tail or fins, since the whole mackerel can be smoked.

Now you need to get salt and spices to taste. They should be mixed until smooth, and then rub the surface of the fish. To salt mackerel well, you will need to wrap it in foil and send it to a cool place for at least a day. After this you can start smoking.

Rub the mackerel with the prepared brine

Alternatively, you can use brine. To do this, add 50 g of salt to 1 liter of water. Add spices to taste. The solution must be boiled and then allowed to cool. After that, pour it over the fish and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. For those who like the lightly salted version, it is recommended to rinse the mackerel before using the hot method.

Hot smoking technology

Smoking mackerel takes less time than cooking pork or beef. How long does it take on average to make fish? In about 30 minutes, sometimes even less time is required. It takes longer to prepare than cooking in a smoker using the hot method.

To make the fish appetizing, you will need to know the right recipe. In general, there is nothing complicated in the process itself. Knowing how to smoke mackerel, the method of preparing other types of fish will also be clear.

First you need to prepare the smokehouse:

Take a smoking container. This can be either a specially purchased or a self-made smokehouse. For the second option, a regular metal bucket with a lid is suitable.

  1. Place fruit tree chips inside. Spray them lightly with water.
  2. Place inside the grill. They should first be washed and coated with vegetable oil.
  3. Prepare a fire pit. By the way, you can use a grill for this purpose.
  4. Light the fire and place the smoker over it. Place the fish inside and cover with a lid.

To prepare this hot smoked recipe correctly, you need to ensure that the heat is medium. About 10 minutes after starting, you need to open the lid and release excess smoke. After this, the container must be covered again and left for 15 minutes. It is advisable to turn the fish over on the other side during this time so that it is evenly treated with smoke.

The entire hot smoking process should not take more than 30 minutes. As a rule, the fish is ready in 20-25 minutes. It is not recommended to serve it immediately; let it cool slightly. If you want, you can eat it warm or already cold. In any case, it will be very tasty, and will become both a good independent dish and a snack.

Cold smoked recipe

The cold smoking process is much more difficult than the hot smoking method. Plus, it takes longer. On average, fish can be made in 10 hours, but you can keep it longer in a special smokehouse. The main thing is that the temperature in the container with mackerel does not exceed 25 degrees. Otherwise, it will no longer be a cold method, but a hot one. And it will lead to a different result.

It is as follows. The fish needs to be washed, the head can be cut off if desired, and then the carcass can be salted. After this, it will need to be hung in a special metal compartment, into which cooled smoke from the fire will flow. This is necessary so that the fish is smoked cold and not hot.

Cold smoking will allow you to store the product much longer

After a certain time has passed, the carcasses will need to be hung in the fresh air. They need to be kept in this form for several days, after which they can be sent for storage. A cold-cooked product can remain edible for quite a long time.

It is advisable to keep fish in a dark room with humidity in the range of 40-60% and a temperature of about 5-10 degrees. The product can be either folded into a wooden box or simply hung. If this is not possible, then you can simply wrap it in foil and place it in the refrigerator.

A cold-cooked product will decorate any table. It will be much tastier than the store-bought version and more interesting. You can serve sliced, garnished with herbs and onion rings. Guests and loved ones will certainly appreciate this recipe, so if possible, it’s really worth preparing it.

Mackerel is considered an affordable and sophisticated fish. Most often on the holiday table you can see a smoked fish delicacy bought in a supermarket. To be sure of the quality of the delicacy, you can always smoke mackerel in a hot smoked smokehouse at home.

Very often mackerel is treated with cold smoke. Find out how this happens in the article at the link.

Before cooking mackerel in a hot smoked smokehouse, the first thing you need to do is marinate or salt it. The fish is prepared as follows:

  • Cut the belly and remove the entrails. Cut off the head and peel the husk. If you are going to smoke whole fish, then clean it only from scales. In both cases, rinse thoroughly with water.
  • Proceed with the ambassador. Arrange the carcasses according to size, cover with the salt mixture and leave until the brine appears. Large mackerel is salted for up to 3 hours, medium – 120 minutes and small – 60-90 minutes.
  • After the time has passed, remove the carcasses, rinse them in water and hang them in the fresh air until completely dry. Next, rub the dried fish with vegetable oil and place on a wire rack. For uniform smoking, the carcasses should not touch each other.

Important! To make the delicacy truly tasty, try to salt and smoke fish of the same size. So the time for salting and processing with smoke will be the same.

Cooking in a smokehouse outdoors

Before you smoke mackerel in a hot-smoked smokehouse at your dacha, you first need to stock up on firewood and wood chips. For the right aroma, sawdust from the following trees is suitable:

  • alder;
  • cherry;
  • plum;
  • cherries.

If you use other wood chips, the finished delicacy will have a bitter aftertaste.

How long does smoking take?

The process of processing with hot smoke takes no more than 40 minutes, but do not forget that before smoking the product must be prepared and salted. Therefore, in general, it will take about 6 hours to prepare the fish delicacy.

Rules for cooking outdoors

First of all, start dry salting:

  1. Remove the head and remove the giblets from the carcass.
  2. Wash the fish thoroughly with water and dry with a paper towel.
  3. Prepare a mixture of salt (50 g), sugar (5 g) and black pepper to taste.
  4. Wipe the mackerel inside and out with the resulting mixture and place in an enamel container.
  5. After 180 minutes, remove the product, rinse in water and wipe dry to remove excess liquid.

We smoke mackerel in a hot smoker as follows:

  1. While the fire is burning, place moistened wood chips in an even layer on the bottom of the smokehouse.
  2. Place a tray on top of the raw materials to drain juice and fat. If you don't have a suitable container, use a sheet of foil. Otherwise, the fat will get on the wood chips and the taste of the delicacy will be spoiled.
  3. Place the carcasses tied with twine on the grill and send them to the smokehouse. If you do not use a thread, the fish meat will fall apart during smoke treatment.
  4. Close the smoking box tightly with a lid and set on fire.

After the time has passed, take out the treat and hang it in a draft for ventilation. After 120 minutes, serve the smoked meat.

Hot smoking temperature of mackerel

To properly smoke hot smoked mackerel, you need to maintain the temperature. Ideally, it should be 90-120 degrees. Due to such high values, smoked meat is processed quickly - 180-240 minutes.

But during this time, the fish is almost cooked and does not receive the proper influence of smoke, so this delicacy is stored for no more than a week in the refrigerator.

If the dish is left on the table, then you can always prepare a tasty dish from it, for example okroshka. Find out how to do it in the next article.

Cooking in a smokehouse at home

Do you want smoked fish, but there is no way to cook it outdoors? Don’t be upset, because this type of delicacy can always be made without leaving your apartment.

In our example, a small hot-smoked smokehouse will be used, instead of which you can take a deep vat with a thick bottom. Sawdust is placed at the bottom, above them there is foil or a tray for fat, and on top there is a fish on the grill. This entire structure is placed on the stove and cooked in exactly the same way as in a hot smoked smokehouse.

Cooking hot smoked mackerel without a smokehouse

To make smoked food at home, you don’t have to use an oven or smoke box. There is a recipe that requires only onion skins and liquid smoke.

The peculiarity of this dish is that the fish is not subjected to heat treatment; smoking occurs thanks to the marinade.

How long will it take to smoke?

To ensure that the fish meat is aromatic, tender and pleasant to the taste, it takes a little more than 48 hours to prepare the dish. But believe me, the end result is worth it, you can even serve it on the holiday table.

Rules for smoking hot smoked mackerel without a smokehouse

Remove the carcass from the entrails, tail and head, rinse and start preparing the marinade:

  1. Wash the onion peels thoroughly (3 cups) and pour into a saucepan of water (1 liter), bring to a boil and remove from heat after 20 minutes.
  2. Add granulated sugar (25 g), salt (150-200 g) and liquid smoke (75 ml) to the strained broth.
  3. Place the fish in the thoroughly mixed brine and leave to marinate. Spicy lovers add spices to the marinade to taste. This will make the smoked meat even more flavorful.

Good to know! It is best to marinate fish in a jar or plastic bottle without a neck and only at room temperature.

After the time has passed, take out the delicacy, cut it into pieces and serve with onions and herbs.

Still exists. For information on how to prepare it correctly, read the article at the link.

How many calories are in hot smoked mackerel?

Hot smoked mackerel is quite high in calories, 220 kcal per 100 g of product. Therefore, nutritionists advise consuming such smoked meat no more than 2 times a week, and up to 80 g per day. If you do not follow the recommendations, you can harm the body and add extra pounds.

Fish is served on the table not only as a separate dish. This delicacy makes delicious salads. Find out more from our article.

That's all the main secrets of cooking fish in a hot smoked smokehouse. Bon appetit!

Cooking time: 30 min

4 servings

What is required to prepare hot smoked mackerel at home

Let's consider the option in which it is necessary to prepare this dish for four people. To do this you will need four mackerel carcasses and four tablespoons of salt. In addition, you will need the following equipment:

  • fresh mackerel;
  • set of bowls knife; stainless steel tray;
  • cling film;
  • smokehouse and firewood for it;
  • alder sawdust.

The process of smoking mackerel at home

It consists of the following steps:

Fish cleaning

As a rule, mackerel is sold frozen, and the carcasses must first be thawed. To do this, pour cold water into a bowl and place the mackerel in it - after an hour and a half, the defrosting process will be completed.


Attention! To speed up the defrosting of mackerel, do not place it in hot or even warm water: the meat will soften and may fall away from the bones, as a result of which the fish will be unsuitable for cooking.


After defrosting is completed, the heads of the fish carcasses are cut off and the entrails are removed, after which they are thoroughly washed and wiped dry.


After this, we make a hole in the tail of the carcass, thread a twenty-centimeter piece of twine into it, the ends of which are then tied in such a way as to form a loop - it will be needed to hang the carcass in the smokehouse.

Salting out

Pour the required amount of salt into a deep plate. We take the mackerel carcass, place it in an iron tray, and rub it with salt. You should not be overzealous in this process, otherwise you can tear the skin off the fish and it will lose its attractive appearance.


One spoon of salt will be enough to rub the mackerel carcass inside and out.


Place the fish processed in this way in an iron tray, wrap it tightly in cling film and put it in the refrigerator for eight to ten hours.

Drying

After the specified time has passed, remove the tray with fish from the refrigerator, and rinse the mackerel carcasses thoroughly under running tap water. Next, the fish needs to be dried, and for this purpose it can be hung, for example, in the kitchen - an hour at room temperature will be enough for the fish to dry.


In parallel with drying the fish, we prepare alder sawdust for use. To do this, place them in a metal bowl and moisten them with water - for two handfuls of sawdust, four tablespoons of water will be enough.


Attention! In this process, it is important that the resulting sawdust is neither too dry nor too wet. In the first case, they will simply burn, and the fish along with them, and in the second, they will not produce enough smoke, which will affect the quality of smoking.

Preparing the smokehouse and smoking

Moistened sawdust is laid out in an even layer on the bottom of the smokehouse. After this, to heat the smokehouse, we light the wood, adjusting the flame so that the fire is medium. Using loops, we string fish carcasses onto the metal crossbars inside the dryer, and we do this in such a way that there is a gap of five to six centimeters between the hung fish.


Cover the smokehouse with a lid as tightly as possible and keep it in this condition for fifteen minutes. Then we open the container, release the smoke from it (if this is not done, the fish may taste bitter), after which we put the lid in place. After thirty minutes, the smoking process will be completed, the fish is removed from the smokehouse, removed from the crossbar and placed again in the tray. After it has cooled, hang the carcasses on a rope in a cool place and leave for four to seven hours.


Then we remove the fish, remove the twine from it, and when placed in a tray and put in the refrigerator, it can be stored for three to four days.


Attention! Longer storage is undesirable, as the taste of mackerel may deteriorate and a specific smell may appear.

How to serve hot smoked mackerel

Cooked fish can be served in various forms, from a variety of salads to sliced ​​for sandwiches. In addition, mackerel can be served as a snack with different types of alcoholic drinks. In addition, many housewives have their own recipes for dishes made from smoked mackerel, so you can also show your creativity in this matter.

In conclusion of this article, we would like to give some useful tips that will come in handy when preparing hot smoked mackerel at home:

  • A low heat is quite suitable for smoking mackerel, but you need to smoke fish on it for at least two hours.
  • If you are the owner of a home electric smokehouse, then you need to set the temperature in it to one hundred degrees and keep the fish there for an hour and a half.
  • In addition to alder, sawdust from other deciduous and coniferous trees is quite suitable for smoking. The only condition is that they must be without bark, otherwise the fish will develop a specific taste.
  • If desired, in addition to salt, various spices can be used when preparing hot smoked mackerel - it all depends on your taste.

Video: hot smoked mackerel

White mackerel meat is healthy and tasty, no matter how it is prepared. There are many cooking methods: fish can be baked in the oven, stewed, marinated. You can also smoke the fish. Smoked fish has a bright aroma and taste, and is perfect for a festive table.

Smoking mackerel - preparing food and utensils

There are several ways to smoke fish at home, however, no matter how you decide to do it, the mackerel must be prepared first.

You should buy fish in “trusted” stores, where you definitely won’t find expired goods. Good frozen fish should have a uniform carcass without any looseness or odors. Under no circumstances buy fish unless there is a thick layer of ice on it, because sellers often hide its poor quality with this.

There are two ways to smoke fish. The first (and only correct) is to cook the fish in a real smokehouse. The fish will be saturated with sawdust smoke and acquire an incomparable aroma. However, it is unlikely that every housewife has such a device at home. In this case, use the second method, using liquid smoke. This pseudo-smoking will allow you to get tasty fish without huge labor costs. It is liquid smoke that will be the second main ingredient after fish. 200 ml of additive is enough for eight to ten times of preparing the dish.

An air fryer, in which the required temperature is pumped up by moving blades, will speed up the process of “smoking” mackerel.

Recipes for smoking mackerel:

Recipe 1: Smoking mackerel

Required ingredients:

  • Mineral water for brine – 1.2 liters
  • Mackerel – 3-4 carcasses
  • Sugar – 1 1/2 tablespoons
  • 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
  • Husk from 2 onions

Cooking method:

  1. Prepare the fish. To do this, first clean it, cut off the head and tail, and gut it thoroughly. Don't forget to remove the black film.
  2. Pour water into a saucepan, heat it, add salt, sugar, onion peels, bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Strain the marinade and cool. Add liquid smoke.
  3. Pour the resulting marinade over the fish and keep it under weight at room temperature for 26-30 hours. After this, turn the fish over and put it in the refrigerator for two days, also under load. Turn the fish over every day.

Recipe 2: Smoking mackerel (cook for 2 days)

This recipe is similar to the previous one, but by changing the recipe for preparing the brine, you will “smoke” the fish faster, in about two days.

Required ingredients:

  • 1 liter of purified water for brine
  • Mackerel – 3-4 carcasses
  • Peel from two onions
  • Sugar – 2-3 tbsp.
  • Liquid smoke 1 tablespoon

Cooking method:

  1. Pour mineral water into a saucepan, put the onion peels there and, bringing to a boil, cook for 25 minutes.
  2. Then remove the broth from the heat and leave for 10-12 hours, then add salt, sugar and liquid smoke to the marinade.
  3. Clean the fish, cut off the head and tail, remove the giblets and fill with the resulting brine. Press down with a weight and put it in the refrigerator to “smoke” for 2 days. Don't forget to turn the fish over.

Recipe 3: Smoking mackerel in an air fryer

If you have an air fryer, then you won’t need to wait long for the fish to “smoke”. In addition to liquid smoke and salt, prepare in advance a plastic bag for marinating mackerel.

Required ingredients:

  • Liquid smoke – 2 tablespoons
  • Mackerel – 4-5 carcasses

Cooking method:

  1. Let's prepare the fish. Gut it, cut off the head and tail. Lubricate the inside with salt (about one tablespoon per carcass), and coat the carcass itself with liquid smoke.
  2. Place the fish in a bag, add liquid smoke and tie tightly. Leave the mackerel to marinate for forty minutes. Then remove it and wipe thoroughly until the fish is dry.
  3. Turn on the air fryer and set the temperature to 200 degrees. Place the fish on the middle rack and cook for 25 minutes.

Recipe 4: Smoking mackerel (using an electric smoker)

Do you have a small smokehouse at home? In this case, you can completely do without liquid smoke. The recipe is simple, and the fish turns out to be as “close” in taste as smoked. Don't forget to prepare fruit or alder sawdust, a spoonful of tea and sugar for the smoker.

Required ingredients:

  • Mackerel
  • Lemon – ½ piece

Cooking method:

  1. Cut off the head of the fish, remove the giblets, wash, and coat the inside with salt.
  2. Cut the lemon into slices, put it inside the fish and place it in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
  3. Take the fruit sawdust and place it on a tray. Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar and fine black leaf tea onto the sawdust.
  4. Wipe the fish dry and place it in the smokehouse. The mackerel should be cooked without smoke for the first 10 minutes, then insert the tray and cook with smoke for 25 minutes. Then turn off the electric smoker, but do not remove the lid, let the mackerel lie there for another 20 minutes.

Recipe 5: Smoking mackerel (using a country smokehouse)

Smoking fish will cause you less trouble if you have a country smokehouse. The recipe is simple, but in any case, the fish will need to be marinated for a day in the refrigerator.

Required ingredients:

  • Mackerel

Cooking method:

  1. Prepare mackerel before smoking: cut off the head and tail, gut it. Rub the inside of the fish with salt, then place it in the refrigerator for 20 hours.
  2. Place sawdust (fruit or alder) on the bottom of the smokehouse in a 1 centimeter layer.
  3. Place apple tree branches on the net, and fish carcasses on them. Smoke the mackerel for 20 minutes.
  • Is liquid smoke harmful? This question is often asked by those who want to cook fish at home without having a real smokehouse. However, what is quite curious is that almost all store-bought smoked fish has long been prepared using liquid smoke. After all, “smoking” food in this way is quick and cheap. Of course, liquid smoke is not beneficial, but soaking a product in real smoke is not entirely beneficial either. So, if you decide to eat smoked mackerel, just enjoy the delicious dish, the main thing is not very often.
  • Before smoking fish in a smokehouse or convection oven, you need to blot it thoroughly with napkins so that it becomes completely dry.
  • When preparing fish, it is very important to remove the black skin inside. It is very thin, but if it is not removed, the finished fish will taste bitter.
  • Some chefs advise greasing the mackerel carcass not only with salt, but also with a small amount of sugar. This will make the fish more tender in taste. Use brown sugar for this purpose.
  • When making brine for fish, add a little soy sauce to it. The aromatic liquid will give the fish a light, pleasant smell. In addition, a little spice will not interfere with the brine. Suneli hops, allspice peas, dried basil, and parsley roots would be appropriate.
  • Chefs do not recommend cutting the carcass into pieces before you smoke the fish. If you cook mackerel as a whole, the fish will be more juicy.

Smoked fish is a very tasty and aromatic delicacy. But it is impossible to accurately determine the freshness of store-bought smoked mackerel. Moreover, hot smoked products are not intended for long-term storage. But to protect yourself from a low-quality product, you can prepare it yourself. Hot smoked mackerel in a smokehouse at home turns out even tastier than store bought.

Mackerel itself is a very fatty fish, and after smoking the fat content does not go away; the fish does not have time to “dry”.

The time for hot smoking mackerel is usually up to 30 minutes.

100 grams of finished smoked mackerel contains an average of 220 kcal. When choosing fish that is not too fatty, the calorie content falls in the range of 150-200 kcal per 100 grams.

How to choose mackerel for smoking

It is advisable to buy fish only in trusted stores or from familiar sellers in markets. This makes it less likely that you will buy a low-quality original product.

You should choose medium-sized mackerel for smoking. You can take freshly frozen fish, but without a crust of ice.

Pickling recipes

A dish such as mackerel cooked in a smokehouse has many marinade recipes. And even with a small amount of ingredients, hot smoked mackerel turns out juicy and aromatic.

Preparing fish for smoking:

  • First you need to defrost the fish. This must be done without a microwave or other heating devices, since with such “accelerated” defrosting the fish meat becomes tougher. Just fill the frozen carcasses with water and leave them warm overnight;
  • after this, the fish must be washed with running water and the head cut off;
  • remove all the giblets and remove the black film inside the belly. There is no need to trim the tail and fins, since the fish can be smoked whole.

Recipe No. 1

This is a very simple dry way to salt fish before smoking. For one fish you will need only three ingredients:

  • salt – 100 grams;
  • seasoning for fish – 5 grams;
  • grill seasoning – 10 grams.

The fish must be wiped with a mixture of seasonings and salt and placed in an enamel bowl. Place the press on top and put it in the refrigerator to pickle for 5-6 hours. After this, the fish must be wiped with napkins and left to dry for 30-40 minutes, after which it can be sent to the smokehouse.

Recipe No. 2

As a rule, the most delicious dishes are prepared from a minimum set of ingredients. Preparing to smoke mackerel also does not require much seasoning, just salt is enough.

Take salt and rub the fish carcass well both inside and outside. Place the fish in a pan and press down with a press, then leave in a cool place for a day. During this time, the fish meat will be sufficiently saturated with salt, and the smokehouse will add the aroma of smoke.

Recipe No. 3

The fish, combined with the citrusy aroma of lemon, has a unique aroma. To prepare smoked fish with a “lemon” flavor you will need (for one piece of mackerel):

  • lemon – 1 pc.;
  • salt – 100 grams.

The fish carcass must be rubbed with salt. Cut the lemon into thin slices and stuff the fish carcass with it, then place it in a container. Fish with lemon filling must be kept in the refrigerator for up to 10-12 hours. Afterwards, remove the mackerel from the refrigerator and dry for 1 hour. The fish can be placed in the smoker directly with the lemon filling.

Recipe No. 4

This recipe uses brine. Since fish is salted better in brine, less salt is required than in other recipes. To prepare the brine you will need:

  • water – 1 liter;
  • salt – 50 grams;
  • spices to taste.

The water must be put on fire and salt and spices must be added. Bring the liquid to a boil and remove from heat. Let the brine cool. Then pour brine over the fish and leave in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. To make the fish lightly salted, it can be washed with water after salting and dried before smoking.

How to smoke hot smoked mackerel

To make it fragrant and tasty, use sawdust from trees such as alder, apple or plum. In stores you can buy ready-made sawdust in packages of different sizes.

Sawdust should be poured onto the bottom of the smokehouse and sprinkled with water; You can pre-soak them briefly - this will give more smoke. The amount of sawdust usually depends on the volume of your smokehouse. For example, a standard iron smoking box that is placed on a gas stove usually takes two handfuls of wood chips.

A tray is installed over the wood chips; in ready-made smokehouses it is included in the kit, but it must be made for it. It is needed to collect dripping fat - from high temperatures, fat begins to drip down, fall on the hot bottom of the smokehouse and burn. This will certainly ruin the taste of whatever you smoke. Therefore, a drip tray is a must in hot smokers.

The fish must be placed in the smokehouse, close the lid and put the entire structure on the fire. If you smoke at home, in your kitchen, then you also need to pour water into the water seal (this is also required for home smokehouses!), attach a smoke exhaust pipe and lead it out the window.

Preparation will take 30 minutes. The time is measured from the moment when the first smoke begins to come out of the smokehouse - this will mean that the smoke has completely filled the entire volume.

It is important to know that after half the time, it is advisable to “ventilate” the smokehouse, that is, lift the lid and release the accumulated smoke. This way the mackerel will not taste bitter. Of course, this is only possible outdoors, and not in an apartment.

The benefits of smoked mackerel

  1. Coensine in fish prevents skin aging;
  2. Fatty acids in smoked fish help strengthen cell membranes and remove waste and toxins from the body, which provoke the development of many diseases;
  3. With moderate consumption of mackerel, you can protect yourself from thrombosis and disorders of the cardiovascular system.

Harm of smoked mackerel

  1. Mackerel smoked using the hot smoking method turns out to be very fatty, since at high temperatures the fat melts and saturates the meat. Therefore, it is not recommended to eat a lot of smoked fish at once;
  2. Fish must be smoked naturally without adding liquid smoke. When used, the content of harmful substances increases significantly;
  3. Smoked fish, due to its “heaviness,” is not recommended for people with intestinal and stomach problems.

  1. During hot smoking, the skin of the fish may wrinkle and peel off the carcass. To prevent this from happening, the fish must be tied with a rope before smoking. If you have a large smokehouse in which you can hang the carcasses rather than place them on grates, then tying is absolutely necessary - otherwise, at the end of smoking, the soft mackerel meat may simply fall apart;
  2. Large fish turns out juicier if it is cut into portions before smoking;
  3. If you rub the fish with sugar (preferably brown) when salting, the fish meat will be more tender;
  4. Soy sauce in the brine will add a spicy taste to the finished product.

Bottom line

Hot smoked mackerel contains many beneficial vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids. With the right smoking technology, you can get a healthy and tasty product at any time of the year using home smoking.