Homemade hot smoked catfish

Work with fish begins with cleaning carcasses. To begin with, it is washed with running water and dried so as not to spread dirt on the cutting board. Gut the carcass without damaging the gallbladder, otherwise the fish in the finished version may be bitter. We cut off all the fins, cut off the heads, clean the scales. We will smoke catfish fillets, but you can leave whole carcasses only by cutting off the fins and removing the gills. After cleaning, the catfish is washed again and dried with dry wipes inside and outside.

The salting stage follows. It is customary to salt catfish before smoking in a dry way. To do this, mix salt in a container, add sugar and ground or ground bay leaf to it. If desired, you can add any set of favorite spices (ground pepper, allspice, herbs and spices). Mix all the dry ingredients until smooth, rub the fish from the outside and inside, put it in a deep dish and cover with a lid. For salting before smoking, it is enough to stand in a cold place for 4-5 hours (depending on the size of the carcasses).

At the end of the process, we wash the fish from the remnants of spices and salt and hang it out to dry in the shade. The place should be well ventilated, the carcasses are protected from insects with gauze or using special fish dryers. Two hours are enough for airing and drying.

We load fruit sawdust into the smokehouse. Too much can spoil the taste of the fish, giving it an undesirable bitterness. A couple of tablespoons will be enough. On top of the stone supports we put a small tray for fat. If it drips onto sawdust, it will lead to the formation of unpleasant smoke and affect the taste of the finished product.

We put the fish on the grill on top of the pallet. Carcasses should not touch each other, the movement of air between them should not be hindered. When everything is ready, we close the smokehouse and put it on fire.

We mark the cooking time as soon as smoke starts to appear from the smokehouse. For a medium-sized catfish carcass, this is 1 hour. During this time, we open the smokehouse several times to let off steam and control the cooking process.

When smoking is over, do not take the fish out of the smokehouse immediately. Let it cool down inside, otherwise the carcasses may lose their shape. We serve it cold.

Bon appetit!