Hot smoked pike perch at home

Unlike many other fish, walleye is not smoked in a cold way. It can fully reveal its taste qualities only when smoked hot.

Preparation of fish is the key to getting a good result. When buying, we try to choose large, fresh fish without signs of damage.

We clean and gut the fish, the caviar caught inside is a nice bonus. It can also be smoked or fried in a frying pan. We do not cut off the head of the fish.

Washed under running water and dried with a paper towel, zander carcasses are rubbed with pepper and salt. Do not skip the gills - a small amount of spices should also get there. We rub not only on the outside, but also inside the cut abdomen.

We put the fish on a plate, press it with a yoke and send it to the refrigerator for salting. The time is determined in the calculation of 2 hours for each kilogram of fish. It turns out that if 2 kg of fresh fish was prepared, we leave it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

After the end of the zander salting process, we rinse with cold water, washing off all excess salt.

Leave to air out in the fresh air for 30 minutes. Do not forget to cover the fish with gauze from flies.

We fill the belly of the pike perch with lemon slices, put it on the grill. We fill the smokehouse with wet sawdust and chips of fruit trees. It is important that the sawdust of coniferous trees does not get into the mixture - this can give bitterness and spoil the whole taste.

We make a moderate but constant heat, cover the fish with a lid and leave for 30-40 minutes.

After this time, we open, take out the coals and leave the fish in an empty smokehouse for another 15 minutes. We do not leave, we drive away annoying insects. We remove the fish when it cools down a little. The finished hot-smoked pike perch is very tender and in order to preserve its shape, you should work very carefully. Cut and serve to the table only after complete cooling.

Bon appetit!