The smell of smoked meat is the best thing you can imagine. Fragrant, tender, rosy, it will become the favorite treat of any man. Today we’ll talk about how to smoke meat. You just need to know the technology, and the process will go like clockwork. All you need is meat and a small smokehouse. For home needs, the simplest one is also suitable. Most often, summer residents use several boxes with a lid welded together. You are guaranteed an excellent result.

Benefits of technology

Since the meat needs to be smoked at a high temperature, it cooks very quickly. Temperatures reach 95 degrees and even higher. At the same time, smokehouses do not exceed the size of a conventional oven, are compact, and are easy to move from one place to another. And of course, they are the optimal solution for a summer residence.

We can say that meat is baked in such devices, and only the presence of smoke indicates otherwise. No, this cooking method is very different from what you get in the oven or in a frying pan. By learning how to smoke meat, you can always provide yourself with delicious snacks all year round. Of course, such products are not stored for a long time, but this is not required. You and your family will love the fantastic aroma of the finished dish. A ruddy piece will be an excellent appetizer or the basis for first and second courses.

Option for apartment

If you don’t have a summer house, but really want to try something delicious, then you can try the homemade version. Experienced chefs say it's not difficult at all. It is enough to put sawdust in a frying pan, set it on fire and simmer, covering it with foil so that it smolders slightly. Now place the frying pan on the bottom rack in the oven and the meat on the rack in the middle. The temperature is maintained at 150 degrees. Of course, you will need a strong hood, but the kitchen will still be saturated with smoke. Therefore, it is very important to acquire a special apparatus and move the preparation outside.

Technology details

Now let's talk in more detail about how to smoke meat in a smokehouse. Important advantages of hot smoking over cold smoking are the preservation of juice and a unique aroma. The temperature maintained in the smokehouse allows you to obtain a perfectly tender product. At the same time, disinfection occurs.

The duration and intensity of exposure is calculated individually and depends on the thickness and quality of the original product. A one-kilogram piece of tender pork is cooked at 90 degrees for an hour. Again, everyone has their own taste. Some people like a light shade, while others like a rich taste. The main thing is not to forget that sawdust plays a big role. The taste and aroma of the final product depends on them.

High-quality smoke - delicious aroma

So how to smoke meat in a smokehouse using smoke? For this purpose, hardwood sawdust is used. This is an important point, since conifers give off bitterness and can ruin the entire result. Please note that they do not have to be perfectly dried. The whole point of the process is the slow smoldering of slightly damp sawdust. With dry raw materials, you will get a product that is more boiled than smoked.

If there is no sawdust, then you can collect twigs of raspberries and currants, cherries and pears. Don't throw them away after autumn pruning. As with barbecue, the product will absorb odors from smoldering wood. Smoking hot smoked meat in a smokehouse is not at all difficult, just try it once and you will no longer want to give up this method of preparing the product.

If there is no smokehouse

Not everyone has the opportunity to install specialized equipment on their site. Most summer residents face this. By autumn, the number of chickens is growing and you can start preparing aromatic smoked meats, but the special machines that are sold in the store are very expensive. There is an exit. You can always find a metal barrel at your dacha. This can be a bucket or any other item with a volume of 3-5 liters. Do not use aluminum; the thicker the walls, the longer the heat will be retained. The second important indicator is tightness. Air should not penetrate inside and smoke should not come out.

Internal equipment

Smoking hot smoked meat in a home-made smokehouse is no more difficult than in an industrial one. Don't forget to equip it with a grate on which the product will be placed and a tray for draining fat. The second attribute is optional, so if the design does not require extra space, then you can do without it.

Nothing else is needed, now all that remains is to prepare the product and get down to the actual cooking process. Let's look at how to smoke hot smoked meat.

Marinade

Its composition depends on the taste of each person. A standard brine is considered to be a glass of salt and a glass of sugar per 4 liters of water. You can add wine and spices, fruit juice. Depending on what kind of meat you took, the composition may also change. For chicken, ginger and cardamom are a great addition. Pork loves curry and beef loves dried garlic. The amount of salt can also be changed at your discretion. The raw materials must remain in the brine for at least four hours. After this, you can smoke the meat in a smokehouse. The recipe is simple, anyone can repeat this in their own area.

Final chord

Everything here is quite simple, and everyone can have their own signature recipe. You can smoke meat on birch or oak chips, but if you have branches of fruit trees, then it is better to opt for them. Now remove the meat from the marinade and dry it thoroughly. You don't need to use a hair dryer or leave the product in direct sunlight. A napkin or paper towel is enough. Now we put a couple of handfuls of sawdust on the bottom of the smokehouse, and place the meat on the grate.

Important points

If you decide to cook several pieces at the same time, they should not touch each other on the grill. Otherwise, you will get a half-baked product at the contact points.

Now you need to place the smokehouse on a stand and light a fire under it. You can install an electric or gas stove for heating. You can’t set fire to the sawdust itself; it will just start to smolder just fine. All you have to do is watch the clock and stick to the time suggested by the recipe.

You need to smoke hot smoked meat in a smokehouse depending on the thickness of the piece. Thin steaks will cook in about 20 minutes. Large chicken may take several hours. It is recommended to turn the bird over on the other side after an hour and a half and continue cooking. There is no need to lubricate it with fat, it is quite juicy.

But if you are cooking beef, then it makes sense to cut it into small layers to reduce cooking time and not dry it out. Overcook and you will get croutons that taste like meat.

If you like meat with a golden brown crust, you can slightly change the cooking process. To prevent the dish from drying out, use a special thermometer; it will help control the cooking process. As soon as the temperature in the thickest place has reached 80 degrees, the smoking process can be stopped.

It is not necessary to remove the meat. While the smokehouse cools down, it will gradually reach. And if you want the crust to crunch nicely, then you need to hold the meat a little over the fire source. So, how long to smoke meat will have to be studied experimentally, depending on its type and thickness of the piece.

Meat with lard

This is a tasty morsel. Moreover, you can choose different options to suit your taste. As a festive dish, you can serve the neck, where the tender meat is pierced by thin strips of lard. And as an economical option for an everyday snack, a loin, that is, a layer of lard with meat, is suitable.

Let's start again with the brine. To do this, take 160 g of salt and a bay leaf, a few peas of black pepper and cloves, and a few cloves of garlic per liter of water. Place the pieces of lard in an enamel bowl and fill with brine. You need to keep it for two weeks, turning it over sometimes. After the lard is removed from the brine, tie it with twine and leave it in a cool place for a couple of days. Apple or pear sawdust is best suited for it. The lard should be exposed to smoke and heat for 1-2 hours, at a temperature of 100-150 degrees. This is the most unpretentious product from the entire family of smoked meats. Its readiness can be determined by its beautiful golden color. When it has cooled, brush the finished product with pepper and salt.

Storage duration

If the meat is being prepared for today's event, you can leave it directly in the smokehouse. It will quietly lie in it for up to 10 hours without loss of taste. In general, you need to remember that the shelf life of hot smoked products is shorter than their cold smoked counterparts. They will last three to five days in the refrigerator. To increase storage time, use vacuum packaging. This is difficult to implement at home. You can freeze foods, but they somewhat lose their original properties.

Instead of a conclusion

The time has come for you to make sure that cooking smoked meat at home is not at all difficult. The smokehouse is assembled from scrap materials, and the process itself does not take much time. So stock up on fruit slivers and start creating. Soon your number of guests will increase, because everyone will want to try a piece of delicious meat.

The only disadvantage of smoking fish in an apartment is the smell of smoke, which will linger in the room for a long time. An improvised smokehouse cannot be airtight, which means the aroma will definitely leak out. To avoid this, you need to use a portable oven that is placed on the balcony or terrace.

The principle is very simple: the fryer is placed in the oven, the oven itself is turned on at full power and after that you just wait for smoke to start coming out from behind the door. As soon as the process enters this stage, you need to time it. The carcasses are smoked over high heat for 15 minutes, and then “ripened” for another 15, but without any fire at all. Opening the lid is strictly prohibited, as this will degrade the quality of the prepared dish.

This time is enough for small portions to smoke well enough.

Smoking fish in the oven using sawdust

For the smoking process, you need to have a good and strong hood in your own kitchen. If it is available, then you can smoke fish even on a gas burner. But usually they still use an oven.

Sawdust must be of high quality, always fresh and preferably from fruit trees. Coniferous, evergreen and too hard wood should not be used for cooking. It is advisable to take a shallow container in which they will smolder, with thin walls, so that the sawdust lies evenly on the bottom. Sometimes beech or alder is used, it all depends on personal preference and choice of fish.

You need to wet the sawdust using any fine spray; large drops will stop smoldering. Thin, small wood chips are not used for smoking; medium or thick wood chips are suitable for good smoke production.

Types of smoking mackerel in the oven

There are several ways to smoke fish at home:

1. The first implies that the mackerel will not just be rubbed with salt, but soaked in brine. This is salt brine prepared at the rate of 150 g/1 l. Set the heat to moderate, place an enamel pan in the oven, cover the bottom with wood shavings and set it on fire. Important! The sawdust should not burn, only slight smoldering is needed. A grate is installed on them, and fish is laid out on it. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for half an hour.
2. The second type of smoking is suitable for those who have never done this before: sawdust is placed in a frying pan, set on fire, quickly extinguished and covered with several layers of foil. The sawdust should smolder under the foil. The frying pan is placed at the very bottom of the oven, and the fish is placed on a wire rack placed in the middle. Cook until characteristic softness at 150°C.

Smoking mackerel

Cooking using the hot smoking method is accessible and acceptable to anyone. All you need is desire, the necessary products and a hot oven. Mackerel is best suited for cooking using this method.

First of all, the mackerel must be prepared. It is cleaned, gutted, rinsed under running water and the carcasses are thoroughly sprinkled with salt. Afterwards they are placed in an appropriate container and set aside for salting.

Let the mackerel salt out

It is advisable to carry out preparations in the evening so that everything is properly infused overnight. Immediately before smoking, wash off all the salt from the fish and dry it well with paper towels.

The next step is to prepare the roasting pan. For these purposes, you can take an ordinary wok:

When is mackerel ready? The moment of readiness is determined by the fins; if the process was successful, they will easily separate from the carcass. The finished fish is wrapped in foil, allowed to cool completely, and then stored in the refrigerator.

Incredibly simple and just as incredibly delicious. It’s so tasty that I smoked chicken legs for three days in a row, and started fights with my family for the right to eat the last piece of aromatic, juicy, not boiled, not fried, not baked, but smoked chicken meat. Amazing thing, I tell you.

The bad thing is that for cooking you will need:
Gastronorm container
Thick foil
Alder chips

Foil and alder sawdust can be bought in supermarkets, kebabs, barbecues, etc. I took a set from, I think, Gripfon... hypphon or something like that. There is an envelope made of thick foil and sawdust. I unpacked the envelope into a single sheet, scattered sawdust along the bottom of the container, and placed a grate on top. Rub the legs with salt, using just a little bit, literally 1 teaspoon for 4 large legs. I neglected the rest of the spices and spices, preferring to leave the pure taste of chicken, seasoned with a smoky aroma. Place the leg on the grill, pull it very tightly on top, wrap it, plug it, and insulate it with foil. While I was doing all this, I warmed up the oven, turning on only the bottom heat, setting the temperature to 300C.
Clever Bosch squeaked that it had heated up, the gastronorm container was placed on the bottom of the oven, the door was closed. The timer was for 20 minutes, then the oven turned off, but the legs were kept inside for about 30 minutes more, just to be sure.

In general, an hour of time.... and.... HIGH!

There are many ways to smoke food. Typically, the process is carried out using a smokehouse. You can buy it in a store or make it yourself. But the most simple method is to smoke food in a conventional oven. Let's look at simple and tasty recipes for smoking lard.

How to smoke lard in the oven on a wire rack

It is better to use this method if you have a small electric oven. It can be taken outside, onto the balcony. Or you are not afraid of the slight presence of fragrant smoke in the house.

In addition to the oven, you must have a deep baking tray and a grate on which the dish will be smoked. Smoking process:

Smoked lard in the oven in a cauldron

With this smoking method, smoke will not penetrate into the room at all. The oven can be either gas or electric.

For cooking you will need: pickled lard, fruit tree chips, foil, a large cauldron with a lid, an iron grill stand for hot dishes.

Preparation:

• At the bottom of the cauldron we evenly distribute two handfuls of sawdust.
• We place foil on top of the wood chips so that we get a plate with 3-4 cm sides. We make several holes with a needle over the area of ​​the foil.
• We install a round metal grate on top of the foil on which the lard will be smoked. It should be at least 5 cm higher than the foil.
• Place the bacon on the grill. Cover the cauldron with a lid. To ensure a tight seal, you need to place a piece of foil under the lid a couple of centimeters larger than the lid itself.
• Place the cauldron in the oven, preheated to 180⁰. Smoke in this way for an hour.
• Then remove the cauldron from the oven and let it cool completely. Remove the finished bacon from the cauldron and ventilate for one hour in a draft. Cool in the refrigerator before use.

Smoking in the oven using liquid smoke

Many people believe that foods prepared with liquid smoke are very harmful because they contain carcinogens. But eating such food in small quantities will not affect the condition of the body in any way. So sometimes you can treat yourself.

Preparation (recipe is for 1 kg of bacon):

Add to 1 liter of water: 100 g of salt, a handful of onion peels, 5 black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 6 tbsp. spoons of liquid smoke. Mix everything, let it boil, add pieces of lard and boil over low heat for 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature. Remove the bacon from the marinade and dry with a napkin.

Bake in the oven on the top rack for 20 minutes at 180⁰. When baking, place the baking sheet down so that the fat drips off.

After cooking, let cool and rub with garlic and paprika.

Below is another recipe for lard with liquid smoke, but without using an oven.

Bon appetit!

Products with a pleasant smoky aroma cannot leave anyone indifferent. Pampering yourself with a piece of home-made smoked fish is the prerogative of true gourmets. But how can you give yourself such pleasure as smoking fish in the oven without any hassle in a city apartment? It is quite possible, you just need to choose the appropriate recipe and cooking method!

Before considering several easy and interesting recipes, you should familiarize yourself with the general rules and secrets of smoking fish in the oven:

Hot smoked mackerel in a sleeve

If you don't have a smoker, don't worry! According to this recipe, we cook hot smoked fish in the oven using a baking bag and using liquid smoke. The sleeve provides many advantages - the smell of smoke does not spread throughout the apartment, but the finished product is juicy and more saturated with the aroma of smoke.

We pierce the prepared fish (salted, washed and dried using the above method) from the belly side with toothpicks or skewers to create 2-3 transverse “legs”. Using a silicone brush, coat the carcasses with liquid smoke and carefully place them in the sleeve on the “legs”, back up. If desired, you can add a few sprigs of rosemary or alpine herbs to the bag - in combination with the smell of smoke, they will give the finished dish a subtle piquant aroma. Close the edges of the bag tightly and place on a wire rack.

Place a grill with fish in a preheated oven to a temperature of 200-205°C. After the bag is “inflated”, we pierce it in 2-3 places. Cooking time in the oven is 15-20 minutes. After cooling, you can cut into portions and serve!

Smoking in foil

Mackerel (or the fish you prefer) can be cooked by hot smoking in the oven, wrapped in foil. For this, take 5-6 medium carcasses so that they fit freely on a baking sheet, and prepare them as follows:

• Thoroughly rub the fish prepared for smoking with fish seasoning - approximately 2-3 teaspoons for each carcass;
• cut the foil into pieces so that 1 carcass can be wrapped in each of them;
• Place the carcass on foil and carefully pour in liquid smoke - 1.5-2 tablespoons;
• Wrap the fish in foil, carefully pinch the edges so that the liquid does not spill out during the cooking process;
• Place all the carcasses on a baking sheet and place in an oven preheated to 200°C for 1 hour.

During cooking, the fish must be turned over every 15 minutes to ensure even smoking. After removing from the oven, let it cool in foil, and then just remove the foil - this will make it even more flavorful. Bon appetit!

Recipe using sawdust

How to smoke fish in the oven using real sawdust at home? The answer is obvious - use an electric oven, which can easily be taken out onto the balcony to cook real aromatic smoked fish!

Step-by-step cooking recipe:

• medium-sized alder or apple sawdust, evenly place other dishes with thin walls on a thin baking sheet), lightly moisten them with a spray bottle, cover with foil with holes for smoke;
• Place the salted and dried fish on a wire rack;
• place the dishes with sawdust, heat the oven to 200°C, and then leave it on only at the bottom, and leave the grill with the fish at medium height; close the oven doors tightly;
• cook at high temperature until smoke appears and then for another 15 minutes, and then at low temperature – 45°C for another 15-20 minutes; Turn off the oven, but do not open it until it has completely cooled and the smoke has stopped.

Fragrant, delicious real smoked fish is ready! To make it even more spicy, you can put several sprigs of fragrant herbs and spices on the sawdust. You need to heat the oven together with the sawdust so that they begin to smolder and smoke faster. The sawdust itself must first be dried so as not to release resin substances during smoking.

Fish prepared according to these recipes turns out juicy and tasty, and most importantly, it is so easy to prepare!