Hot smoked perch

When going after pike or pike perch, many spinning anglers are faced with a pleasant “problem” - perch. It is caught well in any weather and time of year. It takes a variety of baits: from spinners to rubber bands. It resists interestingly when fished. It would seem that we should be happy. However, there is an important detail - it is not clear what to do with it next. The average perch weighs approximately 200 grams. In addition, it is not fat and bony. But the main “sadness” of this little fish is that it cleans disgustingly. For this reason, to put it mildly, chefs do not like perch and flatly refuse to cook it. It's a shame, isn't it?

There is a solution. Smokehouse! Treat yourself and your friends to an amazing snack. When smoked, this fish acquires very interesting flavor shades, characteristic only of perch. You can smoke not only at home, but also in unsuitable conditions: at the dacha or right on the shore. Cooking time is about 1.5 hours.

For a medium smokehouse you will need:

• 1. Perch. About 2.5 kg.
• 2. Wood chips.
• 3. Firewood. If not, use coal (as in the photo).
• 4. Spices.

Preparation

1. Pour water over the wood chips and let it brew. As soon as the water becomes bronze in color, you can drain it. Approximately 40 min.

2.Wash the fish, place in a convenient container and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. I would like to emphasize that the perch does not need to be cleaned or gutted!

3. Let the fish sit for half an hour.

4. At this time, take care of the fire. The firewood must burn out enough to maintain its integrity. They must smolder.

5. Drain the perches. And, armed with gloves, and not like me (I think there is no need to remind real fishermen that this fish is prickly), carefully wipe each fish with a napkin in the direction of the growth of scales, removing excess water. This is a necessary procedure. After all, perch should be smoked, not boiled.

6. Place wood chips about 1 cm thick on the bottom of the smokehouse.

7. Install the grille. Place the fish on its side, leaving the necessary space for each (to allow smoke to be accessible from all sides).

8. Install the second row of gratings and repeat the same thing.

9. Close the lid and place on the coals.

10. After 10 minutes, release the first steam by carefully sliding the smokehouse lid a little. The perches are not cleaned and there is plenty of extra juice in them.

11. After another 10 minutes, swap the grates (for uniform smoking).

12. After 10 minutes, remove from heat.

The indicator of readiness is the color of the perch and the produced wood chips (it should turn almost into coals).

Recommendations

1. In the photo I used bricks (cooked at the dacha). But you can do without them. In nature, to keep the coals hot, I surround them with two large wet logs. They don’t have time to fully “get busy.”

2. For aesthetes, at the last stage of cooking you can sprinkle the fish with lemon and add a few sprigs of dill. But you need to put them on the perches, and not on the grill (otherwise they will just burn).

3.An important component of the recipe is wood chips (aka sawdust, aka twigs). In the photo - it is alder (from the store). But for gourmets, I would recommend large sawdust from any fruit tree. Apricot or apple are suitable. And if the cook is not lazy, then shavings from “live” cherries are even better. To do this, I finely chop the twig with an ordinary fishing knife. True, you will have to try. This will take at least half an hour. Walnut chips are absolutely not suitable. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that it gives the dish a persistent smell of iodine and even medicine.

4. You don’t have to wash the smokehouse, using a purely “male” method. A fire is the best cleaning agent.

5. It is not difficult to guess that this dish will be mastered by happy fishermen. So don't skimp on the ground pepper. Maybe even under the gills. And then this striped predator will become the most favorite beer snack.