Smoked Baltic Herring at Home

The longest part of smoking Baltic herring isn't the smoking. The smoke works for twenty-five minutes, and before that the fish stands in salt for an hour or two and then dries on a towel for another half hour — and it is this half hour that decides whether you get smoked fish or boiled fish.

The reason is simple: smoke settles on dry skin, while on wet skin water condenses. A damp carcass in the smoker first steams, takes on bitterness and stays pale. That is why drying isn't a pause between steps but a step of its own.

After the fire has been turned off, the fish isn't taken out for another twenty minutes or so. The smoker stands closed, the smoke inside it is thick and hot, and this last twenty minutes adds color without the risk of drying the carcasses out over open heat.

The same color and the same smoky note without a smoker come out of an onion-skin decoction in homemade sprats from Baltic herring. And the salting that is only the first step here stands as a dish of its own in salting mackerel in pieces in oil.

Caloric content: 168kcal

Notes

• Gutting isn't compulsory. Baltic herring is smoked whole as well — it doesn't affect the taste, small fish has no time to give off bitterness in twenty minutes.
• Alder chips only. One handful on the bottom, no more is needed: excess chips give not color but soot and a harsh aftertaste.
• Foil on the bottom — to save scrubbing. Resin from the chips can't be scrubbed off metal afterwards, while the foil is thrown away together with the soot.
• A drip tray under the racks is mandatory. Fat dripping onto red-hot chips flares up and gives exactly the bitter smoke that the fish can no longer be saved from.
• The water channel and a hose out of the window — for a gas stove. The water seal keeps the smoke inside, the hose vents the excess; without this the kitchen gets smoked along with the fish.
• Cool it before tasting. Straight out of the smoker, smoked Baltic herring seems bland: the flavor comes together once the fish has cooled.

Questions and Answers

Why dry the fish before smoking it?

Smoke settles on dry skin, while on wet skin water condenses. A damp carcass first steams, takes on bitterness and stays pale. The half hour on a towel is a step of its own, not a pause.

Does Baltic herring have to be gutted?

Not necessarily. Small fish has no time to give off bitterness in twenty minutes of smoking, so it is smoked whole as well — it doesn't affect the taste.

Why is the Baltic herring left in the smoker after the fire is turned off?

The smoke inside is still thick and hot, and those twenty minutes add color without the risk of drying the fish out over open heat.

How many alder chips should go on the bottom?

One handful of alder. No more is needed: an excess gives not color but soot and a harsh aftertaste.

Recipe and step-by-step photos — kolizhanka.net.ua.