I love the fact that I can smoke fish anything at home, with tea, or coals or with an incense mix my sister brought back from Dubai for me yonks ago and long before my trip.
It’s a fairly simple process with no special equipment required.
All you need are:
- Smoking mix – homemade or store-bought
- Foil paper
- Preferred – a rack
- Pot/ Pan with a lid which fits snugly
Before you begin, ensure you do this in a well-ventilated area
Step 1: Prep the ‘meat’ – fish, chicken, tofu are all game
I used fresh fish in this recipe – thank you ChiO for your question.
You can use par-cooked meats but watch so you don’t over-cook.
I like to debone my fish prior to smoking and this is quiet easy with mackerel – today’s choice.
I split it down the centre, lay it on its side and gently put my fingers underneath the centre bone.
Then, gently – sharp things and all, I wriggle it loose, and off the flesh.
A snip at the head and we are mostly bone free.
Step 2: Season
In this case, I used a combination of coriander seeds and black peppercorns with salt
Season the fish – both inside and out.
Step 3: Set up smoker
Line a pan with two or more layers of aluminum foil. Add 1 – 2 cups of the smoking mix, to create a bed, an inch or so thick. Place your rack on the mix and set the lid to seal
Light the stovetop and let smoke for 3 – 5 minutes. Remove lid and set fish on the rack. Replace lid and leaving fire on medium, let smoke for 12 – 15 minutes.
Turn heat to low and check on fish. The skin should be golden and the flesh cooked through in the thickest part.
Remove from heat and turn off stove top.
Discard burnt smoking mix.
Serve fish as you will. In my case, atop a delicious cassava and coconut salad. Yum.
Easy as pie. And delicious to boot.
Are you a smoked fish fan? It also works a treat with chicken, particularly the breasts,… and duck.[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Stove-top Smoked Fish – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]
Great post. Am always scared of smoking things but this looks simple. I will try it out but pls how do we get the smoking mix or rather what is the combination of smoking mix.
Thank you. You can get ready-made smoking mixes or use equal parts raw rice, tea leaves and brown sugar. See https://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/2009/09/26/slashed-stuffed-peppers-teasmoked-fish/ or use a coal smoking method (https://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/2012/06/07/technique-how-to-cold-coal-smoke-food/)
Please what’s a smoking mix and how do I make mine? Can I use a coal pot instead? Thank you
Yay for the redesign! I love it! Can you check you rss feed, I’m subscribed through rss and I don’t think they’re coming through.
The fish looks amazing… smoking is one of those techniques I’ve always assumed was complicated, I don’t think I’ve ever smoked anything in my life, but this looks so simple/easy and could be used in very interesting ways. Who knew…?
Thanks dear. I’ll check The RSS connections.
Smoking is so easy – so much possibility too. I trust you.
This looks tantalizing indeed. All i think of when i see smoked mackerel is Moinmoin + Cold garri and Gnut. DId you start off with raw or parboiled fish?
Thank you. I started off with raw fish but you can do the same with par-cooked ones I expect. The worry would be overcooking.
I’ll update the post 🙂