Why Small Batches Make Sense on a Smallholding

Most of us who keep a bit of land end up with gluts that arrive all at once. A neighbour turns up with six mackerel from a morning out on the boat. The pond throws up a run of plump rainbow trout. You barter a dozen eggs for a brace of grayling and suddenly the fridge is groaning. Hot smoking is the answer, and it is one of the most forgiving traditional skills you can learn.

The beauty of working in small batches is that you need almost no kit, you can taste and adjust as you go, and a mistake costs you three fillets rather than thirty. A kettle barbecue, a tin of oak chips and a couple of hours will turn a modest catch into something that tastes like a proper delicatessen product — the sort of thing you would pay silly money for in a farm shop. It also fills the kitchen with a smell that makes everyone wander in and ask when it will be ready.

Hot smoking is not the same as cold smoking. Hot smoking cooks the fish as it flavours it, so it is ready to eat straight from the rack and safe to keep in the fridge for a few days. Cold smoking is a different discipline entirely, needs much more careful temperature control, and is a subject for another day.

Choosing and Preparing the Fish

Oily fish suits hot smoking best because the fat carries the smoke and keeps the flesh moist. Mackerel, trout, salmon, herring, sprats, pollock and eel are all excellent. Lean white fish such as cod works, but benefits from a shorter brine and a quicker smoke so it does not dry out.

Fillet rather than gut and smoke whole where you can. Fillets brine evenly, dry faster and cook in a predictable time. For a small batch, aim for pieces of roughly even thickness — about 2–3 cm at the thickest point is ideal.

• Fillet and pin-bone the fish, leaving the skin on. The skin holds the fillet together and protects the flesh from the direct heat.
• Rinse under cold water and pat dry. Any blood along the spine will taste muddy once smoked.
• Cut large fillets into portions so everything in the batch is a similar size. Two or three fillets per batch is plenty for a first attempt.
• Keep everything cold as you work. Fish that has sat warm on a bench will not take a cure evenly.

The Brine and the Pellicle

A short brine does two jobs: it seasons the flesh and it firms the surface so the fish holds together. For a small batch, dissolve 80 g of fine salt and 30 g of sugar in a litre of cold water. Stir until completely clear. You can add a bay leaf, a few crushed juniper berries or a teaspoon of black peppercorns, but keep it simple the first time so you can taste what the smoke is doing.

Submerge the fillets in a non-metallic dish and refrigerate. Thin fillets need about 45 minutes; thick salmon or trout portions want 1½ to 2 hours. Over-brining is the most common beginner's mistake and it turns the flesh rubbery and salty.

Lift the fillets out, rinse them briefly under cold water and pat them dry with kitchen paper. Now the important bit: lay them skin-side down on a rack over a tray and put them back in the fridge, uncovered, for two to four hours. The surface will lose its wet shine and become dry and faintly tacky — a pellicle. This is what the smoke particles cling to. Skip it and your fish will taste harsh and look pale.

If you want a batch to keep a little longer than usual, you can add curing salt at the rate printed on the packet, but for fillets destined for the fridge and eaten within a few days, plain salt is perfectly adequate.

Setting Up the Smoke

Any lidded cooker with a bit of ventilation will do. Light a modest fire to one side, or use a small bullet smoker. You want an indirect heat of around 75–85°C, measured with a probe thermometer at rack level, not down by the coals.

• Soak a good handful of oak chips for half an hour, then drain. Oak is the classic choice for fish: firm, clean and not overpowering.
• Sprinkle the chips over the coals or in a foil parcel pierced with a few holes directly on the heat source.
• Put a small water pan in the cooker. Damp air keeps the fillets glossy and stops them drying at the edges.
• Oil the rack lightly and lay the fillets skin-side down, spaced so smoke can move between them.

Keep the lid on and resist the urge to peek. Every lift of the lid dumps heat and smoke. If you can smell smoke drifting from the vents, you have enough — billowing white smoke means too much and will taste acrid. A thin, almost invisible wisp is what you want.

Timing, Testing and Resting

Start checking after 45 minutes. Thin mackerel fillets may be done in an hour; thick trout portions might take two. The fish is ready when the flesh has firmed, taken on a deep amber colour at the edges, and flakes easily when you press it with a finger or twist a fork into the thickest part. A probe should read around 63–65°C in the centre.

Lift the rack out and let the fillets cool to room temperature. They will firm up further as they rest. Eat one warm, because you have earned it, and let the rest cool completely before wrapping. Hot-smoked fish keeps in the fridge for three to four days and freezes well for up to three months if you wrap it tightly.

After that, it is simply a matter of flaking it through scrambled eggs, folding it into a horseradish crème fraîche with a baked potato, or setting it out on a board with bread, butter and a few pickled shallots. A small batch, a bag of oak chips and a free afternoon — it is one of the truest pleasures the smallholding year has to offer.