smoked perch

as mentioned i was on leave for a few weeks and have now been back to work for a couple of days. it seems that there is a pile pictures needing sorting, and posting...bags and laundry all over at the apartment...bear with me, getting back to a schedule is taking longer than i thought, but i will get there. eventually.

at the cottage, the fish was plentifull...here a bucket-full of perch waiting...







...to be smoked. i might have posted about hot-smoking fish before, but here goes again. the fish are beheaded and gutted 8yes, a very messy business), rinsed and placed on a stand and the stand then droppen into the smoker itself. this was "custom made" for dad eons ago. on the bottom of the smoker dad puts alder shavings and a few sugar cubes. a tight lid is placed on top.







a fire is lit under the smoker and kept going...until the fish are done, says dad. for how long depends what kind and how much fish you have in the smoker.







when the fish are done, the stand is lifted out of the smoker...







...and the fish are left to cool a bit before...







...stacking into a container and salted...







...salted generously. the container is wrapped tightly and the fish are then left to suck in some of the salt for a few hours, or overnight, in the fridge.







smoked perch are finger food, you do need a small knife for the tiny bones.







i did cook a fair bit at the cottage, but there seemed to be so much going on that i forgot to take pics of the food. this grilled eggplant-tomato-basil-mozzarella tower managed to get photographed...







...as did this pancake with strawberry jam and whipped cream...