Cold smoking of poultry (chicken, duck, goose and others) at home.

To prepare our product, you need freshly slaughtered poultry carcasses (turkey, chicken, duck, or goose).

At the first stage of preparation, the bird carcasses need to be plucked of feathers; small feathers can be removed using tweezers. Then, the carcasses to be cleaned must be gutted (the insides removed) and cut lengthwise into two equal parts.

Next, we need to place our half carcasses between two meat cutting boards and beat the meat thoroughly with the back of an ax so that the bones and joints of the bird are flattened and brain fluid flows out of the spinal cord. This manipulation is necessary so that the brine penetrates better into the meat and in the future, it is better smoked.

In order for smoked meat to be more tender, poultry half carcasses must be hung in a cool (temperature no more than 10°C) ventilated area for 48–96 hours.

Next, before smoking, you need to immerse them in brine for 48 hours. It includes:

• warm boiled water – 700 ml;
• table vinegar (30%) – 3 tbsp. lodge;
• table salt – ½ tbsp. lodge;
• chopped garlic – 2 cloves;
• bay leaf – 2-3 pcs.;
• sugar – 1 tbsp. lodge;
• ginger (chopped) – ½ tsp;
• cinnamon – ½ teaspoon;
• juniper berries (dried) – 5 pcs.;
• black peppercorns – 2-3 pcs.

The brine for smoking poultry is designed for 1 medium-sized carcass.

It's easy to do. Mix all the components of the brine in boiled water and lower the bird into it so that the carcasses are completely covered.

While in the brine, the meat needs to be turned several times.

Chicken carcasses are usually too lean. In order to make them a little fattier, after salting the meat, you need to make several cuts into which to put chopped lard and garlic.

Fatty poultry (goose, duck, turkey) can only be stuffed with garlic for flavor.

Before you start smoking, you need to let the poultry carcasses dry out. To do this, hang them for a short time in a cool room.

Next, we place the carcasses in the smokehouse chamber and immediately heat the meat as much as possible. This is necessary so that a shiny film forms on the meat surface.

During the cold smoking process, we need to baste our homemade smoked products with brine several times.

Fattier birds should be smoked longer to render out excess fat. The readiness of meat is very easy to determine; in finished carcasses, the film will easily separate from the meat.

Smoked poultry should be stored in a cool place, wrapped in wax paper. This way the aroma will be preserved better.

Such cold smoked poultry can be served as an independent dish, or, based on such smoked meats, you can prepare a very tasty roast or salad.

See also video: Salting and Hot Smoking GEESE. My recipe . Part 1

Hot Smoking of Geese! Part 2.