Some people compare the taste of smoked fish to ham. The smoking technique is surprisingly easy to perform at home. There are both cold and hot-smoking techniques. Cold-smoking is seldom done these days. The hot-smoking technique is more often used and is therefore outlined in this article.
Lean fish tend to become coarse and dry when smoked.
For smoking in the round small fish are best. Large fish like king mackerel do well when filleted. Mullet can be halved at the backbone, and catfish are best smoked with the body skinned but intact. Fish should be cleaned and scaled immediately after removal from water. They may also be cleaned and frozen for later smoking.