🇵🇬 Papua New Guinean Cuisine

Smoked Fish

Smoke-Dried River Fish

Prep Time 20 min

Servings 4

Difficulty Medium

Whole freshwater fish slowly smoked over wood fire for hours until deeply flavored and preserved. This ancient technique produces intensely savory fish that keeps for days without refrigeration.

Ingredients

4 whole freshwater fish (tilapia or barramundi), cleaned
2 tablespoons salt
Hardwood for smoking (mango or breadfruit wood preferred)

Instructions

1 Clean and gut fish, leaving heads on. Score the flesh with 3 diagonal cuts on each side.
2 Rub salt generously inside and outside each fish.
3 Build a low fire using hardwood and let it burn down to smoking coals.
4 Place fish on a wire rack about 50cm above the coals.
5 Smoke for 3-4 hours, maintaining steady low smoke. Turn fish once halfway through.
6 Fish is done when the flesh is firm, dry on the surface, and deeply golden-brown.

Did You Know?

In the Highlands, smoked fish from the coast is a luxury trade item. Historically it was carried over mountain passes in woven bilum bags during multi-day trading expeditions.