Chir fish: what kind of fish, how to cook? 5 delicious recipes

1. Are chir and schekur the same thing?
2. Description Classification
3. Where is it found?

This is the name given to the valuable commercial northern fish shokur (shchekur).
But it is not particularly popular among fishermen, and its fishing is not targeted due to the remoteness of its habitats. Until recently, most residents of our country did not know about the existence of this fish. Now the situation has changed, as we have managed to organize delivery of products to different points.

Benefits and harms

What are the benefits of chir fish? To evaluate its benefits and understand whether it is fatty or not, you need to study the composition. Due to the increased chromium content (meat contains the daily requirement of this microelement), the product normalizes blood glucose levels and enhances the effect of insulin.

Other beneficial properties of chekur are also known:

• activates metabolic and energy exchange processes;
• increases the body's defenses;
• strengthens the heart and blood vessels;
• accelerates blood circulation;
• minimizes the risk of strokes and heart attacks;
• gives strength to bones and cartilage;
• prevents diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• has a beneficial effect on the nervous system;
• stimulates brain activity;
• increases stress resistance;
• serves for the prevention of oncology;
• improves the condition of the skin, hair and nails.

It will be of particular benefit to pregnant women, providing the unborn child with “building material” for the brain.

Baked Chekur

In very rare cases, cheekur, in addition to benefit, can also cause harm. Fish caught in polluted waters are dangerous, as their meat contains heavy metal salts.

The only contraindication for use is individual intolerance.

Chir - what kind of fish is this?

The fish Chir (Shokur) is a representative of the extensive family of Sigov. This fish is a frequent treat for residents of the Far North, as it is found in the rivers and basins of the Arctic Ocean.

What kind of fish is this? In appearance, she is quite attractive. She has a wide body with dense and large, silvery with a golden tint, scales. As well as a powerful nose and a small mouth. The shokur reaches 80 cm in length and can weigh up to 15 kg.

Chir meat is highly valued in cooking for its lack of small bones and unsurpassed taste. Despite the fact that shokur meat is quite fatty, it can be considered dietary, since 100 g of product contains only 86 kcal, which is rare among salmon fish.

Chira can be prepared in different ways, but it is especially tasty as a result of hot or cold smoking. And residents of the North often catch such fish for planing.

Calorie content and BZHU

The nutritional value of fish is determined by its chemical composition. The product contains many useful substances: easily digestible proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. The ratio of BZHU chir is 80%:20%:0%.

Although shchekur meat is very fatty, it belongs to dietary products, since its calorie content is low (88 kcal per 100 grams).

Cheer recipes

Boiled chir fillet in white sauce

Those who, for whatever reason, adhered to the diet menu, have definitely tried…

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Fried chira fillet

The simplest thing you can do with river fish is fry it. But such large o...

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+ Other recipes from chir

When cooking meat, the calorie content of shchekur increases.

Spawning

For feeding, the whitefish uses bays, kurias, and also lakes connected to the river by a system of channels, sometimes making significant movements. Mostly immature fish enter the floodplain lakes located near the river in the spring to feed. When the water level drops, they leave the lakes and return to the river. Larger fish that have previously taken part in spawning rise to distant mainland lakes.

The beginning and end of the course, its intensity may vary depending on hydrological conditions. Not all fish return to the rivers; sometimes some of the fish that enter remain in the lakes for the winter. Chir does not make the same migrations as muksun or nelma, and therefore is known only to residents of northern Siberia.

The fish of the lake-river form, whitefish, which live permanently in continental lakes, lay their eggs in small rivers flowing into these lakes. There are known cases of spawning in the mainland lakes themselves, but in this case, to stimulate the development of reproductive products, the whitefish goes into tributaries, and in the fall returns to the lake and spawns.

The mass movement of sexually mature whitefish begins in the first half of August. The whitefish spawns in early October. In the Yenisei, the broad whitefish becomes sexually mature in the seventh or eighth year of life, with a length of 43-48 cm and a weight of 1.3-2.1 kg. The time of puberty in whitefish lasts for 3-4 years and depends on living conditions.

Spawning in broad whitefish is not annual; there are gaps in spawning seasons of two to four years or more. The beginning of spawning is determined by the water temperature and takes place in October-November, in lakes in December, at a water temperature of about 0-2 C. Having begun in open water, it continues under the ice, which helps maintain the number of whitefish, since the onset of freeze-up leads to the cessation of spawning fishing.

The female lays from 20 to 258 thousand eggs of light yellow color, with a diameter of 1.4-2.5 mm, on sandy and pebble soil. After spawning, it remains near the spawning areas, gradually dispersing to its usual habitats.

In the first months of life, juveniles feed on plankton, but quickly switch to consuming benthic organisms. The main food items of the adult broad whitefish are chironomid larvae and mollusks and benthic crustaceans. The larvae of caddisflies, mayflies, and stoneflies are not of great importance in the diet of broad whitefish and are a companion food. In lakes and rivers, whitefish feed most intensively during the period of open water, and weakly in winter. During the spawning period it stops feeding.

Cooking methods

How is chir fish prepared? It is boiled, steamed, fried, baked, stewed, salted, dried and pickled, and used to prepare fish soups and rich fish soup. Thanks to its juiciness and minimal bones, shchekura meat serves as an ideal filling for pies. It makes delicious dumplings and cutlets. Residents of the North also eat fish raw (there are no parasites in its meat), making sugudai, rubanina and stroganina. A roll made from white meat of wild fish and red meat of pink salmon or salmon looks original.

Cheer stuffed

But smoked shokur is considered a real delicacy. The cold smoked product is especially valued due to its delicate and refined taste. It goes well with sour cream, mushrooms, vegetables, and cheese. They serve smoked meat and some fruits.

Fish meat

Chir is distinguished by excellent taste and a small amount of bones. Because fish live in low temperatures and the amount of fat is quite high. Chir is used by residents of the North for planing and sugudai. Classic methods of frying and baking also help make delicious dishes. Chir is suitable for hot and cold smoking methods.

The fish meat is very tender and has a characteristic white color. Due to the fact that it is rich in natural fat, very little oil should be added during cooking.

Chir fish is not only very tasty, but also healthy due to its high content of valuable microelements - such as zinc, sulfur, molybdenum, chlorine and nickel.

This type of fish is very widely used in cooking. Traditional Siberian dishes such as stroganina and sugudai are often prepared on its basis. For their preparation, it is customary to use exclusively fresh fish, which can only be purchased in the area where it lives. However, it should be noted that freshly frozen chir fish perfectly preserves all its original beneficial and nutritional properties.

This fish is characterized by significant meatiness with a sufficient amount of natural fat. Thanks to these qualities, it is very good to bake or fry, and also to make amazingly tasty cutlets, pies, dumplings, and many other equally popular treats from this fish.

Shchukur in pickled form is extremely popular. In addition, it is used to make fillings for all kinds of rolls and pies. The fish soup made from this type of fish turns out to be surprisingly tasty and aromatic. When preparing rolls, fish meat is often combined with representatives of species such as pink salmon and salmon.

Cold smoked chir fish is rightfully considered one of the best appetizers. As a result of special processing, the tender meat of this fish acquires incomparable flavor and aromatic shades. This wonderful appetizer is recommended to be served with sour cream, mushrooms, vegetables, and cheese. In addition, even some varieties of fruits go well with it.

Sources: ru.wikipedia.org , sibrybalka.ru, vkusnoblog.net

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How to salt chir fish

Almost any fish can be salted, and whitefish is no exception. Despite the fact that it is considered a dietary product, its meat is quite fatty, which means it is ideal for salting.

Cooking method:

1. Divide the shchukur carcass into several parts and place in a container for pickling.
2. Sprinkle the fish pieces with a mixture of salt, sugar and other spices. For 1 kg of fish you need to take three tablespoons of salt and a spoonful of sugar. You can add very little other spices; basil, thyme and sage are ideal for pickling.
3. We put the fish under pressure for a day and store the finished salted fish in a cool place for no more than two weeks.

Chir fish, like all inhabitants of cold waters, have quite a lot of fat. Therefore, when frying it, there is almost no need to use oil. Also, many chefs advise using such fish in preparing first courses. Shokur soup turns out to be very rich and tasty.

Methods for catching whitefish

Chir is an important fishery. In many reservoirs, mainly lake-river systems, whitefish is one of the main commercial fish. There is no specialized fishery for whitefish. It is found as bycatch in fishing for other fish species. The main catch of whitefish occurs in the river system. Its catch in lakes, due to their remoteness and inaccessibility, is small, which greatly contributes to the preservation of its reserves.

Fishing for whitefish is carried out using a spinning rod, fly fishing or a float rod. Various insect larvae and insects themselves, artificial baits, and sometimes shellfish meat are used as bait.

Whitefish in lakes often feed in the shallows. On normal days, it is better to catch whitefish from the leeward side on sandbanks. Often, baits that imitate mayfly and amphipod nymphs are used to catch this fish. Lure colors can usually be grey, light brown or dark brown. Hooks are used No. 3-4.5 according to the domestic classification.

It is recommended to cast the bait parallel to the shore and then slowly pull it up. At this time, the rod is in line with the cord. If the bait is heavy, then the wiring is performed with short pauses. The bite is felt as a push or change in the weight of the line. Hook with the same hand that holds the cord.

The most active fishing of whitefish occurs during the period of departure of various insects. During these periods, a large number of fish accumulate on rocky shallows, the depth of which does not exceed 2 meters. To catch adult large fish, use flies with hooks No. 5. Usually a wet fly is more catchy during this period. When the first specimen is caught, the contents of the fish’s stomach are studied to determine the main diet and select a fly for further fishing for whitefish.

Casts are made perpendicular to the shore for the longest possible distance, and retrieving occurs with slight acceleration. Due to the fact that the bait can have quite voluminous shapes, the resistance of the water pushes it upward and then it begins to move, creating marks on the surface. This provides a good opportunity to monitor its movement at a decent distance and visually determine the bite.

Fishing for whitefish in rivers has its own characteristics. In those places where there is a significant expansion of rivers, whitefish constantly remain in fairly large numbers. Small schools of this fish can be observed near the shore, and on a powerful stream, and where this stream subsides. Usually the largest individuals are located almost at the very bottom. In such a situation, it is most practical to use a weighted small nymph. The cast must be done in such a way that the nymph has the opportunity to go deep enough.

The bite usually follows at the moment when the line is aligned and the current lifts the nymph to the top. In some cases, a dry fly can be very effective, but it is difficult to catch large fish with a dry fly; they rarely reach the upper layers of the water.

During the period of mass emergence of mayflies, whitefish often concentrate in riffles on expansions. A huge number of nymphs are carried out of the lake into the river and then accumulate in constrictions. At such moments, a large number of large fish accumulate in this place; the accelerated current does not give the fish the opportunity to think for a long time and it takes here strongly and confidently. As a rule, these places are shallow, and it is very difficult to approach the fish without scaring them away.

Fishing for whitefish in such places is carried out by wading; the bait is thrown as far as possible upstream, preferably at a slight angle relative to the stream. The test is best done with a weighted nymph hook No. 5, preferably in dark shades. One and a half meters from the nymph on the undergrowth, you need to install a signaling device made of foam materials, to which a strand of synthetic fibers is tied. During a bite, the indicator suddenly disappears.

The most reliable fishing for whitefish occurs when you manage to control the fish - or rather, its position relative to the fly. This to some extent gives a small margin of time for hooking. This is a very important factor since whitefish, for example, unlike lenok, will most likely throw the fly a couple of seconds after taking the bait.

When the hook is made, there is no need to rush into landing, otherwise the fish caught on the hook begins to tumble and make noise, and this scares away other fish. But there is no need to delay too much. When catching this fish from the shore, it is better to have a landing net or hook on hand.

Whitefish fishing is usually carried out with a 5-6 class rod no more than 3 m long. As a rule, a floating cord, a 5 class double cone with a 5x leash is used. If you are fishing with a nymph on a lake, you can use a sinking braided leash. If you plan to fish with a larger nymph or a wet fly with a size 5 hook, it is better to use a leader made of fishing line of a larger diameter.