How to properly salt ram at home. Taranka (ramming)

Both tasty and healthy!

Let us remember that taranka is any dried fish: bream, sabrefish, bluefish, roach, silver bream, ide, perch. The funny name didn't come by itself! Rams from the carp family and roach-like fish were sold dried in large quantities. It was popular among residents of southern Russia and Ukraine, and was an inexpensive delicacy. Taran is a “southerner”, and although it lives in the Black and Azov Seas, it does so only in freshwater areas, and goes to rivers to spawn. It can be caught all year round, but recently its population has declined greatly. And they “blame” this on people who thoughtlessly caught fish before spawning and young fish.

But this is true, by the way! Just as many years ago our ancestors dried and dried fish, today this is one of the favorite ways to prepare a salty delicacy. Beer lovers will definitely agree with this, because with ram the intoxicating drink is much tastier! However, it is a mistake to believe that it is eaten only for its pleasant salty-dried taste.

Firstly, it is rich in Omega-3 - these are polyunsaturated fats that a person needs to maintain good physical and mental condition. The human body itself cannot produce them, and is “fed” by them from the outside, that is, through food. Scientists from different countries have come to the conclusion that dried fish contains substances that destroy cancer cells. And there are also secondly, thirdly, fourthly and fifthly:

1. Reducing the development of age-related diseases: Alzheimer’s, dementia, as well as heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular diseases;
2. Reducing the risk of premature birth;
3. Reduced wrinkle formation;
4. A pregnant woman who eats dried fish protects herself from postpartum depression and her unborn baby from restless sleep.

To prepare taranka, you need exclusively fresh fish with a flattened body: this way it will be salted more evenly. Many people do not even recommend gutting it, so as not to spoil the taste. In any case, caught fish can be stored for only a few hours, and only in a container or bag that receives fresh air, but not in water. The sooner you start preparing it, the better quality it will turn out. Moreover, only fish without defects is suitable for high-quality ramming: with intact skin, without lacerations on the body.

How to hang and dry fish correctly?

The drying process becomes a source of controversy.
By the head or by the tail? In fact, carcasses can be hung in different ways. It is worth considering all the methods and deciding exactly how to dry fish in a dryer or without it. How to properly dry fish at home by hanging it on its tail:

1. Make a hole in the flesh of the tail.
2. Thread the hook.
3. In this position, moisture will flow out through the mouth. The meat will not be bitter, the carcass will dry evenly.

Drying by hanging by the head:

1. Pass the wire through the eyes. Hang them away from each other.
2. In this position, the fat will not leave the fish, it will be juicier, but drying will take a little longer.
3. However, there will be bitterness, which beer lovers are not afraid of.

Carcasses should be hung on a thin rope made of natural materials or wire that does not rust. The future snack is left in a draft in the shade. Sometimes you can leave it in the sun for a few hours to dry it out. The temperature for drying should not be higher than 20 degrees.

Salting. Method No. 1

The ram is salted in two ways: dry and wet, that is, in a saline solution (brine). Boxes or buckets made of plastic, stainless steel, or enamel-coated metal are used as containers for pickling. Taranka can even be salted in a plastic bucket:

• The first layer in the bucket is salt, then fish, again salt and again fish. Make as many layers as the container allows.
• Place a flat piece of wood and a weight - a stone or brick - on the top layer.
• Keep the fish in salt for 3 to 5 days depending on its size, the larger the longer.
• After salting, soak in running water. (They soak it for several hours, often for the same number of days as it was salted).
• Hang on hooks and hang on the balcony or outdoors, but only in a shaded place.

How to salt?

How to salt ram at home? The process is simple, but requires patience. In addition, there are three main methods: drying, dry method and wet. All options are discussed in detail.

Dry method

This option is simple and requires a suitable container (it can be a wooden box or an enamel basin), salt and the fish itself.

Description of the method:

1. Place a layer of salt about 7-10 millimeters thick at the bottom of a clean container.
2. Rub salt all over the fish, pushing it into the mouth and gills. You can also make several holes for better salting.
3. Place the fish on the salt, sprinkle it with a centimeter layer of salt. Laying for better compaction is done with heads to tails and backs to bellies, so that there are no free spaces left.
4. Having laid all the fish in layers and sprinkled it with salt, cover it, for example, with thick cardboard, a perforated board, or a lid with a diameter smaller than the container itself. Place a weight of about 7-10 kg.
5. Send the container to a cool place, such as a refrigerator, cellar or balcony (during the cold season).
6. How long should you salt fish using this method? The duration depends on the weight of one carcass: about 100-150 grams - two days, 500-700 g - three to four days, more than 800 grams - from five to seven days to two weeks (for large specimens).
7. During the salting process, juice will be released, which must be drained daily. You can determine readiness by the absence of liquid.
8. Now wash the salted fish and soak it in water to remove excess salt, and then in a vinegar solution (50 ml of 9% table water per 10 liters) to destroy bacteria and repel flies.
9. All that remains is to hang the carcasses in a ventilated room and dry them to the desired condition. You can also dry fish in wooden open boxes or on trays, turning them regularly.

Advice! If the weight of pressure is increased after a day or two, the fish will be salted more fully and well.

Wet method

This recipe involves salting in a concentrated saline solution. And here's what you'll need:

• fish;
• water;
• table salt (100-150 g for each liter of water).

Instructions:

1. Immerse the washed and, if desired, gutted fish in the prepared salt solution so that it completely covers the carcasses.
2. Press the fish down on top to prevent it from floating up.
3. After two to five days (depending on size), remove the carcasses, rinse thoroughly or keep in cold water for half an hour and dry.

Drying

This method is also easy. All you need is fish and salt. The process is also simple:

1. Rub the fish very thoroughly on all sides with salt. Make holes and tamp the salt into them.
2. Prepare a wire or rope and string the salted carcasses onto it.
3. Now hang the strung fish in the courtyard of a private house, on a balcony or in a constantly ventilated room. To protect against flies, you can cover the structure with gauze or make something like a tent or dome out of this material.
4. The ram will be salted for at least two days. And the longer the period, the drier the pulp will be, so adjust the timing at your discretion, taking into account your taste preferences.

Finally, some useful tips:

1. If you decide not to gut the fish, then for high-quality salting inside you should pour a strong salt solution through the mouth through a syringe. Some fishermen do this immediately after receiving their catch.
2. You can optionally add various seasonings to the salt to add flavor and piquancy to the finished salted rama.
3. It is best to use coarse salt, as fine salt will increase the salting period and can form a crust on the surface.
4. If, when using the wet method, you add a little granulated sugar to the brine, the finished fish will be more tender and even more pleasant to the taste.
5. If you plan to dry large fish, then to speed up the process, make several longitudinal cuts in it. And small carcasses will dry out anyway.
6. If the fish is very dry, it can be made softer by moistening it with a brush or sponge and then wrapping it in parchment. Next, periodically wet the paper so that the pulp absorbs moisture. You can also correct the situation with under-dried ram by wrapping it in newspaper, which will absorb excess liquid.
7. Properly salted ram is stored for up to 3-5 months, and in cold and sealed packaging for up to 9-10.

Salted ram will be a success if you choose the appropriate recipe and follow all the salting rules.

Delicious fatty dried ram is the best snack to go with beer. I suggest housewives familiarize themselves with a simple homemade recipe and prepare delicious dried ram on their own. This home-salted fish turns out to be moderately salted and as dry as you like. Using this simple recipe you will reduce your financial costs to a minimum.

Usually, to salt fish, I buy one kilogram of fresh, recently caught fish from the market. Remember that only fresh fish is suitable for salting with further drying.

For salting according to this recipe (dry salting method), try to select medium-sized fish. Each carcass should weigh approximately 200–250 grams. If the fish is larger, it is better to salt it in brine.

And so, we need:

• fresh ram - 1 kilogram;
• two glasses of coarse table salt;
• strong fishing line;
• "Gypsy" needle.

Salting. Method number 2

If you approach the salting process more thoroughly, then you need to start with the container. Make a container for the future battering ram from a plastic or metal vessel. You need a stand for it so that the fish “drains”, or make a special bottom with holes in the tank so that the “juice” has somewhere to drain. Thin plywood with holes made around the circumference and in the center will serve as the bottom (however, it should not resemble a colander). You need to screw several blocks to the bottom of the plywood with screws, but so that there is a distance between them. Place the “tray” on the bottom of the tank with the blocks facing down. Sand the top part of the plywood with sandpaper.

Make a few more plywood “spacers”, but without the blocks. But holes will have to be drilled on each copy. Such products will overlap the next row of salting from the previous one, so it must be carefully adjusted to the walls of the tank so that there are almost no gaps. By the way, you need to start the rows with salt: pour it thickly and distribute it along the bottom of the container. The salt must be coarse and clean: all excess specks should be removed. The fish is placed on top, pre-washed and salted on both sides, and especially under the gills. You should not worry that there will be too much salt: the fish will take only “its own.”

Lay the layers tightly, sprinkle with plenty of salt so that it covers the fish and forms a flat surface. Press down with plywood spacer. The next row and all the others are fish-salt-overlap. Repeat until the very top of the tank, and put pressure on the top plate. It can be made from bags of river sand, stones, old cast iron irons, or a glass jar of water. Cover the top of the tank with a blanket. Pull it down to prevent flies and other insects, which are very attracted to the fishy smell, from getting under the blanket.

If you plan to dry fish on the balcony, then we recommend shading the place where the tank is located. After salting, the fish is soaked in running water: small fish for 30 minutes, larger fish are kept in water for several hours, and be sure to drain it twice. After soaking, the fish is kept in a container without water for 1.5-2 hours, and it acquires an amber-transparent color.

Now the time has come when the fish needs to be dried. It is allowed to dry completely, wiped with a rag and hung out (like laundry) to dry. It must be hung on special hooks that “hold” the fish by a hole pierced in its body with an awl. Moreover, small specimens should be hung upside down, and large ones should be hung upside down.

During the day, hung fish should be covered from insects with a thick layer of gauze or netting to prevent flies or wasps from laying larvae on it. However, the gauze should not touch the carcasses, and the fish should not come into contact with each other. At night, the protective cover in the form of gauze can be removed so that the ram “breathes” and forms a dry crust. Early in the morning, before closing it again with the canopy, sprinkle it with table vinegar dissolved in water.

The ram is dried for at least a week, but the drying period depends on various factors: the size of the carcass, the temperature. Store in tin cans with tight-fitting lids, in a cloth bag, in a covered basket, and always in a cool room. It “does not like” air: it oxidizes and acquires an unpleasant taste.

Method number 3. Wet salting

As mentioned above, brine is a concentrated saline solution (1/2 cup of salt per 1 liter of water). Fish washed from dirt and mucus is placed in it and kept for about 4 days. In fact, it all depends on the size of the fish: a large one should lie in the brine longer, a small one will be ready faster. Experts say that specimens weighing 500 grams or more are best suited.

The solution is poured into a basin, pan or baby bath and the fish is placed in it. Readiness can be determined in the old proven way - take a raw egg and put it in brine. If it floats up, salting must be continued.

After the process, the carcasses need to be rinsed well. They are soaked for 30 minutes or several hours if the specimens are large. Change the water several times. After the first time, put the battering ram in the air for a while, and then fill it with water again. If it floats, stop soaking and hang to dry, as in method 1 or 2.

Preparing fish for drying

After the time allotted for complete salting, we must wash the fish from mucous secretions and excess salt, and then fill it with clean cool water and keep it in it for about two hours.

The next step is pre-drying. To do this, we remove the carcasses from the liquid into a basket or large colander, wait for the remaining moisture to drain and wipe with paper napkins.

Now we need to treat the crucian carp with a weak vinegar solution (3%) or sunflower oil. This measure will protect our snack from fly larvae in the future. And only after this, with a clear conscience, can we proceed directly to drying.