Dried fish: how and how much to salt fish before drying

Perceiving dried fish exclusively as a traditional snack for beer, few people realize the usefulness of the product they consume. Meanwhile, the Japanese expertly indulge in healthy and easily digestible seafood, maintaining a clear mind and health into old age (the average life expectancy in Japan is 81 years).

Nutritionists claim that this phenomenon is due to the “fish” diet of hereditary samurai, because the value of river, sea or pond fish for the human body cannot be exaggerated. Moreover, dried fish is no less useful than fresh fish, since, regardless of the drying method, it retains the entire range of valuable substances.

When preparing the product at home, it is important to understand that the taste and shelf life of dried fish are determined by many factors: type of fish, preparation, soaking, drying period, etc.

What is the difference between dried fish and dried fish?

People are little interested in the differences between drying and drying if it does not prevent them from enjoying their favorite taste. For those who have decided to learn the intricacies of preparing dried fish at home, it is important to understand that drying is only a certain stage preceding the drying of salted fish. While dried fish is unlikely to transform into the dried stage. Let's look at the main differences between harvesting methods:

Both salted and unsalted fish are dried. An unsalted product is a semi-finished product intended for preparing soups and other fish dishes. Salted fish can be eaten immediately.
Only salted fish is dried. During the cooking process, the product ripens, acquiring the required characteristics. Immediately after preparation, the product can be eaten.

This is interesting! Polyunsaturated fatty acids preserved in dried fish stimulate the functionality of the hematopoietic system and protect the body from the occurrence of malignant neoplasms.

Methods for salting fish

There are two ways to salt fish for drying at home. The first involves dry salting, and the second involves soaking the carcasses in brine.

Dry salting:

Choose a container that will fit the whole fish. If you plan to salt a large catch, then take a deep container.
A layer of salt is poured onto the bottom of the container. One layer of raw materials is laid on top. It is completely covered with salt. Then new carcasses are laid out in a row, which are also covered with salt.
Cover the container with a smaller lid or an inverted plate. A pressure is placed on top, for example, a jar of water, a weight or a large stone. The raw materials are left in this form for 5-7 days.

Important! Fish of the same size are salted in one container.

The brine method allows you to evenly salt the product in the shortest possible time. In execution it is more difficult than the previous one.

Read more ► Shelf life of fish in the refrigerator: fresh, smoked, fried, salted

Salting in brine:

Water is mixed with salt. The liquid should be so salty that a raw egg does not drown in it.
Place a layer of salt on the bottom of a large saucepan. Fish carcasses are laid out on it.
Brine is poured into the container. There should be enough of it to completely cover the raw materials.
A plate or small lid is placed in the pan and pressure is placed on it.
The container is placed in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

How to properly dry fish at home

At home, a natural drying method is used. To get a truly high-quality, shelf-stable and tasty product, you should approach the preparation process correctly. The following points require special attention:

After soaking/salting, each carcass must be pierced and strung on a strong fishing line. Make punctures at the location of the eyes. You can also thread the fish lips through a paper clip and then hang the resulting hooks on a string. Attention! Carcasses should not touch.
To ensure that a large carcass dries evenly, place spacers in the belly using matches or toothpicks. Small fish can be dried on a special mesh stretched over a rigid frame. To prevent the fish from going rancid, boiling and leaking fat, it needs to be hung away from direct sunlight (the drying area is dry and well ventilated). It is important to ensure the temperature is not lower than 18 C° and not higher than 20 C°.
In the warm season, you can dry it directly in the open air: in the shade of trees, under a canopy, in a gazebo. In the autumn-winter period - on a glazed loggia, attic, kitchen.
You should not hang your catch in areas where paint and varnish products are stored or where renovations have recently been made and the smell of paint has not had time to dissipate. The fact is that the fish will instantly “smell” of acetone and it will be impossible to eat it.

During storage, the workpiece dries even more, losing any remaining moisture day by day.

Soaking fish after salting

If, after salting, you immediately start drying the product, the fish snacks will turn out over-salted and tasteless.

Read more ► How to quickly defrost meat and minced meat at home: the best ways

Therefore, after salting, soaking is carried out:

After the dry method. The carcasses are removed from the salt. They are soaked in cold water for 4-7 hours, changing the water several times. The duration of soaking should be proportional to the days of salting.
After salting in solution. When the product is salted, it is soaked in clean water for half an hour. The liquid is changed 2 times during this time.

Which fish is suitable for home salting and drying?

For home salting and drying, you can use both freshwater and sea fish. The most suitable for these purposes are:

River/pond inhabitants: rudd, bream, bream, roach, ram, roach, sabrefish, perch, pike perch, womer, carp, pike, gudgeon, crucian carp, ide, bluegill, carp.

Important! Only fresh freshwater fish is suitable for drying. If the catch has been stored for more than a day, it cannot be used for harvesting.

Sea inhabitants: mackerel, capelin, smelt, gobies, sprat, herring, sprat, samsa, sea bass, red mullet, rock, horse mackerel, sea ruffe.

Important! When using frozen sea fish, it is first defrosted naturally. To do this, the carcass is left at room temperature until it is completely thawed.

How to properly prepare fish for salting

Salting is the most important stage in preparing the product, removing excess moisture from the fish. Before salting fish for drying, you need to carefully inspect and select carcasses no heavier than 1 kg.

Important! If you find black spots on a carcass, it is better to put it aside, because black spots may indicate that the fish is infected with helminths or dangerous infections. Yes, after salting, worms do not pose a danger to humans. But opisthorchiasis or diphyllobothriasis, which are difficult to diagnose, lead to the development of dangerous conditions and loss of ability to work.

If there is too much fish, it should be divided into sizes, since each size requires its own cooking time.

Then each carcass must be cleaned of dirt, mucus and gutted. Do not remove the scales. For large fish, cut into the meatiest part of the back, cutting through the meat all the way to the spine and separating the ribs on one side. Small - on the abdomen.

Some fishermen refuse to clean them, believing that the tripe makes the product more oily. This fish turns out to be bitter due to the bile, and this is not to everyone’s taste. However, if we talk about the spring catch, when the fish is filled with healthy and incredibly tasty caviar, it is better to dry it entirely.

In this case, a dense saline solution must be poured into the mouth opening of each large carcass using a syringe. Also, to speed up the drying process, it is better to cut large specimens along the vertebra.

Attention! If the fish is a “vegetarian” and eats exclusively algae, it should be gutted in any case. Otherwise, the plant food will simply decompose and rot inside the carcass.

After completing the above steps, you can start salting the fish using any of the following methods described below.

Wet method or salting in brine

To properly salt raw materials using the wet method, you need to follow the instructions:

Pour a layer of coarse table salt onto the bottom of the container (the coarser the salt, the more moisture it will absorb);
rub each carcass with salt from the inside and place it “jack” in one layer on the salt (the back of one covers the belly of the other);
Place the larger fish on the bottom and the smallest fish on top;
Cover each layer of fish with an even layer of salt - about 20% of the weight of the fish; each subsequent salt layer should “grow” by 15%; the thickness of the latter is at least 5 mm;
cover the top and press down with pressure, at the rate of 150 g per 1 kg of fish (the carcasses do not rest against the walls of the container so that the flow of air is not impeded);
Keep the container in the cold for 3–4 days.

Summer salting methods

You can salt fish for drying in the summer using a dry method, suitable for large specimens, or a hanging method, used for small or medium-sized fish. Let's look at both options in more detail.

Dry

As a rule, the dry method is used for large specimens that are gutted and have cuts along the back.

To do this you need:

prepare a box or basket with holes, cover the bottom with burlap;
place gutted, generously grated and salted carcasses there in layers, back down;
Sprinkle each layer of fish with salt (per 5 kg of fish = 0.75 kg of salt);
put in a cool place for a week.

When installing the box, it should be taken into account that the resulting brine will flow through the holes. So you should not use the dry method in the living room.

Provesny

The hanging method is another option for wet salting. String small fish onto rods or strong fishing line and lower them into brine so that the carcasses practically do not touch each other.

When brining uneviscerated medium-sized carcasses, their peritoneum is first filled with a strong saline solution. It is administered using a syringe through the oral cavity.

Tuzluchny

The brine method involves salting fish in brine and is used for specimens weighing up to 0.5 kg.

Procedure:

prepare brine - dissolve salt in water until an egg placed in a basin floats to the surface;
for convenience, carcasses can be strung on a fishing line;
place the prepared fish in a basin so that it is completely covered with brine;
cover with a net and press down with pressure;
keep in the cold for at least 3 days.

Spicy

place the carcasses in a “jack” type container;
Sprinkle a layer of salt on top;
Place 2-3 bay leaves, peppercorns, half a teaspoon of coriander on the salt.

Repeat until the container is completely filled, cover with an inverted dish on top and put pressure on it. Leave in a cool place for 4 days. After drying, such fish has a spicy aroma of spices.

Salmon method for fresh fish

Lay the carcass flat and rub on all sides with a mixture of sugar and salt in a ratio of 1:3. Wrap it in a piece of natural fabric and place the resulting cocoon in a plastic bag. Place in the refrigerator for 72 hours.

Turn the package from side to side every 12 hours. After removing, rinse the fish under running water and dry on a waffle towel.

There is no definite answer to the question of how much to salt fish before drying, because a lot depends on the size of the waterfowl, the salting method and the temperature. According to general data, at a temperature of 20 C°, the process takes:

about 1 hour – for small fish;
no more than 3 days – for specimens weighing up to 0.5 kg;
from 5 days to a week – for large fish.

You can check the readiness of the product by pressing your finger on the back of the carcass after salting. The resulting hole is evidence that the fish has been salted properly.

Also, the completeness of the salting process is indicated by the crunching of the vertebrae that occurs when the carcass is stretched by the tail and head.

Stages of drying roach

The process consists of several stages: salting, soaking and drying. There are two ways to pickle – dry and brine (wet).

Brine salting

The brine that is formed when salt dissolves in the liquid that oozes from the fish is called brine. It must be drained periodically during salting to prevent bacteria from multiplying in it.

With gutting

Usually large roaches weighing about 1 kg are gutted. Rinse the roach, do not remove the scales, remove the insides, remove the gills and rub with salt outside and inside. Take an enamel bowl, pour a layer of coarse salt on the bottom, place the roach in it, cover and press down with a weight. Thanks to the oppression, cavities do not form in the carcasses, where bacteria can grow and start rotting. Place in the refrigerator for three to four days. After some time, juice will begin to release from the fish.

No gutting

In this way, only small roaches can be salted - weighing from 250 to 500 grams and measuring no more than 30 cm in length. Gutting a small roach is recommended in the summer, when the fish eats greens, which give it a bitter taste.

Before salting, whole roach should be washed under running water, but you don’t have to wash it, just wipe it with a dry cloth.

For pickling, you need to prepare enamel dishes or a stainless steel container. Sprinkle salt on the bottom and place the roach in dense rows (belly to back, head to tail). Sprinkle each layer with salt to completely cover the fish. Larger specimens are placed downward, and smaller specimens are placed upward.

For salting you need to use only coarse salt.

Cover the roach with something flat and press it down with a weight (brick, jar of water, stone). Place the container with the fish in the refrigerator so that the flesh does not spoil, where the salt has not yet penetrated, and leave under pressure for three days. After three days, the roach is washed and left for 2 hours in cold water. The process of salting roach weighing no more than 500 grams takes two days.

You can determine readiness by the firm back, yellowish-red caviar and dark gray color of the meat.

Soaking after salting

Before drying, you need to remove excess salt from the fish that was absorbed during the salting process. Otherwise, the pulp will dry out, become oversalted and take on a “rusty” appearance. Since the quality, appearance and taste of the product depend on the soaking process, special attention should be paid to this.

First, the carcasses need to be removed from the brine and allowed to rest for about an hour (during this time, the salt will be evenly distributed throughout the entire flesh). Then rinse for 15 minutes to remove excess salt and proceed to the soaking process, using cold fresh water for this purpose.

Note! The ideal option is to keep the fish under running water. If this is not possible, it is enough to replace the water with fresh water several times. The fish, ready to dry, will float to the surface.

You need to soak the fish for the same number of hours as the days it was salted. As an example: after 3 days of salting, soaking lasts 3 hours. During this time, the carcass will not only get rid of excess salt, but also gain elasticity.

On occasion, I bought 10 kilograms of soroga. This fish goes very well with beer when dried. I present to your attention a simple and reliable recipe for salting sorog (and not only it). In addition, I recommend trying to dry herring. Turns out it will turn out no worse than dried sorog


	To salt sorog we will need: 1. Fish (bream, silver bream, roach, etc..) in this case sorog. 2. We take salt for salting fish at the rate of 100-120 grams per kilogram of fish. I would like to note that salt for salting fish should be coarsely ground. In no case iodized or extra. The quality of salting largely depends on the salt. Coarse salt during salting will gradually draw moisture out of the fish. Finely ground salt will simply quickly get wet and, as it were, “burn” the fish
	We thoroughly wash the fish to remove dirt and mucus, prepare salt and a container in which we will salt it. Pour a grain of salt onto the bottom of the container and place the fish back down, head to tail. Look at the photo.
	Having laid the layer, sprinkle it with salt again. I would say it's like snowballing. And so layer by layer.

	All the fish are packed. And sprinkled with salt. We try to leave more salt for the last layer.
	Cover the fish with a cup and apply pressure. A five-liter plastic bottle is well suited for these purposes. Now the fish must be put in a cool place for 3-5 days. Many will notice that this is too much and one day will be enough, and they will be wrong. Under the influence of salt, excess moisture is drawn out, and changes occur in the fish meat.
	On the third fourth day we check the readiness of our fish. To do this, take the fish by the head and tail and pull it in different directions. A characteristic crunch is heard. It's the vertebrae of the spine crunching. The fish was salted. Now we need to carefully rinse and soak the fish to get rid of excess salt. Calculating the duration of soaking is simple. If you soak in running water, then for every day of salting, half an hour of soaking. If the water is not running, then 1 hour of soaking, followed by changing the water. So, when salting fish for 3 days, wash it in water for 3 hours, changing it every hour or 1.5 hours in running water.

	Hang the salted fish out to dry. You can choose the degree of drying yourself. After drying, the fish can be preserved. You can put the fish in a jar, finely chop a couple of garlic feathers, pour into the jar and close with a nylon lid. Or put the fish in jars, moisten a piece of cotton wool with alcohol, set it on fire, throw it into the jar and roll it with a tin lid. Fish can be stored for up to six months, or maybe more.

Preparing fish for proper drying

Before drying, the soaked fish is wiped with a napkin and laid out on parchment designed to absorb excess moisture. Then they are strung on twine or strong fishing line and hung directly on the street, under a canopy or in the house, for example over a bathtub. This is necessary for the liquid to drain.

Often, experienced fishermen cannot come to a consensus regarding the position of the fish after soaking. It really doesn't matter how you dry the fish, upside down or upside down. It all depends on a person's personal preferences.

Head down - moisture leaves through the mouth, and drying occurs more smoothly and quickly. The result is a high-calorie product with a long shelf life. The method is recommended for the autumn period, when the fish is especially oily and takes longer to dry.

Tail down - the fat does not leave the carcass, saturating all the flesh. The result is a tasty, especially aromatic product. It is important to take into account that the drying process may take a long time and use the “tail down” method for non-fat varieties.

Only after the fish stops dripping can you begin drying.

How to dry fish: basic methods

During the drying process, the air temperature in the room or outside the window, humidity level and air availability are taken into account. Owners of private houses hang carcasses in shady areas of the garden or in attics, under a canopy or on a covered veranda.

Residents of city apartments hang “fish” garlands throughout the kitchen, bathroom or loggia. At the same time, household members rarely express delight at the carcasses dangling directly above their heads.

But an electric dryer or oven will help cope with the dissatisfaction of the other half. Let's take a closer look at the features of the most popular drying methods.

On open air

The most popular method that allows you to get the most delicious and healthy product. The best time is spring, when the air is already warmed up to 20 degrees. The carcasses are hung under a canopy or in the shade so that the sun does not cook them. If the weather suddenly turns bad, the workpieces can be brought indoors.

In a cool cellar

When hanging fish in the cellar, you need to be prepared for the fact that at the end of the process it will need to be additionally dried. To do this, after 3 weeks from the start of drying, the carcasses are brought into the kitchen and placed closer to the radiator or stove.

This method should not be used for large specimens. They still won’t dry out as expected, but they will acquire a bitter taste almost immediately.

On the balcony and loggia

A great option if it’s winter or just bad weather outside. It is important not to forget that liquid will leak out of the fish and to substitute containers in advance.

If the balcony is not ventilated, open the windows and install a fan during drying. Hang the fish along or across the wall - whichever is more convenient for you. Typically, drying takes up to 15 days, but, under the influence of certain factors, the duration of the process may vary.

In the attic

A well-ventilated, dry attic is the best place to dry fish. Protected from the sun and precipitation, the carcasses are dried naturally.

However, before placing the workpieces in the attic, you should carry out a wet cleaning there and make sure that there are no insects and rodents.

In the oven

Drying in the oven is a popular method that allows you to get fish ready for storage in just 48 hours. Place a layer of fish on a rack lined with foil. To avoid baking the carcasses, set the temperature to 40 C.

To ensure ventilation, you need to leave the oven door ajar about 7 cm. After a couple of hours, cover the heads with foil so as not to burn, and dry for another 5 hours. Then the carcasses are hung in a dry room, where they “reach condition” within 3 days.

In an electric dryer

Perhaps this is the most useful device in the household, used for drying fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and fish. The most important thing is that the device is of the convective type and has a function to turn off the heating.

Setting the temperature to no more than 30 C, the fish is dried for about 48 hours. This method has a serious drawback - during the drying process, the whole apartment will become saturated with the smell of fish.

It is important to understand that drying fish using an oven, dryer or other household appliances is not the best option. In this case, the product loses the lion's share of its taste and aroma.

Attention! Do not dry fish in the microwave under any circumstances. With the door open, the device will not turn on, and with the door closed, the carcasses will not dry out, but will simply be cooked.

Drying time for fish

In the warm season, drying takes less time than in winter. The size of the carcass is also important. So, the duration of drying under natural conditions (outdoors):

In spring or summer, if it is not damp outside and there is a slight breeze, the drying process takes no more than 8 days. For small fish - less than 48 hours.
During the winter cold it takes about 45 days - during this time the moisture will simply freeze out of the carcasses. In a heated room, the process will be reduced to 1 - 2 weeks.

Even after the specified time has elapsed, the readiness of the carcasses must be checked: dried fish is dense, elastic, without salt crystals on the surface and has a strong skin.

Useful tips

It happens that during the drying process the fish turns out to be tasteless or spoils literally within a month. To protect your catch from such troubles, just adhere to the following recommendations:

When laying out carcasses for salting, place the largest specimens on the bottom.
String fish of the same size onto one fishing line, which will ensure uniform drying.
A toothpick inserted into the abdomen will greatly speed up the process and make it more effective.
If during storage the fish begins to smell musty, it is enough to rinse it in a weak saline solution and repeat the drying procedure.
It is better to hang carcasses on the balcony after sunset. During the night, the fish will become weathered and will no longer attract insects.
Some people advise drying fish without scales, but during the cooking process the product loses its aroma and becomes dry and tasteless.
The best time to prepare the product is spring or autumn.

Where to store dried fish

The shelf life of the product depends on its storage conditions. You can wrap the fish in parchment or natural fabric and seal it in a plastic bag. To store, place in the freezer.

The condition of the packaging must be checked regularly. If condensation appears on the bag, it means the “cover” of the fish needs to be replaced. If you miss the moment, the product will become saturated with moisture and become damp.

By placing the finished carcasses in linen or paper bags and hanging them in a cool place, you can enjoy your favorite product for six months. If you store fish in a hermetically sealed jar, the product will not lose its beneficial and tasteful qualities for 5 months.

How to dry fish in summer without flies landing

In the summer, flies literally swarm over the fragrant carcasses, trying to cling to them with their larvae. To prevent flies from landing on fish, you can prepare any solution suggested below and lubricate each carcass with it:

vinegar solution 3%;
sunflower oil;
weak solution of potassium permanganate;
a mixture of sunflower oil and vinegar 1:3.

The most important thing is to protect the fish from flies in the first days; it is during this period that the meat dries out and becomes unattractive to buzzing insects. It is preferable to hang the fish in the evening, when flies do not fly. In addition, hung carcasses can be covered with gauze.

Salting recipes

There are many recipes for salting fish. But not everyone can preserve the taste, as well as give the meat the necessary firmness and fat content.

You can salt fish for drying and subsequent long-term storage in the traditional way, but if you process it and eat it right away, it is better to choose a spicy method.

Dry or traditional method

For this method, you will need a deep wooden container with holes (a box made of boards is best), a linen bag, coarse rock salt and prepared carcasses.

The bag is laid out on the bottom of the box, and salt and carcasses are already laid out on it.

Each fish is well rubbed with salt and placed in a container. You must first pour about 1 cm of salt onto its bottom. The carcasses should be laid so that they lie very tightly. Therefore, it is better to lay them head to tail. Each layer must be sprinkled with a small layer of salt. After everything is laid, salt is poured on top in a 1 cm layer. Place a lid over the contents of the container and press it down with a heavy weight.

Oppression will not allow the formation of air voids in which putrefactive bacteria can develop. In addition, under pressure the meat becomes denser.

Everything stays in this state for about 8 - 10 days in a cool, shaded place. When the juice begins to release on the 3rd – 4th day, it will not linger in the container.

After salting, you can begin soaking and then drying the fish.

This method is suitable for salting large carcasses

Wet method or salting in brine

You can salt fish in this way in a container that does not oxidize (bucket, pan, barrel or tank). To do this, it is placed tightly in a container, belly up, sprinkled with salt (1 kg of salt per 10 kg of prepared carcasses).

To make the meat tender, you can add 20–30 g of sugar.

The lid is placed over the contents of the container and pressed down with a weight. Around day 2, juice will begin to release. It will be mixed with salt and you will get a brine in which the carcasses will remain for about 5 - 10 days. The duration of salting depends on their size.

After this, the fish is taken out and washed in running water. Only after this can you proceed to further drying or drying.

There is another way to prepare brine. To do this, you need to dissolve 1 kg of salt in 3 liters of fresh, filtered water. Afterwards, fresh brine should be poured over the pre-laid carcasses. Afterwards everything is covered with a lid and placed under pressure in a cool place. So they are salted for 4 – 8 days.

Spicy way

You can properly salt fish with spices in the following way. First of all, you need to prepare the brine, as in the previous recipe, and then add bay leaves, black peppercorns, horseradish leaves and ground or grain coriander to it. You can also add sugar to taste.

The fish is placed in an enamel container and filled with brine. After this, it is covered with a lid and pressed down with pressure. She should stay in this state for 2–3 days.

After salting, it should be dried a little. This will allow the meat to acquire a more pronounced taste and increase its shelf life in the refrigerator to several months.

Hanging method

This salting method differs from the previous ones and is only suitable for fatty varieties. The carcasses are strung on a transverse rod through the gill openings and placed in a container with brine so that they are suspended.

To prepare the brine, you only need water and salt. Its amount can be determined using a raw chicken egg or potato. They shouldn't drown in it.

The salting process is slightly different in time and takes only 4 – 6 days. But not everyone knows how many days the carcasses need to be kept in brine, and therefore it often happens that they are overexposed and they manage to gain a lot of salt. In this case, the fish will need to be soaked a little longer than usual and the frequency of water changes will need to be increased to 4-5 times.

After soaking, the fish can be slightly dried or dried.

Salmon method for fresh fish

Mackerel or herring are suitable for this salting.

The fish must first be cut and generously sprinkled with salt in the belly section and on the back. It is recommended to add 10 g of sugar, black peppercorns and bay leaf to taste to the salt. After this, it is wrapped in linen or cotton cloth and placed in the refrigerator. With this method, the fish must be salted for 30 hours, after which it can be taken out and dried, laid out on a flat surface. However, some people prefer to eat it immediately after salting.