How to properly salt fish at home

What kind of fish can be salted and dried?

Absolutely any fish can be salted and dried, but it is generally accepted that the most delicious are fatty and medium-fat river fish. These types include:

• Bream, white bream;
• Roach, roach, ram;
• Bluefish, peled;
• Chekhon;
• Catfish;
• Flounder;
• Smelt;
• Capelin;
• Ide, chub, asp and some others.

Low-fat fish can also be salted, but when dried it turns out dry. Such a fish is, for example, pike. Although, there will always be pike lovers.

Despite the sufficient fat content of fish such as carp, tench, crucian carp, they are not always suitable for salting and drying, since depending on the habitat, their meat may have a specific lake smell. However, river carp and crucian carp are almost free of this drawback, and salting fish with spices can make any fish tasty.

According to the time of catch, the fattest fish are those caught in the fall and early winter. In winter, the fish feeds poorly and loses excess fat, but during the diet its meat is cleaned, and therefore spring fish is also valued in its own way. The meat of fish caught in late winter and early spring is the cleanest, and after drying small fish it becomes translucent.

What about red fish? You can salt red fish in the same way as typical river fish. Any type of anadromous or local salmon is excellent for salting and drying.

How to salt red fish

Salted red fish is a dish that is suitable for both festive and everyday dinners. Thanks to its delicate taste, fish meat can be served both as an independent dish and as an addition to boiled or stewed potatoes.

Red fish can be salted dry or wet. At the same time, dry salting of red fish is somewhat different from salting white fish. To salt red fish using the dry method, you need to stock up on foil or parchment. To give pink or chum salmon carcasses a more interesting spicy taste, you can pickle the fish in a marinade.

How to salt fish in foil:

• The fillet must be washed well and the bones removed. The skin must be left on.
• Each piece should be carefully but very carefully rubbed with salt.
• The fish fillet is wrapped in foil.
• The bundle is placed in a bowl and placed in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

The famous dish gravlax is prepared in a similar way. This cold appetizer, so popular in Northern European countries, is served with dill and mustard sauce. You can eat the appetizer on rye bread or with tender mashed potatoes. The cooking process is as follows.

Gravlax:

• The fish fillet is thoroughly washed. All bones must be carefully removed.
• The pieces are sprinkled with coarse salt, sugar, pepper and chopped dill.
• After this, the fish is wrapped in foil or parchment.
• If desired, the pieces can be filled with gin, cognac or brandy.
• The fish is kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

To enhance the flavor of the red fish and make it more spicy, you can use various combinations of seasonings that are added to the brine.

Brine for red fish:

• For 1 kg of fish fillet, 1 liter of water is needed.
• 150 grams of sugar.
• 150 grams of salt.
• 50 grams of mustard.
• 2 large bay leaves.
• A few pinches of black and allspice.

The fish should remain in the brine prepared in this way for no more than 4 hours. Otherwise, it may “pull” too much salt.

Methods for salting fish

There are two main ways of salting fish for drying - “wet” and “dry” salting. Both methods make it possible to get equally tasty dried fish.

Dry salting is more often used for preparing large fish, and salting in brine is used for small and medium-sized fish. Another feature of salting fish in brine is that the meat of the finished fish is more tender.

For dry salting, you will need a container with holes or slits through which the juice released from the fish will drain (a wooden box, a plastic container with holes).

For salting fish in brine, any container with a salt-resistant coating (plastic, enamel dishes) is suitable. Aluminum containers for salting fish are not suitable, as their surface will oxidize and release impurities harmful to health.

Any salting method consists of the following steps:

1. Preparing fish for salting;
2. Salting fish;
3. Preparing fish for drying, soaking.

Let's look at each stage in more detail.

Preserves

Salting fish is one of the ways to preserve a product, as well as a means of changing the taste characteristics of the finished fish product - dried, dried or smoked fish and snacks made from it. The main substance in table salt is sodium chloride. In addition to this compound, salt contains various impurities, the qualitative and quantitative composition of which depends on the place of extraction. There are two main types of salt:

• Table salt, also known as rock salt, is mined in salt mines.
• Sea salt (precipitated salt), mined from salty bodies of water

The difference between these varieties of salt lies in the chemical composition of the actual mass of the product ready for consumption. Self-planted salt contains more chemical elements and is recommended for daily use as a seasoning. Table salt in this regard is “purer”, that is, it contains fewer impurities, in particular iodine.

Preparing fish for salting

Fish selected for salting must be clean and exceptionally fresh. The fish is not of the first freshness, and as a result, it turns out to be smelly, or completely unsuitable for consumption.

Large and sometimes medium-sized fish are freed from their entrails. Very large fish are completely or half-spread. An incision is made from the back along the ridge and, less frequently, from the belly.

Layering the fish allows you to speed up the process of salting and subsequent drying. In addition, the risk of spoilage of layered fish during salting is reduced to almost zero.

Before salting, the fish is washed and excess water should be allowed to drain. Large fish are wiped with a dry towel.

Salting fish

To dry-salt fish, you will need 1.5-2 kg of salt per 10 kg of fish, for salting in brine - 1-1.5 kg of salt per 10 kg of fish. The salt should be coarse; fine table salt is not at all suitable for salting fish. You can use regular table salt or sea salt.

When salting fish, you should be guided by the principle “it is better to over-salt than under-salt,” since excess salt will be removed during the soaking stage, and its deficiency can lead to accelerated growth of bacteria and spoilage of the fish.

The process of salting fish must take place in cool conditions, so the fish is put into a cellar or refrigerator for salting.

Salting time depends on the size of the fish. Small fish are salted in two days, medium - 2-4 days, large - up to a week. Fish kept in a strong salt solution in cool conditions can be stored in it for a month or more.

Spices

In 99% of cases, fish is salted without using any spices, but if you want to give the fish an unusual or spicy taste, they can be added during the salting process.

Regardless of the salting method, the following spices can be added to the fish:

• Allspice peas;
• Bay leaf;
• Nutmeg;
• Broken black pepper;
• Coriander;
• Carnation;
• Ginger;
• Cinnamon.

To these spices, you can add red capsicum, mustard seed, dill, cumin and anise - they all go well with fish, but any spices are good in moderation. To obtain a spicy salting, in addition to salt, you will need up to 50% sugar.

It should be borne in mind that spicy salting is best achieved when using medium-sized fish.

Herring in apple marinade

Here is a rather unusual quick recipe for salting fish - herring in apple marinade. This snack is very popular in Holland and is often prepared for the New Year. Apple juice softens the fibers of the fish well and makes it incredibly tender. Fruity notes in no way spoil the natural fishy taste; on the contrary, they successfully emphasize the fragile nuances.

• herring fillet – 600 g
• freshly squeezed apple juice - 100 ml
• salt - 3 tbsp. l.
• sugar - 2 tbsp. l.
• vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l.
• black peppercorns - 5-6 peas
• red onion - for serving
• fresh rosemary - for serving
• lime - for serving

Cloudflare Ray ID: 63a9d9b2c9e03a8f • Your IP: 195.64.208.251 • Performance & security by Cloudflare

Cloudflare Ray ID: 63a9d9b2fb6ed891 • Your IP: 195.64.208.251 • Performance & security by Cloudflare

To preserve the delicate flavor, choose white pepper rather than black.

Salting in brine

To salt fish in brine, you do not need to prepare a special brine; the juice released from the fish will be quite sufficient.

1. The bottom of the container in which the fish will be salted is sprinkled with a layer of salt;
2. The fish is placed sideways, in layers, each layer of fish is sprinkled with salt;
3. The top layer of fish is completely covered with salt, covered with a lid on which a small weight is placed.

The weight is necessary so that when the brine is released, all the fish are immersed in it.

Immediately after salting, the fish is put into a cellar or refrigerator and salted there for 2-8 days, depending on the size of the fish.

How to quickly and tasty salt red fish?

Red fish meat is considered delicious, elite and quite expensive. All this is due not only to its taste, but also to its beneficial properties. The unique biochemical composition of all varieties of red fish has a positive effect on the body and helps in rejuvenation.

Recently, prices for red fish have increased almost to the skies, so more and more housewives prefer to salt them themselves. It's not at all difficult to do this.

Try this method:

1. Wash the fish first and dry it with a paper towel.
2. Cut off the fins, tail and head. If you wish, you can also rid the fish of its very fatty underbelly; not everyone is ready to eat such a delicacy.
3. Using a sharp knife, cut the fish lengthwise into two halves, trying to remove the spine and ribs.
4. Prepare the pickling mixture. To do this, take salt and granulated sugar in a 1:1 ratio, pepper and other spices are added to taste. Stir the resulting mixture thoroughly; it will be sprinkled on the fish for salting. Salt should be taken at the rate of 3-4 tbsp. l. per 1 kg of fish raw material.
5. Pour some of the mixture prepared in the previous step into the bottom of a large bowl. Place half of the red fish, skin side down. Pour lemon juice over it and cover with the pickling mixture, lay out the bay leaf.
6. Also pour the pickling mixture onto the pulp of the second half and place it skin side up in the same bowl. Sprinkle the salt mixture onto your skin.
7. Cover the container with a lid and place it in a cool place. If it's freezing outside, the balcony will not work.

Regardless of the size, the fish will be ready in a couple of days, after which remove the fish from the brine and use a napkin to rid it of any remaining salt mixture. Fish prepared this way can be stored for a week.

Dry salting of fish

Salting fish using the dry method is not much different from salting it in brine, but the salt consumption and salting time are a little more.

1. The bottom of a box or other container with holes is covered with canvas fabric (optional) and sprinkled with a layer of salt;
2. Each fish is completely rubbed with salt and laid back down with a tilt to one side, or simply sideways, each new layer of fish is sprinkled with salt;
3. The last layer of fish is generously sprinkled with salt, the fish is covered with a lid on which a small weight is placed.

After the fish is salted, the container with it is put away in a cool place - in the refrigerator or cellar, where it will remain for three to ten days, depending on the size of the fish.

Cooking instructions

Cut off the heads and tail fins of fish carcasses.

You can cook very tasty fish soup from them.

Cut the belly down the center and remove all internal organs and membranes.

Heat water to boiling. Add salt and spices for salting fish. You can take a ready-made mixture, or you can simply add 2-3 peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, and a few whole coriander seeds. Boil everything for 3 - 4 minutes and cool to + 25 + 28 degrees.

Place the prepared carcasses in a suitable food container or other container. Pour in brine.

Keep the salted char in the refrigerator for 72 hours.

Remove the salted fish, cut it and serve.

Soaking the fish

After the fish has been completely salted, it is necessary to get rid of excess salt - this is done by soaking. If this is not done, the fish meat will be dry and over-salted, its surface will be covered with salt crystals, and the released fat will quickly oxidize, and the fish will “rust.”

Soaking fish after salting is a very important step, on which the taste and quality of dried fish depends.

Before soaking, the fish is washed to remove any remaining salt. The soaking process is carried out in cold water, the volume of which should be significantly larger than the fish. Ideal conditions are soaking in running water, but if this is not possible, the water is replaced several times with fresh water.

The same amount of time in hours is allotted for soaking as the number of days it was salted, but it makes no sense to soak for longer than 5-6 hours.

After soaking, the fish is completely ready for drying.

LiveInternetLiveInternet

Quote from Galche

Read in full In your quotation book or community!
Salting any fish (several recipes)
Salting any fish (several recipes)

I think you know a lot of pickling recipes, but some recommend one type of salt, others another. In this post I decided to publish several recipes for any fish, so that it would be more convenient for you to have one recipe, rather than looking in different places. Although now you can buy any fish in the store, sometimes you want to salt it yourself and try your own preparation.

Quick salting method

For a quick salting method, use any fish. After salting the fish using this method, you can eat it within 2 hours. But, if you are not in a hurry, you can leave the fish in the refrigerator so that it is soaked in oil.

Ingredients: fish - 2 pcs., onion - to taste, water (room temperature) - 400 ml, salt - 2 tbsp. l., sunflower oil - 200 ml, bay leaf - 3 pcs., cloves - 3 pcs., pepper (peas) - 10 pcs., coriander (peas) - 1 tsp., table vinegar 6% - 9% ( apple) - 2 tbsp. l..

Preparation: clean the fish from the entrails and rinse with cold water. Remove the skin and carefully separate the fillet from the backbone and cut into pieces. Dissolve salt in water. Place the fish in a bowl and add water and salt. Leave for 2 hours at room temperature. Mix oil with vinegar. Cut the onion into half rings. Pour out the brine and rinse the fish with running water. Place the fish in a bowl (jar) alternating with onions and spices and finally add oil. The fish is ready, but after a few hours it will be even tastier.

Salting sea fish

For this method, take the following types of sea fish: mackerel, herring, sardine, horse mackerel, red fish

Quick salting method:

Ingredients: 1 kilogram fresh or frozen fish - 1 kg, salt - 1 tbsp. l., sugar - 2 - 3 tsp., garlic - 3 - 4 cloves, coriander - 1 tsp. grains, bay leaf - 5 - 6 pcs., ground black pepper..

Preparation: You need to separate the head and tail from the fish, then clean it of the insides and rinse in cold water. Then cut the fish processed in this way into 5 - 6 pieces. Mix salt and sugar and rub each piece with the resulting mixture. Then sprinkle with a little ground pepper. Cut the garlic into small pieces and place inside each piece of fish. The fish should be salted in an enamel or glass container, sprinkled with coriander grains, and a bay leaf placed between the pieces. The salting time for fish is 4 - 6 hours, after which it can be safely eaten.

Slow salting method:

The ingredients are the same as for quick pickling.

Preparation: In one liter of water at room temperature, dilute 1 tbsp. l. salt and 2 - 3 tsp. Sahara. Cut the fish in the same way as in the previous recipe. Place in a bowl and add a teaspoon of coriander, 10 - 12 allspice peas, 15 - 20 black peppercorns, 2 - 3 cloves, 5 - 6 pcs. bay leaf, 3 - 4 finely chopped cloves of garlic. Then pour the marinade over the fish. Salting time is 4 - 5 days. Fish salted in this way has a delicious taste and aroma.

Salting herring

Ingredients: herring - 1 - 2 pieces, rock salt - as much as possible, vegetable oil, onion - to taste, cloves - 2 - 3 pieces, coriander - a pinch

Preparation: the fish must be decapitated, gutted and generously sprinkled with coarse rock salt. You can use fine salt, but the resulting product will not taste as delicate, so rock salt is best. Do not skimp on salt; the remains can always be washed off. It is necessary to cover the herring with salt not only on the outside, but also on the inside. Thus, the prepared fish should be wrapped in plastic bags and placed on a tray or any other portable surface, and then placed in the refrigerator. Important: all salted herring should be laid out in one layer

Next, take a saucepan (5 liters) and fill it with water; it will be used as a pressure. After three to four days, the fish should be washed with cold water and cut into pieces. In a jar (0.5 l), fish and onions cut into rings are placed in layers, after which vegetable oil is poured into the jar. Now all that remains is to close the jar with a lid and put it in the refrigerator for two to three days.

In this form, salted herring can be stored for at least 2 weeks, or even more. The bones from the fish are removed immediately before consumption, and this also affects the taste. For example, if you remove the bones before salting, the taste of the fish will no longer be as delicate. If you like spicy herring, then during salting you can add a little coriander and cloves to the salt (for one herring, 2 - 3 cloves and a pinch of coriander are enough). Spicy herring does not need to be soaked in oil.

Spicy herring

Use spices to suit your taste. Marinating time: 48 hours.

Ingredients: brine per 1 liter of water: salt - 4 tbsp, sugar - 1.5 tbsp, vinegar - 80 ml. Coriander - 1 tsp, juniper - 6 berries, cloves - 2 pcs., allspice - 4 pcs., black pepper - 0.5 tsp, bay leaf - 3 pcs., herring (fresh/frozen) - 2 pcs..

Preparation: Place all ingredients for brine and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely. Gut the herring, cut off the head, wash well and put in a tray. Then pour in the cooled brine and leave in the refrigerator for 48 hours, turning the fish from time to time. The herring is ready. Store in brine for no longer than a week in the refrigerator. Without brine, in a tray for 2 weeks.

Salting fresh frozen fish

Ingredients: pickling brine per 1 liter of water: salt - 2 tbsp, sugar - 1 tbsp, dill - 2-3 tbsp (fresh can be used), black pepper - 2 tsp, basil ( dry) - optional.

Preparation: wash the fish, dry with a napkin and cut into pieces. Place the fish on cling film, first dipping it into the pickling mixture on both sides. Press the entire fish tightly, wrap it in film and place it in a plastic bag for 1 day. Then place the fish on a dish, add a few drops of lemon juice and 2 - 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. The fish is ready.

Marinade for red fish

Ingredients: fish fillet 1 kg, sea salt - 4 tbsp, sugar - 2 tbsp, lemon zest - 1 pc., dill (greens) - 20 g, cognac - 0.5 - 1 tbsp.

Preparation: Rub a piece of fish fillet with salt and sugar. Roll in lemon zest and dill and place in a tray. Sprinkle with cognac and cover with cling film, tearing it slightly to allow air access. Refrigerate for several hours: at least 4 hours for a slightly salty taste, preferably overnight.

Bon appetit!

Drying fish

Many fishermen build a special drying cabinet on the balcony, which provides forced ventilation. But if there is no such device, the only way out is to hang the fish in any convenient place on ropes.

The place in which the fish is dried should be in the shade, preferably ventilated and cool.

The fish is suspended by the head or tail using hooks that can be made from paper clips or wire. If the fish is hung by the head, the fish meat will retain more fat; if by the tail, the risk of bile getting into the meat of ungutted fish is eliminated.

If the fish is suspended by the head, it is pierced with a hook in the jaw area or through the eyes. When suspended by the tail, it is pierced at the base of the caudal fin. Some anglers hang the fish by the tail using clothespins.

When hanging fish, you need to take into account that during drying, fat will drain and drip from it.

To protect against flies waiting for the moment when you hang the fish, it should be covered with gauze so that it does not touch the fish itself. It is best to hang fish for drying at night when there are no flies. During the night, the fish will become airy and will no longer attract insects as much.

You need to remove the fish without waiting for it to dry completely, especially if you are not going to eat it right away. During storage, the fish will quickly reach the desired degree of dryness.

Storing dried fish

Any dried fish will dry out and become dried out over time, but this is not the only problem. When storing fish in conditions with access to light and air, salt is released on its surface, its fat oxidizes, the fish “rusts” and goes rancid. In conditions of high humidity, there is a risk of fish spoilage due to mold and the development of dangerous bacteria.

It is almost impossible to create ideal conditions for storing fish at home, but it is possible to preserve dried fish for a long time. For those who love dried fish, drying out is not a problem at all.

There are several types of storage of dried fish, each of which has its own pros and cons, and shelf life.

Package

Wooden boxes, corrugated cardboard boxes, wicker baskets, linen and multi-layer paper grocery bags, kraft paper laminated with polyethylene, etc. are used as packaging for storing dried fish.

Studies of different types of packaging have shown that polyethylene bags and aluminum foil laminated with polyethylene are unsuitable, while kraft paper with one-sided polyethylene coating passed the test.

Storing dried roach in laminated kraft bags at a temperature of about 0 degrees showed that the product, after 6 months, retains an attractive appearance, normal meat consistency, pleasant smell and taste.

Normal storage

The fish is stored at room temperature, in a corrugated cardboard box or paper packaging of several pieces. Without much damage to the properties of the fish, it can be stored for a week. If stored in this way for a longer period of time, the fish gradually dries out.

Longer storage is possible using a refrigerator. Humidity and temperature in the refrigerator compartment are optimal. The fish is packaged in paper bags of several pieces and can be stored in this form for up to a month.

Over time, the fish dries out and the fat oxidizes, so other methods are used for long-term storage.

Recipes for salting fish at home

Ready-made salted fish bought in a store does not always suit our tastes, sometimes it’s over-salted, sometimes it’s not fresh, or something else doesn’t suit us.
Therefore, let’s do the salting at home ourselves. By following these recipes, you can enjoy lightly salted or spicy salted fresh and delicious fish. We will salt both fresh fish that you may have caught yourself and any fresh frozen fish purchased in the store. Noble red and modest, but no less tasty, the so-called weed.