How to salt pike: step-by-step recipe, tips, recommendations

Yuri 09/08/2020 2445

The pike is in the river so that the crucian carp does not sleep - says a Russian proverb. What to do if the main fisherman in the family returns with an unprecedented catch? It is possible that the “hunter” simply bought the fish in the store so as not to lose face. But this doesn’t change the situation: something needs to be done with all this goodness. From pike you can make rich fish soup, fish cutlets, bake in the oven with vegetables and fresh herbs - there are a lot of options for preparing fish. But here’s the problem: when her husband arrived, the hostess had cooked borscht and fried juicy cutlets.

What to do with live fish so that it does not disappear? The best option is to salt the pike. And not just sprinkle with salt, but salt with feeling, sense and order.

Dry salting of pike

This recipe makes a very tasty beer snack. The most important thing is that you can forget about store-bought fish.

For cooking, it is necessary to select only medium and small sized pike. You can use a large one, but it will have to be cut into portions. Then the fish is cleaned of husks, entrails and gills. The pike should be thoroughly washed and placed on a dry towel to remove excess moisture.

Salting pike at home is as easy as shelling pears. Prepared carcasses and pieces must be well rubbed with coarse salt. Also, we must not forget about the belly. In addition to salt, fine black pepper, bay leaves and other favorite seasonings are sent there. For example, a clove of garlic with dried or fresh parsley.

The carcasses are placed in a container and always covered with something heavy. So it will definitely be salted. In this state, the fish should spend about four days in the refrigerator. After which you can safely eat it. The shelf life of salted pike is one month.

How to properly prepare pike for salting?

It is important to remember that pike are not washed. The fish should be wiped well with dry rags or towels. The husks do not need to be peeled off. Now cut off the head and tail. Gut the pike. Do not wash the inside, but also wipe with napkins or towels. After this, make deep cuts along the back (along the fins) and along the abdomen. It is better to separate the fish fillets (this will reduce the hassle with the finished product).

How to salt pike correctly?

There are two options for salting pike and both of them are not very different. Now more details about each.

Salting pike correctly

Mix salt and sugar (2:1). Now wash and dry the large, deep container. After this, pour the dry mixture into an even layer on the bottom of the dish. Then take the prepared pike. Rub the carcasses (fillets) thoroughly with salt and sugar. Now sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top. Then apply pressure. Place in a cool place for 2 days. At the end of the salting process, remove the pike and rinse it with cold water and dry it. Can be dried or placed in a dry container and stored in a cool place. Such a moment. You can add some chopped spices to the pickling mixture if you like.

Salt the pike quickly

It's even easier here. Place salt in the bottom of a clean, dry container. Then rub the prepared carcasses with it (it’s better not to salt the fillets in this way). You can cover the fish with a bay leaf. In this case, no pressure is needed. Just cover the dish. Keep in a cool place for a day. Then wash off the remaining salt. You can immediately start eating or dry (dry) the salted pike.

Important: when salting pike, use coarse salt.

Pike is a very tasty fish, especially when dried. But it is important to know how to dry pike correctly. The wrong approach in this matter can simply ruin the catch. Poorly prepared fish may have an unpleasant aftertaste or even begin to rot inside.

If you prepare and dry the pike correctly, the result will be an excellent snack with a unique taste.

Wet salting of pikes

How to salt pike at home using the wet salting method? Let's try to figure it out.

First prepare the marinade. One liter of running water will require about six large spoons of salt. The solution is stirred well and heated a little to better dissolve the salt.

The prepared fish should be placed in a container and filled with brine. Under no circumstances should you use iron containers.

In this way, pike is salted for three days. Then you should taste the fish meat. If it is too salty, the carcasses are soaked in ordinary water for about an hour. Then put it on a beautiful plate and pour oil over it. In this form, salted pike can be served.

Quick salting of pike

This recipe will tell you how to salt pike quickly and tasty. The following ingredients must be used:

liter of drinking water;
vinegar – 300 ml (apple vinegar is the best option);
three tablespoons of coarse salt;
three cloves of garlic;
one spoon of sugar;
favorite spices.

Salting stages:

Heat the water over the fire along with sugar, salt and spices (you can take black, allspice, coriander, bay and cloves).
Grate the garlic and also add to the water with spices.
When the water boils, add vinegar. Everything should be done with caution so that the vapors do not burn the respiratory tract.
Next, the finished marinade is poured into a container with prepared pieces of pike. The fish will be salted for four hours. But it is better to leave it in this state for one day.
Before serving, place the pike on a plate, pour over any oil and sprinkle with onions.

Detailed salting process

First you need to prepare the fish for salting, rinse it thoroughly and trim off the excess parts. These include the head, tail and fins. The pike's entrails are also removed. When doing this, be careful not to damage the gallbladder. After this, the carcass is cut up by removing the ridge through a cut on the back.

To remove any remaining entrails from the carcass, use a napkin. It is better not to wash the inside of the fish with water.

Required ingredients:

carnation;
black or red pepper;
Bay leaf;
7 tablespoons of coarse salt per 1.5 kg of pike;
rosemary.

Before salting pike, you need to mix all the prepared ingredients, namely salt and seasonings. The carcass needs to be rubbed with spices inside and out. If you cut it into pieces, the salting process will go faster.

The fish is placed in a prepared container, pressed with a weight on top. Don't forget to add bay leaf. If the pressure is heavy, the pike will turn out drier. The pike is kept for 2 days at room temperature, after which the load is removed and the brine is drained.

If you can’t wait to eat salted pike, after two days, remove it from the brine and soak it in cool water. Then you need to remove the skin from the carcass and cut it into pieces, if you have not done this before. The fillet is sprinkled with lemon juice and sprinkled with herbs. Leave the fish to soak for 20 minutes and add pieces of pickled onion.

Salted pike for gourmets

How to salt pike in a sophisticated way? This is very easy to do, and you will need a minimum of ingredients:

cleaned pike;
coarse salt - a couple of tablespoons;
a small pinch of fine black pepper;
granulated sugar - one spoon.

Salting stages:

In a deep container you need to mix salt, sugar and pepper.
Rub the fish with this mixture.
Cover the container with fish with something heavy and put it in the refrigerator for 4 days.
After cooking, you need to drain the water. You can eat salted pike.

The recipes listed will help even inexperienced housewives figure out how to salt pike. They are simple, and the result will not leave anyone indifferent.

Next, it’s worth talking about the “royal delicacy,” namely, how to salt pike caviar at home?

Drying the fish

How to properly dry caught pike? First of all, it is important to protect the product from insects; the main problem is flies. There is an opinion that for this it is better to hang the pike in the evening, when the flies are no longer active. By morning, the liquid on the surface of the fish and in the abdominal cavity will evaporate, and the flies will become uninterested in it. Other experts advise coating the carcass with vegetable oil or a vinegar solution; these measures will also get rid of unnecessary attention from insects. Subsequently, you will get dried pike without the larvae of annoying flies.

The product should be dried by hanging it in a dry place with good ventilation at a temperature of 18 to 25 degrees. They hang the fish by the head, but you can also hang it by the tail, there is no big difference. The belly of the pike should be expanded by inserting toothpicks or twigs across it that can hold the edges. Dried pike will be obtained after 2-3 weeks, depending on the size. You need to dry the fish in the shade, avoiding direct sunlight. In the fall, the fish may not be completely dried outside and requires the process to be completed indoors near the radiator.

You can dry the fish by placing it in the oven. This method allows you to speed up the process and get results in less than a day. To dry the product in the oven, you need to put it in straw, this is done so that the fish does not burn on the baking sheet, otherwise it will spoil the taste of the pike. The straw needs to be periodically replaced with fresh straw. The main thing is to make sure that the pike’s head does not burn; to do this, you can wrap it in foil.

Dried fish can be stored for a very long time and will delight fish lovers in winter. The product does not require special conditions for storage and will lie perfectly in a cool, dark place.

How to dry pike depends on the size of the pike itself. The pike that is used for ramming is not very large, up to 1 kg. Large fish should not be dried entirely. This will take a very long time, it will not dry evenly, and it may deteriorate before it even dries. But you can make “fish sticks” from it in an electric dryer, and it will be an excellent snack for beer.

And it starts with cleaning and salting it. Some people cut off the head and clean the scales, but this is absolutely unnecessary. Just gut the pike, make a cut along the ridge, pour coarse salt inside, place it in a pan, and sprinkle with salt again.

Now the fish needs to be thoroughly salted. Cover the pan with a lid, put it in the refrigerator, and let it sit for 3-4 days.

Before drying, you need to wash off the salt. Rinse the pike in several waters and soak for half an hour in cold water, to which you can add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar. This will not affect the taste in any way, but will repel annoying flies.

To make the pike dry faster, you need to put a “spacer” in the belly. You can make it from a toothpick or a match, without the head of sulfur.

Hang the pike by the upper lip with a wire hook, and cover it with gauze, folded in half, making a kind of bag. Inspect from all sides so that there are no holes and flies do not get to your pike.

The fish should be brought home at night so that it does not gain moisture. With good sun and wind, large pike will dry out for at least a week.

Salting pike caviar

To salt pike caviar at home, you do not need to have a chef's diploma.

You will need water to rinse the main ingredient. Salt can be taken both coarse and fine. The most important thing is the preparation of the caviar. Maximum time should be devoted to this stage.

First, the caviar is removed from the belly of the pike. Then they move on to cleaning it: removing the film, blood impurities and other debris. This is not so easy to do, because pike caviar is very small.

For cleaning, you can use the following tools:

Meat grinder.
Blender with whisk.
Large grater.
Sieve.
Gauze.

Salting pike caviar in sunflower oil

For preparation you will need:

half a kilo of pike caviar;
three tablespoons of salt;
half a glass of vegetable oil.

Salting stages:

Beat the prepared caviar well with salt using a fork. A white foam should form.
Next you need to add 2/3 of the oil and mix everything thoroughly again.
Place the caviar in the refrigerator.
At this time, sterilize storage containers.
Place the caviar in prepared jars, close tightly and leave in the refrigerator for five days to pickle. After the specified time has expired, the product is completely ready for use.

How to deliciously salt pike

For the first stage we will need fresh fish directly. The pike needs to be gutted, scaled and washed thoroughly, remove the tail, fins and head (you can use them to prepare broth for fish soup). The pike carcass needs to be spread out into 2 layers of fillet, removing the large bones.

Place the first piece of pike fillet in a bowl, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Place the second plastic fillet on top of the first one and salt it in the same way.

Cover the bowl with a saucer and press down with a press (you can take a 3-liter jar of water). In this way, the pike is salted for 2-3 days. Then the layers of fish are wrapped in cling film or a bag and put in the freezer for a period of two weeks to a month.

Hot salting of caviar

To prepare caviar in this way, you need the following ingredients:

pike caviar – half a kilo;
coarse salt - a couple of tablespoons;
a little vegetable oil.

Preparation:

Bring water to a boil, add salt. Keep on fire for another two minutes.
Then pour in all the caviar and immediately remove from the stove.
Strain the product through cheesecloth.
Place the finished caviar on plates, pour over the oil and serve.

Such caviar cannot be stored for more than three days.

How to deliciously salt pike

Cover the bowl with a saucer and press down with a press (you can take a 3-liter jar of water). In this way, the pike is salted for 2-3 days.

Quick salting of caviar

This option is suitable for those cases when you need to quickly pickle caviar and get an excellent result. To prepare a treat, you need to perform a number of steps:

For every 200 g of pike caviar you will need one liter of water and two tablespoons of table salt.
Bring water and salt to a boil. You can add any seasonings to add flavor.
Pour half of the prepared solution into the caviar. This stage can be called disinfection. The caviar should remain in this state for a quarter of an hour.
Next, the water is drained through gauze.
Bring half of the remaining liquid to a boil again. Now the caviar should be poured with this solution, stirred with a fork and left for half an hour.
Then strain again through cheesecloth.
Add salt and butter to the caviar and beat with a fork. As soon as foam appears, the treat should be refrigerated for about five hours.
Then serve salted caviar to guests or for dinner.

Quite simple recipes for salting pike and caviar will help diversify the holiday table. An unusual dish will surprise guests.