The life of any woman is full of responsibilities and interests. It so happened that the responsibilities of being a housewife and my interest in cooking coincided in my case.

Isn’t it interesting to salt fish yourself at home, and not only just, but with secret ingredients?

I suggest you try and evaluate homemade herring or pickled river fish.

We can say for sure: the recipes described are worthwhile, tested by time and by us personally.

You can try several recipes: a recipe with vinegar, salting with a minimum amount of it (for those for whom it is contraindicated) and salting in a sauce. You are bound to fall in love with one of them, but there is no other way.

How to salt fish

For each recipe, I have already found “my” fish. According to one recipe, you can salt expensive varieties of fish for the holiday - mackerel or fillets (and not only) of red fish, the second recipe allows you to get a herring indistinguishable from a store-bought one or a fabulous-tasting river fish. In any case, we will need fresh or freshly frozen fish.

Ambassador rules

• Before cooking, be sure to clean the fish carcasses from giblets, scales, and black films inside and wash them well.
• We cut the river fish into portions: this is necessary for quick “ripening” in vegetable oil with onions.
• You can salt not only salmon fillets, but also their trimmings, which can be bought much cheaper (bellies or backbones).
• The most convenient container is a three-liter jar: it is suitable for both portioned pieces and whole herring. It is also convenient to use ordinary rectangular or oval (for whole carcasses) containers.
• For salting, we use only coarse salt: any recipes that you find on the Internet are designed for proportions with coarse salt.

The suggested amount of brine is enough to fill three medium-sized herrings or mackerel.

If you decide to salt the whole fish (with the head and not gutting), the salting time should be increased by half a day.

Have you decided to salt fish without vinegar? Then this is your recipe: in our case, it is added only to make the fillet elastic. Vinegar can be safely excluded from the recipe.

Brine ingredients

• 1 glass of salt (cut);
• 1 tablespoon sugar;
• 1 spoon of vinegar (can be completely omitted);
• cilantro seeds (coriander) - 8-10 peas;
• bay leaf - 3-4 pieces;
• 0.5 liters of boiled, cooled water.

We prepare the fish, place it in a suitable container and fill it with chilled brine until it is completely covered. The finished herring can be tasted within a day.

We most often use this recipe for salting river fish (asp, bream, and pike perch are especially tasty). But if you like the recipe, you can safely adapt it to any type of fish.

• We clean the catch, wash it and cut it into small portions.
• Sprinkle everything generously with salt and leave the slices in this state for exactly 4 hours.

• After the time has passed, rinse the pieces well in running water and let it drain.
• Again, place the washed pieces in a clean bowl and pour vinegar over them for 20 minutes. There is no point in keeping the fillet in vinegar: we risk burning it (you can tell by the pale, colorless color of the fillet). There is no need to wash cut fish after bathing in vinegar.
• At this time, peel the onion and cut it into wide rings or half rings (whichever is more convenient for you).

The last stage is marinating: place the prepared fish and onions in layers in a suitable container. Fill the balls with vegetable oil and leave for ripening for a day.

For this recipe we need 2 fresh frozen herrings (other types of fish will do) and 2-3 medium onions. We carry out all preparatory procedures as in previous recipes.

Ingredients for marinade

• 100 ml sunflower oil;
• 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce or 1.5 tablespoons of pasta;
• 50 - 70 g of boiled water;
• 60 g vinegar;
• 1 tablespoon salt,
• 0.5 teaspoon ground pepper,
• 1 tablespoon sugar.

To prepare the marinade, pour sunflower oil, tomato sauce, water into a deep frying pan and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and cool. Add vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar and mix thoroughly.

For this recipe, be sure to separate the fish fillet into portions and cut the onion into rings. We put everything in a small tray with balls.

Pour in the prepared sauce and close with a lid. Place in the refrigerator to ripen for 12 - 18 hours.

That's all! We feel free to invite our guests or family to taste this extraordinary dish! Rest assured, people will definitely ask for the secret recipe! Admiration and applause are guaranteed!

In addition, I offer you another method that I came across on the Internet - the author of the video tells you how to dry-salt mackerel. I also liked this recipe: it allows you to get homemade deliciousness quickly and with a minimum of time.

This cooking method is also useful for salmon; there is absolutely no difference in salting.

Dry salted mackerel

I hope you enjoy our family pickling recipes. The point is no longer about saving money (although this nuance is also not excluded), but about the fact that we are confidently feeding our family with a pure product without preservatives and other harmful additives.

I wish you to always delight your household with delicious dishes and good mood!

With love, your Elena Skopich

Dry salting

Large dry salt

10 kg of fish, 1.5 kg of salt.

Big wet ambassador

10 kg of fish, 1 kg of salt.

Fine wet salt

Sagging Ambassador

Spicy Ambassador

A depressing way to salt fish

It is better to salt and dry winter and spring fish: before spawning, its meat contains more fat, so after processing it has better taste. In addition, in this case, drying occurs at a time when there are still few flies and it is easier to protect the fish from their larvae.

Salting fish involves dehydrating it and replacing some of the water in the tissues with salt. For salting, use coarse salt. Its main purpose is to remove moisture from the fish, and not to give it taste or have a preservative effect. Coarse salt dissolves slowly at low temperatures, and it requires moisture, which it draws from the fish. With fine salt this effect does not work; it seems to “burn” the fish meat, quickly salts it, but does not dehydrate it. Although some culinary recipes are based on the use of finely ground salt.

Large fish should be gutted before salting, you can even cut it into pieces, but you should not touch the abdominal cavity so as not to damage the thin film covering the layer of fat on the abdomen. An incision is made through the back, along the ridge, cutting off the ribs from the spine on one side. Fish and fillet pieces are not washed in water, but only wiped dry with a clean cloth.

Medium fish weighing from 1 to 3 kg can be salted whole, and to speed up the process, a saturated salt solution is injected into the abdominal cavity using a medical syringe without a needle or a small enema with a tip made from a ballpoint pen. The salt solution must be extremely saturated. The top of the fish is rubbed with salt, this removes the mucus and, in addition, salt gets clogged under the scales. Salt is also poured into the mouth and under the gill covers. After this, the fish is placed in the prepared container.

Salting frozen fish is quite complicated; when it thaws, the tissue structure is disrupted, so frozen fish “takes up” a lot of salt. As a result, it is difficult to catch the moment when the fish has already been salted, but not yet over-salted.

If the fish is fatty, do not be afraid to oversalt it - there is very little water in the fatty tissues, so the fish will not take much salt. Fatty fish can be stored in brine (brine).

With small fish there is less hassle - they are simply sprinkled with salt and laid in layers.

There are many options for salting fish; every professional in this business has his own. Choose the one that is most suitable for you and the fish you decide to salt. Salting can be wet, dry, express, defrosting, etc. The main thing is to figure out on the spot which salt is needed in a particular situation. Many people bring fish from fishing, the taste of which leaves much to be desired. And they have little idea why this happened.

Sometimes fishermen forget that dry salting fish is a lengthy process. They do not take into account that in the initial stage of salting, when the salt just begins to absorb moisture, even gutted fish has time to go rotten, and further salting becomes useless. The assertion that the fish is not rotten, but only “smells” and this makes it more attractive, is deeply mistaken. Fish prepared in this way leads to severe poisoning and sometimes death. Therefore, if fish is salted in field conditions in the absence of a place equipped for salting (glacier, refrigerator, deep cellar), and the air temperature exceeds 25-28 °C, only brine salting or express salting is used.

In spring and autumn, in places with a constant air temperature, wet salting is not necessary.

The most important components of pickling are:

— proper cutting (preparation) of fish for salting;

- the correct weight proportion of salt and fish.

Without fulfilling these conditions, it is almost impossible to properly salt fish.

Large broad-backed fish (over 1 kg) in field conditions, regardless of the type of salting, must be plastered. The fish is carefully cut from the ridge, right up to the belly, and unfolded into two halves. Smaller ones are gutted. When layering, an incision is made through the back, along the ridge, cutting off the ribs from the spine on one side.

Before salting, after gutting, the fish can even be cut into pieces, but there is no need to touch the abdominal cavity so as not to damage the thin film covering the layer of fat on the abdomen. In order to save time, large, fatty broad-backed fish (carp, bream, crucian carp, rudd, grass carp, silver carp) are not only gutted and flattened, but also cut into pieces before salting. After cutting, only its individual parts are salted and dried.

When salting specimens weighing 300-500 g under field conditions, an incision along the back is made only in hot weather. Gutting is a must.

Fish weighing up to 200 g at temperatures up to 18-20 ° C are salted without gutting, pouring salt under the gills, and then pouring salt over each new row. The fish and pieces of fillet are thoroughly cleaned of any remaining blood and entrails, then wiped dry with a cloth. And only when salting a large batch of fish in brine is it necessarily washed.

The fish is placed in a salting container in such a way that the pressure exerts equal force on the entire batch of fish. Wood, porcelain, stainless steel and food-grade aluminum are used as a stand for pressure. Numerous holes should be drilled in the brine stands (the free play between the walls of the container and the stand is no more than 2 cm) to drain the juice secreted by the fish.

At the end of the salting period, the products ready for washing should be hard in all parts of the body, including the stomach. The hardness of the stomach is checked by pressing with the fingers. If air gurgles in the intestines of the fish after salting and an unpleasant odor is detected, and the brine bubbles and becomes cloudy, the product is spoiled and is not suitable for consumption. Most often this happens for the following reasons: insufficient oppression weight; the fish was laid unevenly or the pressure was not located in the center of the stand; insufficient amount of salt in relation to the weight of the fish; the shape of the stand under pressure did not provide close contact with the fish, as a result, air pockets formed.

In some cases, air ends up in the belly of isolated specimens. The brine remains clean and odorless. In this case, the substandard fish with the addition of salt is again put under pressure, and the rest goes for washing.

Dry salting

With dry salting, a brine is formed as the fish is salted. When dry salting, the use of pressure is mandatory. The weight of the oppression is selected on the basis that it must push through the entire mass of the fish and squeeze out the air from it. When salting fifteen large breams with a total weight of 15 kg in a stainless steel tank, the weight of the oppression lying on the stand must be at least 10 kg. When the air temperature is more than 20 °C, the fish must be gutted.

Dry salting is used only when there is a place equipped for salting and the air temperature in the place of salting does not exceed 20 °C. In addition to sprinkling salt on each new row of gutted fish, for specimens larger than 0.8-1 kg, salt is rubbed manually against the scales. For large fish, a portion of salt is placed under each gill cover and into the ripped belly. Direct exposure to sunlight is not allowed in the salting area.

Food-grade stainless steel containers, as well as enamel dishes, can be used for both dry and wet salting. If salting fish is carried out in an unsealed container (this is permissible in camping conditions), place a clean canvas rag or burlap on the bottom of the basket or wooden box.

The prepared fish is placed on it in dense rows (head to tail), belly up and sprinkled with salt. The total salt consumption is 2.5 kg per 10 kg of fish. A wooden lid (stand) is placed on top of the fish and heavy oppression is placed on it. It, as already mentioned, is necessary to remove air cavities and give fish meat greater density. The resulting juice flows out of the gap between the bars of the basket or the boards of the box. In metal containers, it can drain through the top or through special side holes, or it can remain inside, it all depends on the salt concentration. The fish is salted in 5-10 days. But if more than 10-15 kg of broad-backed fatty fish (bluefish, bream, crucian carp, tench, silver carp) are simultaneously brined in a stainless tank under the weight of 5-7 kg, then part of the brine should be drained. If the juice secreted by the fish does not drain, then to maintain the required concentration on the 3-4th day it is necessary to add U\b-Uv weight from the initial amount of salt.

Salting is considered ideal when the fish is kept in a cool place (refrigerator, cellar, glacier).

Salting fish by defrosting in a refrigerator (refrigerator)

The most reliable, simple and affordable way to salt fish at home is to freeze completely gutted fish or pieces of fillet in the freezer at a temperature of -10-12 °C for 3-4 days or at a temperature of -6-8 °C for 7- 8 days. Subsequently, the fish or pieces of fillet are sprinkled with salt at the rate of 250 g of salt per 1 kg of fish.

After rubbing with salt, the fish is defrosted in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0-5 °C. When defrosted, the fish absorbs salt very quickly and is ready to be eaten in salted form for 3-4 days (salmon family). Pressure is not necessary during this kind of salting, but when salting thin pieces of salmon, halibut, catfish, mackerel, taimen, and sturgeon, it is unacceptable, since it affects the taste of the product.

Large dry salt

10 kg of fish, 1.5 kg of salt.

Place clean canvas or burlap on the bottom of a basket or wooden box. Place the prepared fish on it in dense rows, head to tail, belly up and sprinkle with salt. On top of the fish is a wooden lid and a heavy oppression (stone) on it. It is absolutely necessary, as it prevents the formation of air cavities in which putrefactive bacteria can develop, and, in addition, makes the fish meat more dense. After some time, juice is released from the fish; it flows out through the cracks between the bars of the basket or the boards of the box.

On the 5-10th day, the fish is salted. All this time it should be in a cool place (refrigerator, cellar).

Big wet ambassador

10 kg of fish, 1 kg of salt.

Place the fish in layers in a non-oxidizing container (bucket, pan, tank, barrel) belly up and sprinkle with salt.

To give the fish a special, delicate taste, add 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar to the salt. A circle is placed on the fish, preferably made of linden or aspen. After a day or two, the resulting brine (brine) covers the entire fish; it is well preserved in a cool place. Usually on the 3-8th day (depending on the size) the fish is completely salted. Then it must be removed from the brine, washed in running water, dried in air and placed in a wooden box or basket for storage.

Fine wet salt

Small fish, 3 liters of water, 1 kg of salt, spices.

You can prepare fresh brine by dissolving a kilogram of salt in three liters of water. The resulting solution is poured into the fish placed in the container. This method is also called wet and is used when salting small fish.

Sagging Ambassador

For fatty fish varieties, saggy salting is used. The fish are hung on transverse rods in a saline solution so that the carcasses do not press on each other. The density of the solution is determined using a raw potato: it should not sink. After 5-7 days, the fish can be eaten.

During camping conditions in the hot summer, fish are salted in large synthetic bags. They are buried in the ground or sand to a depth of 0.5-1 meter. A small bag is placed over the neck to protect from rain and dew. A layer of sand or earth above the fish creates coolness and at the same time is oppressive.

Before eating, large salted fish are soaked in cold water or milk for 3-4 hours. After this, you can immediately eat, fry, or boil it.

Spicy Ambassador

This method can be used to salt any river fish weighing from 200 g to 1 kg.

Place the fish in a bowl (enamel, stainless steel, food-grade plastic) in layers, starting with the largest one, head to tail. Sprinkle each layer of fish with a small amount of salt, but so that all the fish is treated with it. Add 3-4 bay leaves, peppercorns, a pinch of coriander, and so on until the dishes are filled. Press down on top with a wooden circle. There is pressure on it (a 5-liter jar of water). This pressure is enough for a 10-liter bucket of fish.

Place the dishes with fish in a cool place. After 10-12 hours, the fish will give juice (brine). Do not drain it until the salting is complete. On the 3-4th day, remove the oppression, pour out the brine and rinse all the fish with cold water, pour it also with cold water and soak for 1 hour so that salt does not appear on the scales. Then let the water drain. Dry the fish for 2 hours on each side.

After spicy salting, the fish acquires a reddish-pink color and a pleasant fresh aroma. They eat it as a cold appetizer. This fish is especially good with hot potatoes and beer. It can be stored for a very long time in a cold room, refrigerator, or freezer.

A depressing way to salt fish

The oppressive method is good for both small fish and ide, chub, carp, pike perch, catfish, and pike.

Gut medium and large fish and make longitudinal cuts along the ridge so that they are better salted. Then salt the fish with coarse salt and put it under pressure: large fish for 10-12 hours, small fish for 8 hours. Drain the resulting brine and rinse the fish for 1.5-2 hours, preferably in running water.

High-quality salted fish is obtained only from those types of fish that are able to “ripen” (from sea fish this is mainly , , and notothenia, catfish).High-quality, fully salted fish has dense meat with uniform coloring and good taste, and there is dried blood in the large arteries and in the abdominal cavity.3.2.2 What salt to use Features of salting. The most important thing you need to know is that you can only use rock salt and never iodized salt. This is important to remember. Salting fish is one of the most reliable ways of preserving fish, allowing for long-term storage. Moreover, rock salt is of natural origin, and it is inexpensive. The use of iodized salt leads to the fact that the fish quickly deteriorates and becomes rotten. You will ask why? It's not hard to guess. The presence of iodine in salt leads to the fact that the skin of the fish and the layer of flesh underneath it receives burns from iodine. This entails an instant increase in the temperature of the fish carcass, and, as a result, the fish spoils (rots) very quickly. We also emphasize an important point in salting fish: It is necessary to use only coarse salt. Due to the fact that the use of finely ground salt does not allow the fish to be deeply salted, it is not allowed to be used for salting. The peculiarity is that when salting with fine salt, the top layer of fish pulp, which is under the skin, is salted quickly, but the water from the fish is not completely absorbed into the salt (the whole fish is not dehydrated) and the result is disastrous. As a rule, the process of rotting begins, and if a large amount of fish has been salted, then the entire batch will be irrevocably spoiled. Finely ground salt is used in exceptional cases. And such an exception is the salting of only such fish as dace or bleak. The small size and weight of these fish give them the opportunity to be completely salted. Preparing the fish Fish weighing up to half a kilogram can be salted ungutted; for larger fish, the entrails are removed. Before salting, the fish is washed and cut from head to tail, then the entrails are removed. After this, the carcass is rubbed with salt inside and out, and salt is stuffed into the gills. The fish prepared in this way is placed in rows in a barrel with the belly up and sprinkled with salt. For 1 kilogram of fish, 150-200 grams of salt are needed. The duration of salting in a refrigerated room is from 10 to 15 days. 3.2.3. Features of dry salting It is important to know that both enameled containers and containers made of stainless steel and, naturally, food steel are used for dry salting. Do not forget that during dry salting, direct sunlight should not enter the salting area. Compliance with this requirement is mandatory. When salting, you need to take into account other equally important points: The fish must be gutted. The fish are laid in rows and salted, and each subsequent row is sprinkled with salt. If the fish is salted large, then additional salt is added to it. First - inside the cleaned abdomen and, in addition, into the head, where the gills were previously located. In general, when salting fish whose weight exceeds 300-500 g, each fish is rubbed with salt, and this is done in the direction opposite to the growth of scales, i.e. from tail to head. And, as previously noted, in addition to performing this procedure, each layer is still sprinkled with salt. On the Stalker website you will find 190 salting recipes for 24 types of fish. 3.2.3. Oppression Oppression is a load that is placed on top of the fish intended for salting. The purpose of the load is to squeeze out the air present there (formed after removing the entrails) from the empty spaces in the fish bellies. In addition, this procedure ensures that the flesh does not become loose, but rather becomes compacted. Before applying pressure, the top layer of the fish is covered with a lid. The shape of the lid (also called the stand) follows the contour of the filled container and must fit it in size. The lid can be made of stainless steel, porcelain, or wooden planks. Even cobblestones can be used as oppression. The lid should not interfere with the release of juice released when the fish is salted. Therefore, if the gap between the lid and the side walls of the container is less than 2 cm, then several holes must be drilled in the lid. The fish for salting must be placed in the container so that the bending force on the lid, and therefore on the entire mass of the fish, is evenly distributed throughout surface of the fish. Consequently, the shape of the bend must be flat and only flat. It is this form that makes it possible to fulfill the main condition of uniform distribution of pressure on the fish. 3.2.4. Checking the quality of salting To determine whether fish has been salted correctly, you need to pay attention to its appearance. You can judge whether fish has been salted correctly by such signs as the smell emanating from the fish, changes in the shape and color of the eyes, as well as the color of the fins and scales. Here are the signs of fish that have been salted correctly: firstly, the fish’s eyes will be sunken and lighter than usual, -secondly, the fins and scales look white, and thirdly, the fish emits a unique and pleasant aroma of a mixture of spices and the smell of the fish itself. After the salting process is completed, the fish is washed. The fish is first cleaned of excess salt remaining on its surface after salting. There are several signs by which one can judge whether the fish has spoiled during salting. The first thing you need to pay attention to is that all parts of the fish’s body, even its stomach, must be hard. To check if the stomach is hard, you just need to press on it with your finger. If the color of the brine is cloudy and bubbles are released from it, and besides, the fish has air in its intestines (a squelching sound is heard when pressed) and a bad smell is clearly detected, then the conclusion is clear - the fish has spoiled. It is strictly forbidden to eat such fish. The reasons for such unsuccessful salting may be the following. Firstly, the weight of the pressure placed on top of the fish was less than necessary - this time. Secondly, the rule was not taken into account stating that the oppression should be located strictly in the center of the lid (stand) so that the load on all areas of the fish in the container was distributed evenly, and the fish should be laid in dense, even rows, evenly (this This is facilitated by placing the fish in such a way that the tail of one fish is adjacent to the head of another fish. They should be laid in this order, with their backs up). the concentration of salt relative to the weight of the fish was incorrectly calculated. If, when checking (when pressing), air was detected in some specimens of the fish, but there is no unpleasant odor emanating from the fish itself, and the brine did not change its color and remained just as clean and unclouded, then it makes sense to correct the matter . In such situations, this fish is selected, it is again salted separately from the entire fish mass, covered with a lid and pressed down with pressure. 3.2.5. Preparing to submit Processing salted herring for serving begins with the fact that the edge of the belly of the salted herring is first cut off to a small thickness. Then an incision is made in the skin along the entire length of the back and it is removed in the direction from head to tail. After this, the insides are removed, not forgetting to remove the gills from the head. Then the head and tail are separated, the rib bones are removed, as well as the spine bone. Then the herring needs to be washed under cold water. If the herring is dry or highly salted, it is recommended to put it in tea infusion or cold boiled water. Soaking salted herring in tea has a better effect on the condition of the herring than soaking it in water. This happens because after soaking in tea, the salted herring meat will be less salty, but at the same time it does not become flabby, as after soaking in water. This is facilitated by the content of astringents or tannins in tea. To make herring meat more juicy, it is advisable to put it in milk, pouring it in such an amount that the surface of the herring is completely covered with milk. After cutting the herring, its pulp can be used not only whole, but also cut into portions in the transverse direction. Salted fish first soaked in cold water for an hour, then cleaned, cut off the head, gutted, washed and soaked again for 5-6 hours, changing the water several times. Dry, hard salted herring soak in cold water (2-3 liters per 1 kg), changing it every 3-4 hours. Strong salted herring sometimes you have to soak it for two days. After finishing soaking, the carcasses are cut up and poured with milk for 3-4 hours. Medium-salted herring can be poured with milk without soaking. For 1 kg of fillet, use about a glass of milk. It is recommended to soak tender and soft salted herring not in water, but in a strong cold infusion of tea: in water the flesh becomes flabby, and in tea it will become even denser. If the soaked herring turns out to be tasteless, it is poured with 2-3% salted table vinegar, Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours, and then drain the vinegar. Cutting: remove the skin from the herring. But before that, it is proposed to cut off the narrow edge of its abdomen, and make an incision along the back along its entire length from head to tail. After this, the available herring should be skinned (the skin is removed from the herring carcass in the direction from head to tail), all internal parts should be removed and the head should be separated from the body. Then the herring is deprived of its tail, the ribs and spine are removed with all the bones that come along the way. And don’t forget that the herring’s head, like other fish, naturally has gills. You also need to get rid of them and then wash the carcass.

How to salt and dry fish. Dried fish has fascinated us since childhood - I remember catching small things - minnows and crucian carp, just add a little salt and go to the attic. The fish has not yet dried, but has already gone to waste. Then my friends started placing orders for beer, and their children don’t refuse either, or even when I go fishing for a few days, there are no options for somehow preserving the fish. Here are some tips for salting fish.

It is better to salt and dry winter and spring fish: before spawning, its meat contains more fat, so after processing it has better taste. In addition, drying occurs at a time when there are still few flies and it is easier to protect the fish from their larvae.

Salting

The most delicious when salted are bream, roach, sabrefish, ide, ram, vimba, bleak, pike perch, asp, catfish, taimen, lenok, salmon, etc. Coarse salt is used for salting. Its main purpose is to remove moisture from the fish, and not to give it taste or have a preservative effect. Coarse salt dissolves slowly at low temperatures and requires moisture, which it draws from the fish. With fine salt this effect does not work; it seems to “burn” the fish meat, quickly salts it, but does not dehydrate it.

Large fish should be gutted before salting, you can even cut it into pieces, but you should not touch the abdominal cavity so as not to damage the thin film covering the layer of fat on the abdomen. An incision is made through the back, along the ridge, cutting off the ribs from the spine on one side. Fish and fillet pieces are not washed in water, but only wiped dry with a clean cloth.

Medium fish weighing from 1 to 3 kilograms can be salted whole, and to speed up the process, a saturated salt solution is injected into the abdominal cavity through the anus using a medical syringe without a needle or a small enema with a tip made from a ballpoint pen. The density of the solution is determined by the maximum ability of the salt to dissolve in water.

The top of the fish is rubbed with salt, this removes the mucus and, in addition, salt gets clogged under the scales. Salt is also poured into the mouth and under the gill covers. After this, the fish is placed in the prepared container. With small fish there is less hassle - they are simply sprinkled with salt and laid in layers.

Dry salting

Place a clean canvas rag or burlap on the bottom of a basket or wooden box. The prepared fish is placed on it in dense rows, head to tail, belly up and sprinkled with salt. The total salt consumption is 1.5 kilograms per 10 kilograms of fish. A wooden lid is placed on top of the fish and a heavy oppression (stone) is placed on it. It is absolutely necessary, as it prevents the formation of air cavities in which putrefactive bacteria can develop, and, in addition, makes the fish meat more dense.

After some time, juice is released from the fish; it flows out through the cracks between the bars of the basket or the boards of the box. On the 5-10th day, the fish is salted. All this time it should be in a cool place (refrigerator, cellar).

Wet Ambassador

The fish is placed in layers in a non-oxidizing container (bucket, pan, tank, barrel), also belly up, and sprinkled with salt at the rate of 1 kilogram per 10 kilograms of fish. To give the fish a special, delicate taste, add a tablespoon of granulated sugar to the salt. A circle made of boards or sawn from a single piece of wood is placed on the fish, preferably from linden or aspen (a circle made from wood of these species does not emit resin or tannins and does not deform in brine).

After a day or two, the resulting brine (brine) covers the entire fish; it is well preserved in a cool place. Usually on the 3rd to 8th day (depending on the size) the fish is completely salted. Then it must be removed from the brine, washed in running water, dried in air and placed in a wooden box or basket for storage. After this, the brine is usually poured out. But in the old days they saved salt, and merchants, having sold fish, for example, in Rybna (Rybinsk), floated barges with brine down the Volga back to Astrakhan. Here it was “strengthened” with salt and used again.

You can also prepare fresh brine by dissolving a kilogram of salt in three liters of water. The resulting solution is poured into the fish placed in the container. This method is also called wet and is used when salting small fish.

Sagging Ambassador

For fatty fish, saggy salting is used. The fish are hung on transverse rods in a saline solution so that the carcasses do not press on each other. The density of the solution is determined using a raw potato: it should not sink. After 5-7 days, the fish can be eaten.

During camping conditions in the hot summer, fish are salted in large polyethylene bags. They are buried in the ground or sand to a depth of 0.5-1 meter. A small bag is placed over the neck to protect from rain and dew. Layer of sand or the earth above the fish creates coolness and at the same time is oppressive.

Before salting, large fish are gutted, the tail and head are cut off, and the internal cavity and cut points are wiped dry. Under no circumstances should you wash gutted fish. The prepared carcass is rubbed on the outside with salt, generously sprinkled with it on the cut sites and the internal cavity, wrapped in a clean rag or burlap and tightly wrapped with an elastic bandage or twine. Children's rubber jump ropes are good for this: they tightly squeeze the fish, simultaneously acting as oppression. Before eating, large salted fish are soaked in cold water or milk for 3-4 hours. After this, you can immediately eat, fry, or boil it.

Drying

Medium and small salted fish are used for drying. First you need to soak it in cold water for one to two hours, and then hang it in the shade in the wind, preferably upside down. In this position, moisture flows out through the mouth, and the fish dries faster and more evenly. On a wooden board, use a knife to pierce the fish near the tail and, using a straightened large paper clip or special hooks made of stainless wire, hang them on a string. If flies have already appeared, then to protect against them you need a gauze canopy with a neck, which must be tied after hanging (Fig. 4). Drying lasts from four to ten days. The finished fish is stored in a basket or bag in a cool place, protected from sunlight.

Place part of the mixture in a deep bowl, and place a piece of trout on top, skin side down, and sprinkle with salt and spices. Then sprinkle the fish with lemon juice. Place the second piece of fish on top, sprinkling it with the pickling mixture. Next, you should put pressure on the trout and put the dishes in a warm place for a couple of hours. You can use a two-liter jar of water as pressure. After two hours, remove the load, close the pan with a lid and put it in the refrigerator. How long does it take to salt red fish (trout)? The salting process lasts one to two days, depending on the thickness of the fillet pieces. During this time, brine will appear in the dishes until it needs to be drained. But as soon as the fish is ready, you need to remove both the liquid and the pickling mixture. And wipe the fillet itself with a napkin. The trout is ready to eat.

Several quick cooking recipes

How to pickle trout at home quickly and tasty? There are several quick cooking recipes.

Rub the fillet pieces with salt and sugar, add dry dill and a little vodka. All ingredients are taken in small quantities. Place the fish in a container and press under pressure for several hours. Then, after two hours, put the pan in the refrigerator. After six hours the trout is ready.

There is another recipe for quick pickling. The trout must be cut into thin slices, and then put pieces of fish, pepper, salt, bay leaf and olive oil into a jar in layers. All spices and their quantity must be selected independently to taste. You can experiment with the components. For example, you can add lemon or orange to the jar. The dishes are closed, shaken several times and placed in a cold place for six hours. The fish is ready.

Trout can be salted ten hours in advance. For one kilogram of fish you need to take three teaspoons of salt and half a glass of refined oil. Wipe the cut fish with napkins and cut into pieces. Place the slices in a bowl, add salt and add oil, mix all ingredients well. Next, put the pan in the refrigerator. Ten hours later the trout is ready.

Instead of an afterword

In our article we have presented the main ones. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in preparing the delicacy yourself. The main thing is to be able to choose a quality product. And then the salted red fish will turn out very tender and tasty.