Dried or dried fish is a special delicacy for any table. Not a single friendly gathering with beer and favorite snacks is complete without such a fish. Properly salted and dried fish has a rich taste and a delicate appetizing aroma. But what is the difference between dried fish and dried fish? Dried fish are pre-salted carcasses that are subsequently dried. They are ready to eat and can be eaten without further processing. But dried-fresh fish is just dried meat, which is harvested for the winter. Before use, it must be fried or boiled. Such meat is often dried in the northern regions in order to preserve a healthy product for the winter.
Often people mean drying fish by drying. Dried fish, as a rule, is prepared on an industrial scale. Dried fish is the same process, but at home. Today you will learn how to properly make dried fish so that it turns out tasty, safe and healthy.
Which fish to choose
It is best to dry the fish in autumn and spring. At this time, the fish is the most fatty and tasty. At home, you can salt any fish, but perch, vobla, rudd, bream, pike perch, and roach are best suited for this. As a rule, after good fishing, the largest fish go to the ear and fry, and the smaller ones go to salting.
It is best to dry fresh fish caught no more than 10 hours ago. In this case, salting will be of high quality and safe. If you salt yesterday's fish, then it can turn out with a "smell". Large and small fish should be salted in different dishes, since the time of their salting is not the same.
How to dry fish properly
The technique of drying and drying fish differs only in the degree of drying of the meat. That is, in fact, dried fish is not completely dried carcass. To make fish meat tasty, salted and fragrant, you need to go through all the stages of its processing.
Training
Fresh fish should be lowered into a bath with a small amount of water. Carefully wash away river mud and silt from the scales. It is very important to rinse the fish with your hands to remove mucus from its surface. The less mucus left on the fish, the tastier and more appetizing it will turn out.
Then the fish should be gutted. Some anglers and housewives salt the fish completely, but if the carcasses are medium in size, it is better to remove everything unnecessary. Dried fish with giblets acquires a slight bitterness, which is given to it by bile. Only small fish are dried with giblets.
In advance, you need to choose dishes for salting. It can be a plastic bucket, enamelware, a tin basin. Be prepared for the fact that after salting the container will smell like fish for a long time.
salting
The container with fish is covered with gauze and left in a cool place. You can put a bucket of salted fish on the balcony (in the cold season), in the cellar or basement. Putting fish in the refrigerator, even with a tightly closed lid, is not recommended - all products will smell like fish. In this form, the fish should stand for several days. When the fish gives juice, which is called brine, it will need to be pressed with oppression so that all the fish are completely covered with brine. Oppression also does not allow air to collect in the abdomen of the fish. As oppression, you can use a large stone, weight or containers of water. Under the yoke, the fish should be another 2-3 days.
After the specified time, the fish must be checked. A well-salted carcass has a sunken back and rather firm sides. Take the head of the fish and pull on its tail. If the spine made a characteristic sound, the fish is ready. If not, leave the carcasses to salt out for another day.
soaking
The next step is soaking the fish. This is done in order to wash off excess salt from the fish. Pour the contents of the bucket into a tub filled with water. Immediately you need to sort the fish. Those that settled at the bottom are well salted, they are suitable for long-term storage. And those that have floated up are better to use first - they will not last long.
The fish should be kept in the water for 4-5 hours. After that, it is carefully washed by hand - both from the outside and from the inside. If the salt and slime do not wash off, you can rub them with a soft sponge, but be careful not to damage the scales of the fish. Without it, it will not be able to be stored for a long time.
Drying
When all the fish is washed, it must be dried. To dry, you need to prepare large rings of wire, on which the fish is put on sideways, that is, through the eye holes. In this form, the fish will dry much better.
It is very important to protect the fish from bees, flies, mosquitoes and other insects. Harmful insects can leave an infection on the carcass, which will lead to rotting of the product; it cannot be stored for a long time. In addition, it is much more pleasant to eat a clean fish and be sure that a swarm of flies did not land on it. You can cover the fish hung for drying with gauze or make a gauze frame. Better yet, hang the fish out to dry in the evening when the flies are gone. By morning, the fish will dry up, and the flies will not be afraid of it.
It takes about 5-7 days to dry the fish. It is very important here not to overdry the carcasses, otherwise they will turn out not dried, but dried. You need to dry the fish in a well-ventilated place, away from sunlight. To check the fish for readiness, you just need to try it. If the smell of raw fish is felt, it requires additional drying. Good dried fish is not completely dry, but slightly soft at the back.
When the fish is ready, it should be removed from the wire, transferred to canvas or paper bags and stored in a cool place. Fish dried in this way will be suitable for consumption within six months.
Here are a few more useful tips to help you with drying and salting fish:
- When soaking the fish after salting, the water must be changed several times to fresh.
- Some fishermen dry the fish by hanging it not by the head, but by the tail. This should not be done, otherwise the fat will flow out, and the fish will turn out dry and tasteless.
- If you do not have time to dry the fish for a long time, you can use an electric dryer. Conditions with a certain temperature and a special degree of ventilation allow you to bring the fish to readiness in 6-8 hours!
- In cold regions, fish is preserved as follows. After salting, it is not dried, but frozen. After lying in the cold for about a month, the fish becomes very tasty and can be stored for quite a long time.
- If you are afraid that flies will land on fish, carcasses can be smeared with vinegar.
- In order for the fish to dry well from the inside, toothpicks must be inserted into the walls of its abdomen.
- In the summer, the fish is not dried - high temperatures can cause the fish to go rancid rather than dry. In addition, fish dried in hot weather turns out to be bitter.
- In ancient times, fish was salted in wooden barrels. From this, she received a special woody aroma, which to this day is considered a special delicacy. Some dried fish producers still maintain a similar production procedure.
- Fish should not be dried under the sun. Otherwise, all the fat will melt, the fish will turn out dry and lean.
- In some areas, oven-dried fish is popular. After washing, it is left to dry not in the air, but in the oven. At the same time, the preheated oven must be turned off, the fish will seem to languish. The fish is first placed in clay pots. The fish prepared in this way is soft and well-salted.
- In case of improper storage in bags with dried fish, a sour or musty smell, mold, and mucus may appear. This fish is not to be eaten.
- Small fish, such as smelt or small perch, are easy to dry. You need to soak the washed fish in salt water for 20 minutes, and then hang to dry.
These subtleties and nuances will help you dry the fish so that it can be stored for a long time, as well as retain its taste and benefits.
It is difficult to find a more suitable snack for beer than dried or dried fish. If you often go fishing, do not give your extra catch to your neighbors. Fish can be easily preserved if properly dried. And then you can enjoy the fragrant taste of salted fish all year round.
Video: how to dry and salt fish
Dried fish is very tasty, but before it is dried, it must be properly salted. You also need to be able to throw salt on the fish. And many probably have their own branded brine recipes, and their own proportions of adding salt. And there are also many who have never been involved in this business, but there is a desire. In our troubled times, you never know what a new day will bring you. So everything has to be learned. Well, let's not pour water for a long time, but let's get down to business right away.
And so we have a goal to salt the fish. The first thing to know is to use only fresh fish. The fish must be fresh. Leeward or not fresh fish is not good. This can affect the quality of taste and your health in the future. 
The second is to use only coarse salt. The main purpose of salt is to draw moisture out of the fish, not to salt it. Coarse salt does not salt the carcass of the fish, but draws moisture out of it. By itself, salt dissolves for a long time, which is why it is used for salting fish. Small salt is quickly absorbed into the fish and burns the meat, which gives the wrong taste to the fish.
We salt the fish either in an enamel bowl, or in a barrel or in a plastic bowl for food. No aluminum utensils.
Before hanging the fish, it must be soaked in fresh water for about 3-4 hours.
How to salt fish for drying in winter
Before salting, we wash the fish and put it in a container, sprinkling layers of salt. Only now without saltpeter. Lay the fish in layers. The top layer is salt. Cover with a lid and load. We remove the container in a cool place for several days. Wash the fish well before hanging. Until it floats in fresh water.
If the fish is not washed and remove excess salt from it. That fish will be very salty and eating it will be extremely unpleasant. After washing, you can hang the fish. 
The fish is hung in two ways. Either by threading the thread directly through the fish or each on a separate stainless steel hook. It is better to hang it upside down. This allows excess moisture to escape through the mouth.
You should not hang the fish in the sun; it is better to find a place for this in the shade. And in order for the flies not to spoil your product, it is better to wrap the fish with gauze. 
Drying fish time takes from a week to two. Depends on the weight of the original product. You can determine that the fish is ready to eat in the light, if in the light you can see the ridge of the fish, then it is almost ready for a couple of days and you can take it off the rope and run for beer. How do you prepare fish for drying?
Alexander Gushchin
I can't vouch for the taste, but it will be hot :)
Content
Dried fish is easy to cook at home, there are many excellent ways to salt this product. As a result, complex physical, biochemical processes occur in meat. After such processing, fish (you can take sea or river fish) acquires a peculiar taste. Pay attention to the original, proven recipes, according to which the product is salted, dried at home.
How to cook dried fish
Approach the drying process with all responsibility. If you ignore some advice, you can get a low-quality product, the use of which will lead to poisoning or other negative consequences. For drying, use only fresh catch, fatty fish. Carcasses should not smell like sea or river water, mud. Fresh meat is usually firm to the touch. There are no brown spots on its surface, which indicate the beginning of the decomposition process.
It is advisable to use dishes with enamel. Pottery, ceramic, porcelain, glass, wooden, titanium containers are suitable. Choose the right salt. Try not to buy iodized product. As a rule, it spoils the appearance and taste of the delicacy. Use coarse salt. Determine the required amount of the product by placing a raw egg in the liquid - it should float on the surface of the water. If this does not happen, then it may be worth adding more salt or mixing the liquid thoroughly.
How to salt fish for drying
Processing is carried out in a dry or wet way. In the first case, the carcasses are rubbed with finely ground salt. It is worth considering in detail how to salt fish for drying in a wet way. The carcasses are strung on a twine, placed in a brine. Salt, lavrushka, spices are distributed between the layers of fish. The delicacy is prepared for about 2-6 days. The indicated time depends on the size of the fish. If too deep dishes are used, then periodically mix the composition. At the same time, try to lower the upper layers, lower ones - to raise.
How to dry
It takes about 1-2 hours to soak the fish after salting for drying. Next, the carcasses are hung on the street. Remember that hanging the fish is upside down. Thanks to this position, excess moisture exits through the mouth - the carcasses will dry much faster and more evenly. To hang the fish, you must first pierce it near the tails. To do this, use special stainless steel hooks. After hanging, you need to wait 4-10 days.
How to dry fish in winter
Some people may not know how to dry fish at home in winter. Keep in mind that dried fish works well when a constant supply of fresh air is provided. Try to place carcasses on a closed heated balcony, loggia, in the kitchen near the stove, radiator. Place a fan near the meat to dry it faster. It is worth noting that winter time has one main advantage for drying - the absence of flies.
How to dry fish in the oven
If you are interested in how to dry carcasses or how to cook fillets in the oven, then you should know that for effective processing, you should insert toothpicks and matches into the meat. In the oven, set the temperature to 40 degrees, turn on the convection fan. Spread the salted carcasses on a baking sheet, on a sheet of parchment or foil, put in the oven. Leave the cabinet door ajar. Turn on the oven, dry the meat for 5-7 hours.
Dried Fish Recipes
Many housewives are interested in how to cook a treat quickly and as simply as possible. Often, dried fish is made from vobla, sprat, sardine, pike perch, bream, anchovy, rudd, perch, ide, pink salmon, trout, roach, carp (pay attention to the beautiful photos of ready-made delicacies). If the carcasses are small, then they can not be gutted. In large fish, the insides are removed, and the milk, caviar are left, the backs are cut.
Carp
- Time: 3 weeks.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 184 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
Carp is known for its excellent taste. It is fried, boiled, baked in the oven, stuffed. Before you cook dried carp, keep in mind that it is advisable to use fatty carcasses for salting. Some housewives prefer not to clean the insides, but it is better to get rid of them. Also, be sure to remove the gills. Large specimens should be cut along the ridge, thanks to which the meat will be salted faster.
Ingredients:
- carp (take medium-sized fish) - 1 kg;
- vegetable oil - 50 g;
- salt - 200 g.
Cooking method:
- Remove scales, heads, tails, entrails.
- Pour the carcasses with a salt solution with the addition of oil, leave for 10 days.
- Hang the meat in a ventilated place, let it dry for 2 weeks.
Vobla
- Time: 3 weeks.
- Number of servings: 8 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 235 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
In order for the dried fish to turn out with a slight characteristic bitterness, it is recommended not to completely remove the insides of the vobla. Sometimes the vobla is dried without gutting. For small carcasses, cut the abdomen, for large carcasses, cut the back. For salting, the vobla is laid upside down, then filled with brine. From above oppression is established. The time of such processing is similar to that indicated in other recipes (10 days). Vobla is consumed with light or dark beer.
Ingredients:
- vobla - 1 kg;
- salt - 100-200 g.
Cooking method:
- Clean the carcasses, salt. If you are going to rub the vobla with salt, then after 10 days it must be washed in running water. After using the brine, the carcasses are placed in water for 2 hours. Soaking time depends on the salting period.
- Hang the roach to dry. Remember that the natural drying time depends on the size of the roach. The finished delicacy should have a tight back.
Pink salmon
- Time: 2 days.
- Servings: 8-10 people.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 182 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
If you often have guests, long gatherings with friends are organized, then be sure to pay attention to this simple recipe. The delicacy is perfectly used separately or with a hoppy drink. Pink salmon is not too oily, so it is suitable for those who follow the figure. It is tasty to use balyk with bread, vegetables: you can form canapes, sandwiches.
Ingredients:
- pink salmon - 1.5 kg;
- salt - 3 tbsp. l;
- sugar - 1 tbsp. l.;
- spices - optional.
Cooking method:
- Defrost, rinse, cut the carcasses into plates.
- Combine salt, sugar, spices. Sprinkle mixture over meat and stir. Leave everything for a day.
- Spread pink salmon on a baking sheet, put in the oven, in which the temperature is set to 40 degrees, for 4-6 hours. The oven door must be open.
- The finished delicacy is cooled in the refrigerator, then served on the table.
Zander
- Time: 12 days.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 84 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
This predator belongs to the sturgeon family and does not have too fatty meat, but the delicacy from it is excellent. Pike perch is dried and salted quickly, without the need to create any special conditions. Do everything as in other cases of cooking a delicacy. The only difference in this recipe is the presence of the original salting mixture. Delicious with parsley, dill, black pepper. Milk or kvass will make the meat more tender.
Ingredients:
- pike perch - 1.5 kg;
- horseradish (leaves) - 400 g;
- salt - 200 g;
- milk or kvass - 200 ml;
- vinegar (9%) - 200 ml;
Cooking method:
- Clean, rinse, cut pike perch into layers. Rub it with vinegar, salt. In addition, fish carcasses can be poured with a solution of vinegar and water, wait 2 hours.
- Grind horseradish, mix it with chopped parsley, dill, spices.
- At the bottom of the container, spread the salt with a layer of 1 cm. Lay out the carcasses. Sprinkle each layer of fish with salt, a mixture of spices and herbs. Wait 2 days. The salting period depends on the size of the carcasses.
- Soak the meat in water with milk or kvass for 2 hours.
- Dry pike perch, hang to dry, wait 10 days. The duration of drying depends on the size of the pike perch.
Ide
- Time: 15 days.
- Servings: 10 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 117 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
Ide is best cooked in the fall. At this time, he “works up” the first fat, so it turns out more tasty. This recipe is very simple and straightforward. To create a delicacy, you do not need to use any special tools (for example, as is required when smoking). All you need is freshly caught fish.
Ingredients:
- medium-sized ides - 20 pcs.;
- laurel leaves - 6 pcs.;
- salt - 2 kg;
- dill, parsley, spices - optional.
Cooking method:
- Clean, wash the ides.
- Use the dry salting method: salt, 2 bay leaves, spices, chopped herbs are distributed on each layer of fish.
- Everything is covered with a sheet of polyethylene. The oppression is set.
- After 5 days, the ides are soaked for about 1 hour.
- Iazis are hung on a rope. Drying takes about 10 days. If this period is increased, then you will get dried fish.
Bream
- Time: 2 weeks.
- Number of servings: 15-20 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 221 kcal.
- Purpose: lunch, afternoon snack, dinner.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
If the catch consists of bream, then you can make an excellent snack from them. An excellent solution would be drying fish. It is most convenient to prepare a delicacy (you can see its originality from the photo) using dry salting. If you decide to use wet salting, then the main thing is to make the brine correctly, because the taste of the treat depends on it.
Ingredients:
- medium-sized bream - 20 pcs.;
- coarse salt - 200 g;
- dill, parsley, spices - optional.
Cooking method:
- Gut, wash the bream. Rub the inside with salt.
- At the bottom of the dish, pour about 5 tbsp. l. salt. Lay bream on top, sprinkle with salt, chopped herbs, spices. Press everything down with something heavy and put it in a dark, cool place for a week.
- Soak the salted carcasses in water for about 1 hour.
- For bream, use cold drying. Place the fillets, for example, on the balcony, dry for 7 days.
- Dried fish is packed in wooden boxes, stored for 10 months in a cool place.
Blue whiting
- Time: 4 days.
- Number of servings: 8 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 255 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
If your family members love to eat fish in different form then try this easy recipe. For him, you need blue whiting. It is worth using the wet salting method. Drying is done in the oven or on the street. In the second case, preparation takes relatively more time. Keep in mind that blue whiting takes 5 hours to dry in the oven, and about a week outside.
Ingredients:
- blue whiting of medium size - 1 kg;
- water - 1 l;
- coarse salt - 4 tbsp. l.;
- sugar - 2 tbsp. l.;
- black peppercorns, laurel leaves - optional.
Cooking method:
- Clear blue whiting.
- Bring the water to a boil. Add salt, sugar, pepper, parsley. According to the brine made, determine the taste of the delicacy. Cool the mixture, fill it with blue whiting. Wait 3 days.
- Rinse blue whiting, place on a baking sheet, put in the oven (set 40 degrees) for 5 hours. Leave the oven door open.
Trout
- Time: 3 days.
- Servings: 10 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 186 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
From this red fish, belonging to the salmon family, you can make an original delicacy. Often it is prepared for some important event: for the New Year, a wedding. With the addition of trout, all kinds of salads and savory snacks are made. In addition, it is delicious to eat just with bread: make beautiful sandwiches, canapes. The most important thing to create a delicacy is to purchase high-quality fillets. It is desirable that it be chilled.
Ingredients:
- medium-sized trout - 1 kg;
- salt - 4 tbsp. l.;
- sugar - 2 tbsp. l.;
- lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l.;
- black pepper - optional.
Cooking method:
- Cut the fillet. The size of the pieces should be about 10 cm. Rub them with lemon juice, pepper, sugar. The pieces are placed in a container between layers of salt, pressed against the top with something heavy. Place the trout in the refrigerator for 2 days.
- Dry the salted trout in the oven with the door open for 4-5 hours. Determine its readiness by the backs. They must be dry.
- Before serving, salted fish is cut into thin slices. At the same time, direct the knife at an acute angle.
Roach
- Time: 15 days.
- Servings: 8-10 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish (100 g): 148 kcal.
- Purpose: snack.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty: easy.
To taste, the appetizer resembles a dried ram or roach. It goes well with light or dark beer. It is best to cook roach in the spring. At this time, she still does not have time to soak in the smell of mud. In the spring, roach goes to spawn, so it has a good fat content. The delicacy turns out to be tender and nutritious (see the photo for its uniqueness).
Vyali fish simply and tasty Did you find an error in the text? Select it, press Ctrl + Enter and we'll fix it!Now buying salted or dried fish has become much more expensive than some five or six years ago. Coming to the market or to the store, you catch yourself thinking: “Why don’t I have a beer with dried fish?” And then you go to the counter, look at the price and understand that one fish is not enough, and buying two is already expensive. So you go back home with nothing. But now, thanks to this article, you will learn how to pickle fish for drying or drying.
Primary requirements
Before drying or drying the fish, you need to decide what kind of salting it should be. Now we will talk about how much to salt the fish for drying, and you can make this beauty yourself at home or in the country. If the fish contains ten percent salt, then it is considered lightly salted, from twenty and above - very salty. The brine (the juice that the fish secrete mixed with salt) is drained periodically to prevent bacteria from multiplying and spoiling the fish. Fish for drying or drying must be fresh and chilled. Only after that you can start gutting. Salting fish for drying is a very responsible business. You need to gut the insides so that germs do not get on the meat.
Salting small fish
For salting small fish, a barrel or an enamel pan is considered ideal. In order to salt the fish for drying, you need to wash it and rub it with a special mixture of saltpeter and salt. The proportions for such a mixture are 10:1. Saltpeter is an excellent preservative. It prevents the products from spoiling and gives them a beautiful reddish tint. Put layers on the bottom of a barrel or pan: fish - mixture, cover with a lid and put under oppression. Keep the container in a cool place. If you suddenly didn’t have saltpeter, then the recipe for salting fish for drying is a little more complicated. In this case, you will have to gut the fish and remove the gills. Various spices can be added to the salting to taste: currant leaves, blackberries, bay leaves, cloves, black, allspice, cumin and even rosemary. It all depends on your preferences. After salting, the fish can be dried, or it can be eaten like this, washed with water and watered with sunflower oil.
Fish processing
In order to properly gut the fish, you need to make a transverse incision between the head and the anus. It is impossible to cut in the opposite direction, since such an incision may damage the internal organs. Pull out the insides, gills, rinse thoroughly. Rinse until there is no blood under the spine.
How to salt fish for drying or wet drying
For drying, choose not very large fish up to half a kilogram. In the hot season you need to gut, in the cold - no. You do not need to wash the fish, just wipe it with a dry towel to remove excess moisture. For cooking, be sure to take coarse salt. Any other will not work, since our goal is not to give the fish a taste, but to remove moisture from it. Such fish, salted for drying, will have an excellent smell and taste. The only disadvantage of coarse salt is that it dissolves slowly, but absorbs more moisture.
Then we proceed in this way: in a bucket or basin (if there is neither one nor the other, you can take a saucepan), pour salt, but not very much. The fish should be laid out so that the head of one touches the tail of the other. Salt each layer well. After the fish is finished, you need to pour enough salt on it so that it covers the entire surface. You can add some sugar for taste. Cover with a lid and put under pressure. The heavier the oppression, the tastier the fish will be. It does not allow air to seep into the container and prevents the growth of bacteria. After about 5 hours, the fish releases its juice - brine. It must be kept as cool as possible, even on ice.
How much to salt fish for drying or drying? Salt in this way should be about two or three days. After this time, in well-salted fish, the meat becomes gray. The next step is to prepare for stringing and hanging. Salted fish should be soaked under running water until it starts to float. Hang the fish in the following way: special hooks are threaded through the eye and hung on a rope. The fish needs to dry out after soaking, so it's best to hang them out at night so that the flies don't offend your catch. In the morning, to scare away the flies, the fish are sprayed with a solution of vinegar and water. Drying or drying lasts up to eight days, it all depends on the size of the fish.
Salting fish for drying or dry drying
How to salt fish for drying in a dry way and which fish is more suitable for this? There are answers to these questions. Salting fish for drying or drying in this way is more suitable for large fish. With wet salting, we did not butcher the fish, we immediately need not only to take out the insides, but also divide the fish into two halves and wipe it with a dry towel. Sprinkle the inside well with salt. For such salting, the fish is laid in layers in a box. It is best to take a wooden one - the juice secreted by the fish will flow through the holes. The box must be placed in the pit. They usually dig it out in the shade and cover it with a film so that insects cannot get to the fish. The ambassador lasts up to a week. This method is also suitable for salting small fish. You can't even gut it.
Here is what you need to do for this:
1) Take a cutting board, put a clean towel on it.
2) We put the fish in a row like “sprats in a jar”.
3) Sprinkle with salt and wrap in a towel.
4) We cover with another board and put oppression.
Juice with this salting flows through the fabric. After the fish has been salted, it is taken out of the towel, washed in cold water, soaked for a short time and hung out. Most The best way drying is a wooden box prepared in advance with gauze or mesh walls, but you can do it in a simple way. We take a “gypsy” or shoe needle, thread a nylon thread or fishing line through it and string the fish, threading the thread through the eye holes. We put gauze or a mosquito net on top of the rope and dry it for seven to ten days. Large fish are best hung at high altitude on poles.
Curing and drying fish in nature
Many are wondering how to pickle fish for drying in nature. If you went on a picnic with friends for a couple of days and caught fish, you can safely dry it or wither right on the spot. How to salt fish for drying in field conditions? Gutted catch is placed in a bag with salt for a day, and then hung on fresh air. You can fix the fish with clothespins, hanging them by their tails in the fresh air. The most acceptable weather for this is windy. To protect against insects, the fish is wrapped with gauze and wiped with sunflower oil or a solution of manganese. The optimum temperature for drying or drying is up to twenty degrees. In the natural environment, the fish is dried for up to two weeks. It is better to store dried fish in a cloth bag in a ventilated place, but it should be noted that after drying it should “infuse” for up to a month.
How to marinate fresh fish? Cold pickling
For pickling small fish, it is not necessary to gut it; for large fish, this condition is necessary. There are two types of marinating fish: cold and hot.
1. Prepare the marinade: 200 milliliters of water, 100 grams of salt, 200 grams of sugar. Mix and dissolve in 300 milliliters of boiling water.
3. Pour 500 ml of vinegar and boiled water into the brine.
4. Add one gram of bay leaf, one gram of dill, three grams of pepper, preferably allspice, one and a half grams of mustard in grains.
5. Put the dishes with the fish in the refrigerator for five days, first shift the onion rings and pour the marinade (1: 1). The onion is no less tasty than the fish itself.
Hot pickling
1. Cut the fish into pieces, after removing the insides.
2. Sprinkle with fine salt and put in the cold for 30 minutes.
3. For the marinade: boil two liters of water, add four onions and three chopped carrots.
4. After ten minutes of boiling, add two tablespoons of vinegar, pepper, bay leaf, salt, sugar to taste.
5. Pour the marinade over the fish and cook for twenty minutes over low heat.
6. Scald the jars, put the fish there and pour the marinade.
7. Close with a plastic lid.
You can store the fish for up to three days in the refrigerator.
Delicious salty balyk
Who doesn't love fish bacon? It is not only tasty, but also useful. Balyk can be made from fatty fish: sturgeon, salmon, trout and others.
1. Separate the back from the skin, put it in a saucepan.
2. Sprinkle with salt and saltpeter (400 grams of salt per 5 grams of saltpeter).
3. Put under oppression for three days.
4. Stir the salmon, rubbing it with its own juice, and leave for another three days.
5. Remove, hang in the sun for drying.
6. Smoke or rub with liquid smoke.
Store fish properly
Fish products spoil very quickly, and neighboring products strongly absorb the smell of fish. It is for this reason that fresh fish should be stored in enameled dishes with a lid. You can keep it in this form for only two days. Frozen fish can be stored for up to two weeks. The salty product is kept in the refrigerator at a temperature of up to 12 degrees. Dried and dried are stored in the refrigerator in paper or a rag bag. If you have fish in barrels with brine, then you need to store it in a cold basement. Put the barrel on bricks, and cover the floor with sawdust. Change sawdust in winter often (about once a week), in summer - once every two weeks.
We hope that this article was informative for you, and you will definitely become a professional in marinating, drying and curing fish.
4
Dried fish is a tasty and healthy product. For cooking, fresh fish does not need to be heated, exposure to the surrounding atmosphere is enough.
Dried fish meat is dry and elastic, it is not for nothing that it is often called dried. It is stored for a long time without requiring special conditions.
This is a great appetizer that you can serve at a laid table or take with you on a trip.
Dried fish is called, which, after preliminary salting, is dried in natural conditions.
Slow drying in the open air or in a well-ventilated area changes the properties of the fish and gives it a sharp, spicy taste. This process is also called drying.
Slow dehydration in combination with the influence of the external environment leads to the gradual maturation of meat:
- Protein tissues are impregnated with fat and become dense and elastic.
- The flesh looks translucent and acquires a beautiful amber color.
- Caviar turns into a particularly delicious grainy delicacy.
In general, the piquant taste and sharp spirit of dried fish are unique and easily recognizable. The skin, silky to the touch, with silvery scales, is easy to remove, and the salty strips of meat can be eaten.
What kind of fish can be dried at home?
Not every fish gives a good result when dried and dried.
It is necessary to take such varieties, the meat of which is able to ripen properly, acquiring a specific texture and smell characteristic of a dried product.
Medium-sized breeds, which are considered of little value in industrial fishing, have an excellent taste in dried form. These are vobla, ram, sabrefish, silver bream and other species belonging to the so-called partial. Of the larger ones, bream, pike perch, catfish can be recommended.
The best quality is fresh fish, salted on the day of fishing. The catch, which was stored in an insufficiently cold place, may already be “smelly”. Such “bear-like” drying is popular among the northern peoples, but unaccustomed people may not like this result.
Sometimes dried and frozen, and then thawed fish. It is recommended to buy mackerel, herring, flounder, halibut. You can also freeze your own catch for later drying.
The tastiest is fish of medium and high fat content. Its quality is highly dependent on the time of year. Before spawning, the fat content is higher, so a catch made in early spring or winter is recommended for drying.
Preparing fish for proper drying
In no case do they clean off the scales, and the smaller fish do not need to be gutted. Fat of the peritoneum and viscera gives a more intense taste.
In herbivorous species, the entrails are taken out in summer, as the contents of the stomach quickly deteriorate and give bitterness to the abdomen.
Large specimens are cut completely. They are gutted, leaving the skin and scales intact. The abdomen is left intact so that the fat is stored inside. To extract the insides, a longitudinal incision is made along the dorsal fin. The cut carcass and its parts are not washed with water.
Dried fish in the summer at home: cooking steps
The drying process is based on many years of experience and has a certain sequence of actions that differ only in details.
- Salting. Produced in any suitable container. The fish is sprinkled with salt or poured with saline and put in the cold until it is salted.
- Washing and soaking. Cold fresh water is used, the time depends on the duration of salting.
- Drying directly. Occurs in natural conditions or with the use of any devices.
Summer salting methods
In addition to salt and dishes suitable for food, nothing is needed for salting. Any container of sufficient volume made of steel, glass or plastic will do. It is important to choose the right grade of salt. Large, when dissolved, slowly takes moisture from the fish, which is what is required before drying. Fine salt penetrates the meat too quickly, and dehydration does not occur.
Dry way
When drying large specimens weighing more than a kilogram, the best results are achieved by the dry salting method.
- The fish carcass is freed from the insides, cut from the back, and cleaned with a rag.
- The internal cavities are salted abundantly, but without frills.
- The carcasses are laid out in dense rows in a basket or box, the bottom of which is covered with a layer of fabric. Lay according to the rule: head to tail and bellies up.
- Sprinkle with salt again, right on top of the scales. In total, you need to cook about 1.5 kg of salt per 10 kg of fish.
Having closed with a flat lid, the contents are pressed down with oppression - a stone or a jar of water.
Oppression helps to get rid of air bubbles in which harmful bacteria remain. Also, under pressure, the meat is better compacted.
Salting in a cool place takes from 5 to 10 days. Gradually, juice begins to stand out, which flows through the cracks at the bottom. This is where the name "dry" technology comes from.
From small fish, which is also sometimes salted in a dry way, the insides can not be removed. The fabric is spread on a solid base, and the fish are carefully placed on it one by one. Sprinkling them with salt, they wrap them in the same rag and press them on top with a load. The fabric passes the resulting juice and allows it to flow out.
wet way
- The fish are closely placed in a pan or basin, after sprinkling the bottom with salt. They act according to the scheme: back to stomach and head to tail.
- All layers are alternately sprinkled with salt, including the top. Salt consumption is planned at the rate of 1 kg per 10 kg of fish.
- Gourmets prefer a mixture of salt with a spoonful of sugar. It makes the taste of the product more refined.
- The whole mass is pressed through the lid with oppression.
Soon after salting, brine begins to appear. After 1-2 days, it rises above the top layer and can even flow out of the container. While salting continues, the dishes are placed in the cellar. It is necessary to maintain a low temperature, otherwise the meat, to which the salt has not yet reached, may deteriorate.
In urban conditions, they use a refrigerator, and on a hike, a recess in the ground, covered with branches.
Smaller fish salt out quickly, 1-2 days are enough for them. The larger ones will take a week. When the fish is ready, its meat seems to harden, and the back is attracted to the spine. If you pull it by the head and tail, you can feel the crunch. If the test result is negative, it is left in brine for another day. The brine remaining after the process can be poured out or used next time.
Tuzluchny way
Before proceeding to salting in the brine way, the fish is collected on twine with a needle. Ready cuts are dipped in brine - brine, they must be completely covered with liquid. It is enough for small fish to lie down like this for 2-3 days. In the belly of large specimens, a salt solution is additionally pumped with a syringe.
To prepare a solution in a liter of water, dilute 350 g of salt. You can add brine left over from the previous salting or even from purchased spicy salted herring.
It is believed that a raw egg does not sink in a properly prepared brine solution.
The speed of salting depends on the weight of the fish, its thickness, and the permeability of the skin. At room temperature 20°C, approximate salting times are:
- with a weight of 2-3 kg one week;
- with a weight of less than 500 grams 2-3 days;
- a very small fish like a tyulka will only need one hour.
Readiness is determined in the same way as in the wet method. If the longitudinal stretching of the fish occurs silently, then the salt has not yet reached the vertebrae, so they do not creak. The meat of a well-salted fish does not resist pressing with a finger, if you press on the back, a hole remains.
The fish taken out of the brine is left to rest, for large specimens it takes several hours. The salt inside will evenly disperse, and the result will be of better quality.
Soaking in fresh water
Soaking is done after salting in order to desalinate the outer layers of meat. Dried skin will not become damp during storage. Therefore, this step should not be skipped, even if there is no excess salt. Approximate calculation of time: an hour of soaking for every day of salting.
The countdown of the soaking time begins already when the fish is washed from mucus and salt residues. You can wash it by hand or with a sponge, but carefully.
The scales should not fly off, it protects the internal tissues.
The fish is placed in a large container with cold water, where after a while it floats to the surface. This means that the desired state has been reached, and after drying it will be slightly salted and transparent amber.
Soaking large oily fish for too long can spoil it. The outer layers are soaked from prolonged exposure to water. It is advised to take the fish out for the same amount of time every few hours and then put it back in.
Drying rules in various conditions
As experience shows, it is most convenient to dry the fish by stringing it on a wire or cord. Low-fat varieties can be hung by threading twine through the tail. On the contrary, bream or pike perch should be placed upside down, dragging a needle with a string through the eye hole. Then tasty fat will not flow out of the abdomen. Also, the fish is dried on wire hooks or pricked on nails or thin rods.
Outdoors
Fish dried in good weather in the open air turns out to be the most delicious. A cool spring day with a temperature of 18-20°C can be considered ideal. The lowers are hung outdoors on horizontal rails, in open boxes, etc.
It is desirable that the fish hang with their belly out and do not move close to each other. Small varieties like tyulka are dried on a horizontally stretched mesh.
In the hot sun, the fish may "cook" or begin to deteriorate before it dries. Also valuable fat will flow out of it. Therefore, it is better to hang lows in the shade or under a canopy. In case of short-term rain, they can be hidden under an awning. If it became very cold and damp, it is better to move the catch indoors.
In a cool cellar
The cellar is often used as a cool place during salting. But small fish can be hung there after it is taken out of the brine. True, then you have to dry it in a warmer place.
Large fish dry slowly and under normal conditions can go rancid before they are completely dry. Due to the low temperature in the cellar, the drying process there can last 2-3 weeks. The product obtained in this way is characterized by high palatability.
On the balcony and loggia
Ventilated balconies can be adapted for drying if necessary, especially in rainy and cold weather. First, the fish is suspended so that the juice flowing from it does not stain the floor, for example, above the basin. After that, it is hung on the walls of the loggia or the slopes are stretched across.
It is better when the fish is dried in a draft, so the windows are slightly opened even in cold weather. If the temperature on the balcony is much higher when the windows are closed, then they can not be opened.
In the attic
A well-ventilated attic is an almost ideal drying room. It heats up through the roof but stays cool due to drafts. Bundles of fish are protected there both from the direct rays of the sun and from the rain. Also in the attic there is usually a lot of space under the roof for hanging ropes. You just need to lift them high enough so that the cats do not get it.
In the room
Many do not like to dry fish in a room because of the inevitable smell, but sometimes there is simply no other way out. It may not be as fragrant as dried in the summer in the garden, but lovers are satisfied with its taste. Not bad help drying heaters.
To speed up the process, you can put a fan on the battery. Also, a small amount of fish can be attached above the gas stove.
In the oven
The fish are evenly distributed in parallel rows on the wire rack. You can put foil down. The temperature regulator is set to no more than 80 ° C, otherwise the fish will simply bake. The oven door for ventilation is left ajar by 5-7 cm. After two hours, the heads should be covered with foil and the oven left on for another 4-6 hours. Dried fish is hung and dried to the final result for another one or two days.
In an electric dryer
Any electric dryer with a convective principle of operation, in which the heating is turned off, is suitable. The fish is kept in a dryer at temperatures up to 30°C. Otherwise, it is steamed and the meat begins to lag behind the bones.
The blown air from the fan provides drying, which lasts about two days. You won't be able to escape the smell in the room, but the result will be a perfectly acceptable dried fish.
How long to dry and how to determine readiness?
The temperature and humidity of the air, as well as the size of the fish, affect how much time to dry the fish. The smallest fish have a chance to dry in a couple of days, but more often it takes about one or two weeks. Large ones can dry for more than a month.
The fish does not need to be dried out, it is better not to dry it out quite a bit. The easiest way to determine readiness is by taste.
If the meat has not dried enough yet, leave it to hang for another day.
- Properly and completely dried meat is translucent, it is dense and elastic, with a greasy sheen.
- There are no salt crystals on the scales, the skin is strong and easily removed.
- Freshly dried fish has a specific pungent aroma that stimulates the appetite.
Dried fish can be eaten immediately after drying, but for full maturation, it must lie down in the cold for 3-4 weeks, wrapped in a rag or parchment. After resting, it will acquire its final full-fledged taste and aroma.
How to get rid of flies
The smell of dried fish quickly collects insects. Flies and wasps not only crawl on the skin with scales and eat meat. Worst of all, the flies lay their eggs in the fish that has not yet dried out, and instead of dried caviar, larvae - maggots - may appear in her stomach.
In the spring, while the flies are not yet visible (or in the fall, when they are no longer there), you can safely dry the fish. The rest of the time, it is recommended to hang it in the evening, then by morning it dries up and the flies do not besiege it so much. In an attempt to escape from flies, the drying places are hung with a net, the scales are lubricated with oil, a weak solution of vinegar. Sometimes fish is hung outside, previously already dried indoors.
How to dry fish in winter?
In winter, it is not possible to achieve the same quality as when drying in summer. Proper ripening occurs outdoors with low humidity. In winter, it is too warm at home, the process is faster, and the meat does not have time to acquire transparency and amber luster.
For drying use balconies, attics, kitchens and even living rooms. The main nuisance during winter drying is the smell. He is omnipresent and goes everywhere. But you can not be afraid of the invasion of flies.
When drying in winter, it is better to use a dry method. The fish is salted, washed and hung to drain in the bathroom, and then the bundles are placed in a convenient place.
You can, for example, hang it near the battery or stove. But under the ceiling in the kitchen, the fish will also dry out in five days. It will not work to dry a large amount in this way, since there is simply nowhere to hang these fragrant garlands at home.
Is it possible to dry fish in the cold?
Temperatures above zero are desirable for drying fish. Severe frost destroys tissue.
But the process of freezing moisture also occurs at sub-zero temperatures.
Winter catch can be hung on a balcony or under a canopy. Although slowly, it will dry out, after which it will be necessary to dry the fish in the apartment. Thus, it is unlikely that it will be possible to obtain a high quality product, but for lovers it turns out to be a completely acceptable delicacy.
When processing and storing the catch, experienced fishermen take into account the details to make the process easier and more efficient:
- When salting, large specimens are placed on the bottom of the dishes, and small ones are placed on top.
- Carcasses of the same size are strung on one cord. Then it will be ready at the same time.
- To make drying at home faster, the bellies are opened by inserting toothpicks.
- In winter, they make a box-frame for hanging. Together with the frame, the fish can be moved from place to place.
- Balyk can be prepared from large fatty specimens by drying.
- If the fish, if stored improperly, becomes damp and acquires a musty aftertaste, it can be washed in a weak salt solution and dried again.
Dried fish is a simple and effective process. Over time, experience is gained that allows you to make the most of the available conditions and opportunities. It is necessary to carefully monitor how the properties of fish change during drying. Then you get a delicious and fragrant delicacy that can be served both at the festive table and consumed at a warm friendly meeting.
In this video, an avid fisherman shares tips on how to properly dry fish.
