Salted red fish is a delicacy often present on the festive table. Buying it in a store is not cheap. Fresh fish is significantly lower in price. But would you like to know how to salt red fish at home, saving a lot of money, and perhaps changing the taste of the delicacy, guided by your personal preferences? This is not difficult. A small set of products, no more than three days - and a delicious fish, salted with your own hands, is already on your table!
So, how to pickle red fish. The recipe includes several simple ingredients: the actual fish, salt, spices (to taste), salt, sugar and often dill.
First you need to determine the type of product. Red fish belongs to the Salmon family. Most often salmon, trout, salmon, pink salmon or chum salmon are used for salting . The most delicate varieties are trout and salmon.
Before salting red fish at home, it must be processed accordingly. To begin with, the fish need to be thoroughly washed and cleaned of scales. The skin can be left, it is not necessary to separate the fillet. Further, in the process of processing, it is necessary to flog the peritoneum from the fish and thoroughly clean it. Separate the head, tail and fins. Everything that is waste for us now, with a small amount of fish pulp can come in handy as a soup set for a delicious fish soup. So you can not discard these parts of the fish, but leave it after freezing for later. Next, we divide the carcass into halves along the ridge, carefully separate the spine and costal bones from the pulp. It is better to get a clean fillet - the bones make it difficult to cut red fish to the table. For ribs, you can also be guided by your own needs. So, often they are deliberately left, preferring to use it later in salt form as an appetizer for beer.
That's all, the carcass is cut, and we have no choice but to pickle red fish at home. Here, as already mentioned, there are many deviations from the rules - as in the preparation of other dishes, each housewife has a secret.
Salt should be used coarse, coarse. Spread the prepared two halves of the fish in front of you and sprinkle them with salt and sugar. The quantity can be different - someone sprinkles a little with both, preferring slightly salted fish, and someone sprinkles a lot of salt (up to 4 tbsp. Per kilogram of fish fillet, or even more). If you still do not know what the result will be, start with the "golden mean" - sprinkle a kilogram of fish 2 tbsp. l salt and 1 tbsp. l sugar and rub it well in the fillet on all sides. Guided by your taste, do the same with your preferred spices. You can do without them. Often used ground allspice and tarragon. Then you can do nothing with the fish, time will do the rest. At the bottom of the dishes in which the fish will be salted, lay the half of the prepared fillet with the skin down. Top it can be sprinkled with lemon juice, put a bay leaf and a sprig of dill. If you want to get the usual classic taste - you do not need to add anything. Lay the second part of the fillet on top, now with the skin up. Cover it all with a cloth and place some kind of load on top - this way the fish will salt better. Put it all in some cool place, like a refrigerator. Salting time of fish is about three days. You can use it earlier, the very next day, but it will be slightly salted.
Some housewives prefer to pickle red fish in brine. This recipe is similar to the previous one, but the fish will be ready for use in a few hours. The carcass is prepared in the same way. After that, it is cut into slices and placed in a container for cooking. The brine is prepared in a separate bowl, carefully mixing half a liter of water with two or three tablespoons of salt, and fill them with fish. Then the product is covered, oppression is placed on top and left to be salted for one and a half to two hours. After this time, the brine is drained and the fish is poured with a mixture consisting of a glass of water and a tablespoon of vinegar. In it, the fish should lie down for 3-5 minutes. Next, cut the onion rings, combine it with 50 g of vegetable oil, 3 leaves of bay leaves, 6-8 peas of pepper and prepared slices of fish. All this must be mixed and left for 15-20 minutes. A very quick and convenient way to salt red fish at home!
Instead of brine, vinegar and spices, vodka is often used (about 50 g): add salt to the slices, sprinkle with sugar, lay dill and add vodka. A few hours - and the fish is ready!
The last note - for salting fish, it is better to use dishes made of glass or stainless steel!