Salted herring is the simplest and cheapest cold appetizer. It can be found on any table and in any corner of our country. However, this was not always the case. This fish appeared in Russia only in the 15th century, when, in fact, they learned to salt it. Before that, it served as food for the poor and the poor only in boiled and fried form. It is interesting that the fish got its name most likely from the word “salt”, but through the Maloross dialect, the word “sil” smoothly turned into “sild”. So even the name suggests that the herring must be salty!
The most important step in the preparation of such a dish as salted herring is the right choice of the starting product. We will not bore you with unnecessary details - it is unlikely that the average buyer is able to distinguish Baltic fish from Pacific fish by eye. You need to know the following: salting herring should be large (greasy), without visible damage, with a head, with finely pressed fins, with a natural color without signs of yellowness.
The second important step is the proper defrosting of the fish. You can not defrost herring under hot and cold water and in the microwave, even in the special “defrost” mode. The best option is to allow the fish to thaw in the refrigerator at a temperature not exceeding + 5 ° C.
The best and easiest recipes
1. Herring salted spicy salting
This is the easiest salting recipe. Clean and wash the fish, remove the gills (otherwise the finished product will be bitter) and put it in a suitable dish. Brine: one liter of water, two large tablespoons of salt, one (without a hill) a spoon of sugar, black and allspice peas and a couple of bay leaves. Bring the brine to a boil, cool and pour the fish. You can eat in a day.
2. Traditional salty herring
For this dish, it is necessary to properly prepare a saturated saline solution - the salt must be added to hot water until it stops dissolving. Then the liquid is brought to a boil, if desired, spices are added - mustard seeds, coriander, peppercorns and bay leaf. Then, pre-prepared fish laid upside down is poured with chilled brine. The container must be left for about an hour at normal temperature, and then put in the refrigerator for one or two days. Important: if the skin of the fish is damaged, it will be salted.
3. Herring salted dry salted
Fish should be cleaned and washed, gills removed, and then the carcass thoroughly dried with paper towels. Next, mix 1.5 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. sugar and 0.5 tsp black pepper and rub herring inside and out with this mixture. After these manipulations, the fish must be wrapped in several layers of cling film, put in a convenient container and put in the refrigerator for two days.
Sometimes housewives overload spicy pickle or use unsuitable fish. The result is a very salty herring. What to do in this case? You can use the old and well-proven method: soak herring in milk. She will become very tender and extremely tasty. Another, no less effective method is to fill the fish with cold water and change the liquid every 3-4 hours. In a day, all excess salt will be washed, however, and the herring will become more fresh. In order to spice it up, we recommend shifting the fish with pickled onions and adding some unrefined sunflower oil. You can also remove excess salt by soaking the fish in tea.
All these methods are good, but a completely logical question arises: "What if the herring is salty to impossibility, but you want to eat it right now?" To do this, you need to mix the fish with some product that absorbs salt well. Of course, for this you will have to cut the herring into fillets and make a sandwich mass or minced meat from it. As an addition, avocados, boiled potatoes and egg whites are perfect . The prepared product must be spread on white or black (slightly dried) bread. Very simple and incredibly delicious!