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Dried smelt: recipe. Video
Smelt is a small fish from the salmon family, the meat of which is distinguished by its delicate taste, high fat content, the aroma of fresh cucumbers and a large amount of nutrients. Smelt can be cooked in a variety of ways, but it is especially tasty when dried.
A simple recipe for dried smelt
Ingredients: – 2 kg of fresh smelt; – 2 tsp salt.
For drying, it is better to use freshly caught smelt, since the next day the fish will already have a slightly different taste
Place the unpeeled smelt in a saucepan in an even layer and sprinkle with salt. Put a second layer on top and salt again. Repeat layers until the fish is finished. Soak the fish for XNUMX hours and then rinse it under running water.
String the smelt by the tail and hang it up in a well-ventilated area. Thus, you will avoid the appearance of a bitter taste. Hang it over your head after 7 hours so that the smelt retains its fat. Serve the dried smelt to the table, and wrap the leftovers in paper and put in the freezer so that it does not deteriorate.
A fan can be used to speed up the drying process.
You can also salt the smelt correctly in another way. To do this, you will also need fresh smelt and plenty of coarse salt. Lay the smelt in layers in a suitable sized enamel bowl, sprinkle with a lot of salt so that a salt coat forms on the fish. Let the fish sit for 4 hours and then place on several layers of paper. Thanks to this, excess juice will flow out of the fish, and with it excess salt. After 3 hours, string the fish onto a rope and hang in a ventilated area.
Ingredients: – fresh smelt; – salt; – raw egg.
Pour cool water into a bowl, put a raw, unbroken egg in it. Season with salt until the egg pops up. Then stir the salt well to dissolve it completely. Place the smelt in a suitable bowl and fill it with the prepared brine.
Soak the smallmouth smelt in the brine for no more than 4 hours, and the catfish – 6 hours. Then rinse immediately under running water and hang on a rope in a well-ventilated area. To make your dried smelt shine, you can dip it in sweetened water before hanging it on a rope.
Dried smelt with garlic and red pepper
Ingredients: – 2 kg of fresh smelt; – 5 kg of salt; – 3 cloves of garlic; – ground red pepper.
Place the smelt in an enamel basin and sprinkle well with salt. Cover the top with a lid and place some weight on it, for example, a bottle of water. After 4 hours, rinse the fish under running water and place in another basin. Sprinkle with chopped garlic and red pepper. Stir and let sit for 2 hours. Then hang it by the tail on a fishing line or rope in a ventilated area.