In the post-Soviet space, it is customary to eat beer with fish. This is no coincidence: meat strips are too expensive, nuts and chips are harmful, bread toasts are a sure way to be overweight, and cheese and fruits are overly exotic. So it turns out that regardless of age, profession and social habits, most beer lovers choose fish, but such a snack can also be very different. We will consider the features of the combination of each type.
By cooking method
Dried: or “ram”, and this is not a specific variety, but a common name for roach, roach and any other species (most often representatives of the carp family are dried). Today, such snacks are sold in packs and by weight in any beer store, but gourmets can easily prepare dried fish on their own: first, you need to salt the catch for 3-4 days, and then simply hang the carcasses in a well-ventilated place and leave it that way for a week.
Dried fish for beer: often confused with dried fish, but there is a difference. The ram remains “fat”, it simply loses some of the liquid, and the dried fish is completely dehydrated. Most often it is cooked in a special dryer or under direct sunlight, the finished product is stored for virtually an infinitely long time and is suitable not only as a beer snack, but also often serves as a semi-finished product for cooking fish soups or dishes.
One of the most popular variations is the “amber fish”. In fact, despite the sonorous name, it is just dried pollock.
Salted: this, of course, is the well-known herring. Traditionally served with vodka, but also goes well with beer. They salt bream, pike perch, halibut, haddock, asp and other varieties of both freshwater and marine fish.
Cold smoked: the undoubted leaders of this segment are mackerel, salmon, trout, pink salmon, mackerel, capelin, peled, pike.
Hot Smoked: This category includes all salmon, plus pike, zander and perch.
Roasted: First of all, this is smelt, which is shelled quickly and imperceptibly, like seeds (or dried anchovies). There can be an unprecedented variety of recipes here: cod in batter, and salmon on a vegetable pillow, and perch with cheese, and anything else. Of course, in this form, fish is no longer considered an appetizer, but a full meal.
As for the correspondence between beer varieties and preparation methods, there is no clear system, everything depends solely on the taste of the taster.
By fish species
Vobla: one of the most famous and beloved by the people of the fish.
Tyulka: juicy, small, inexpensive. Before use, it is not necessary to clean and butcher, it is eaten whole.
Peled: has fatty and juicy meat, but is difficult to clean.
Flounder: not bony, tender, sometimes with caviar.
Vendace: often eaten smoked, has a pinkish dense meat and an attractive price, it is recommended not to clean the fish, but simply cut it into slices.
Of course, we have not listed all the names of fish for beer, only some of them to give a general idea of this appetizer. Traditionally, dried fish goes well with pale lagers and unfiltered froth or craft, while smoked salmon or fried trout are better for dark varieties, but this is a very arbitrary distinction.
Fish snacks in other countries
It is customary not only for us to seize beer with fish.
England: traditional fish&chips are sold on every corner – fried fish (cod or sole) with french fries. This is the most popular fast food, and the favorite food of the working class, and, of course, the invariable snack with ale.
Greece: a seaside country also pleases with an abundance of fish snacks and dishes. For beer, you can order fried aferinia – almost an analogue of our smelt, the same small and tasty fish.
Denmark: The Danes have great respect for smoked fish of various varieties.
New Zealand: here, as in Russia, fish is salted or smoked, and perch varieties are preferred.
Canada: in this country, beer is served not only with chilled fish, but also with seafood.
Romania: feel free to order any fish dish with beer in a restaurant: this will not surprise anyone.
Japan: in the Land of the Rising Sun, the cult of seafood dishes generally reigns, and fish in dough is often asked for beer.