How to salt fish for drying at home: delicious recipes

It would seem that it is easier than to salt and then dry the fish, but even here there are subtleties. Now many people practice self-preparation of various dishes, and this is not surprising, since purchased ones do not always meet quality indicators, as they are crammed with various chemistry. There are several well-known recipes used for salting fish, with its further drying.

Which fish is suitable for home salting and drying

At home, it’s really possible to salt and then dry such fish:

• Wobble
• Lentils.
• Karasey.
• Golza.
• Gusteru.
• Pike.
• Perch.
• Bychkov.
• Tolstolobika.

As a rule, for this method of preparation, only freshly caught fish is used. This is mainly done by families who have fishermen, which means fresh fish. Often it is salted and dried in order to have something to eat in winter. In addition, dried and salted fish goes well with beer.

How to prepare fish for salting

Training can be carried out in 2 directions, for example:

• If the fish is large and reaches a length of more than 30 centimeters, then it will have to be gutted by removing the insides, after which the fish is thoroughly washed in cool water. The head may not be cut off, but the gills must be removed.
• If the carcasses are less than 30 centimeters long, then they practically do not need preparation. Such fish is salted not gutted, but it is better to remove the gills.

If the gills are not removed, then the dried fish will still begin to disappear due to the high concentration of various bacteria in them. In this case, even a large concentration of salt does not help.

Salting recipes

On the Internet you can find many recipes that help to salt the fish, but not all of them help to preserve the taste of the product, giving the meat the desired structure and preserving the fat content.

If the fish is supposed to be stored for a long time, then traditional methods are more suitable, but if the fish is supposed to be eaten immediately after cooking, then it’s really possible to use spicy salting.

Dry (traditional) method

The traditional or classic method of salting is carried out in a deep container, with holes, made of wood. As a container, it is permissible to use a box made of ordinary boards. You should also stock up on a linen bag, coarse rock salt, and fish (prepared).

The bag is placed on the bottom of the box, and then the fish is laid out and salted.

First of all, a centimeter layer of salt is poured onto the bottom of the container, and then the fish, while each fish is carefully rubbed with salt from all sides. The fish is stacked so that there is as little free space as possible. After each layer laid in this way, the fish is sprinkled with a thin layer of salt. After the laying process is completed, the fish is also covered with a centimeter layer of salt from above. Finally, the fish is covered with a lid with a heavy weight, and the lid should put pressure on the fish, and not just close the container.

On a note! If you press down the fish with oppression, then voids will not form between the carcasses of the fish, in which bacteria can develop. In addition, oppression makes the structure of the meat more dense.

In this state, the fish is left for a week and a half, in a cool, dark place. The juice that starts to stand out will come out through the holes.

At the end of the salting process, they begin the process of soaking the fish and further drying it.

Wet method or salting in brine

To do this, you will have to find a suitable container that does not support oxidation processes. A plastic bucket is suitable for this, but it must be made of food-grade plastic or an enameled bucket (pot), etc. After that, the fish fits tightly into the container with the belly up and sprinkled with salt. For 10 kg of fish, 1 kg of salt is required.

On a note! If you add no more than 30 g of sugar for each kilogram of salt, then the fish meat will turn out to be more tender in taste.

Just as in the first case, the fish should be pressed down with a lid with a load (oppression). Somewhere on the 2nd day, the fish begins to release juice, which combines with salt. The result is a brine in which the fish will stay for up to 10 days, which depends on the size of the fish: the larger the carcass, the more time is needed for them to be well saturated with the marinade.

After this period, the fish is taken out and washed in running water, after which the fish is ready for the next stage – the stage of drying or drying.

Preparing a brine is not difficult if you dissolve 1 kg of salt in 3 liters of water. After that, the fish is poured with the resulting brine and aged for up to 8 days. The fish, as in the first case, must be covered with oppression and put in a cool place.

Spicy salting method

The correct salting process is to prepare the brine, as in the previous case, and then add spices to it, in the form of bay leaves, black peppercorns, horseradish leaves and coriander (in any form). If you add a little sugar, it will not worsen the taste of the product.

The fish should be placed in an enameled container and poured with brine. Without fail, the fish is covered with oppression. After that, the fish is left for a couple of days.

After this process, it is better to dry the fish a little, which will increase the shelf life of the fish in the refrigerator, and also allow you to get a brighter taste.

hanging way

This method of salting is mainly used in relation to fatty varieties of fish. Fish carcasses are strung on a transverse rod through the gills and placed in a container with brine. Moreover, the fish must be in limbo. As a brine, water and salt are used without the addition of other components. The amount of salt is determined as follows: a raw egg or potato is placed in the brine. If they do not sink, then the brine of the desired concentration.

The salting process lasts 4-6 days. Naturally, it is difficult to determine exactly how long it takes for the carcasses to soak in brine, but not gain excess salt. As a result, many fish are overexposed. As a result, the fish then has to be soaked, and longer than usual.

Salmon method for fresh fish

Mackerel or herring are usually salted in this way. Before salting, the fish is cut up and generously sprinkled with salt within the abdomen, as well as on the back. It is better to add 10 grams of sugar and spices to salt, in the form of bay leaves or black peppercorns. After that, the fish is wrapped in a linen or cotton cloth, after which the fish is placed in the refrigerator.

After that, the fish is kept in the refrigerator for up to 30 hours, and then the fish is taken out and dried on a flat surface. At the same time, some people begin to eat fish without drying it.

Soaking after salting

The soaking procedure is mandatory, regardless of which method the fish was salted, although the traditional method does not require this process and the fish can simply be washed under running water.

The soaking technology is as follows:

• First of all, you should sort the fish depending on the size.
• If the fish is large, then it should be soaked for one and a half or two days, while changing the water 3 times.
• Only cool water is used for soaking.
• For soaking small carcasses, one day is enough, while the water changes only 2 times.
• After the end of this process, the water is drained, and the fish is left for a while so that it gets rid of the remaining moisture.

At this stage, the soaking of the fish ends and the fish can be dried or dried.

Dried or Dried Fish: What’s the Difference?

Few can give the correct answer to the question of how dried fish differs from dried.

In this case, in any case, the fish is salted and must be soaked. The drying process takes place in well-ventilated areas with access to sunlight. The drying process in this case is accompanied by complex physical and biochemical processes. In addition, dried fish is not a semi-finished product and can be immediately eaten without subjecting it to additional processing.

On a note! There are special dryers for drying fish, but, in extreme cases, a balcony is also suitable.

As for dried fish, it is considered a semi-finished product and its use requires additional processing. All this is due to the fact that the fish does not ripen during this process due to the peculiarities of the process itself.

Although there are a lot of ways to salt fish, you can use only one of the presented ones. Withering or drying fish at home is not difficult, just take water and salt. This is the easiest, classic way that does not require much time. In addition, a small fish does not require much time to prepare. Salted fish (dried) before serving, it is better to further process with steam. As a side dish, boiled potatoes are suitable, which go well with any salted fish.

In conclusion

Dried or dried fish, if cooked correctly, lasts quite a long time. In addition, all the main nutritional components are preserved in such fish for a long time. Such fish is the most useful for the human body, although not everyone can eat it, due to the high concentration of salt. This is especially true for people who have impaired basic kidney functions, who have problems with the functioning of the cardiovascular system, etc.