Salted herring according to a proven home recipe turns out to be much tastier and healthier than store-bought herring. Self-made food is an excellent choice both for everyday meals and for a festive table, because there can be no doubt about the quality and freshness of the product.
It is not easy to find a herring in stores that would be tasty, fresh and free of any harmful preservatives at the same time, so housewives who care about their health and the health of their loved ones prefer to cook this product on their own. Using different recipes for salting fish, you can surprise your household with a different taste of the dish every time, thereby somewhat diversifying their nutrition.
Since there are a great many ways of salting herring, and each individual recipe gives a different taste to the fish, it is better to use one carcass when salting a product for the first time. Only after taking the sample will you be able to use the recipe in the future when salting a larger batch of fish, or completely abandon it if you do not like the taste of the dish.
Which herring is suitable for pickling: product selection
To make salted herring tasty, it is important to choose fatty fresh fish for canning. Some housewives believe that fish with a large belly is fat, but this is not the case. The fattest are specimens with wide backs.
Also, when choosing herring, you should pay attention to the appearance of the carcasses: fish with a shiny color, rounded, dull eyes and fins that fit tightly to the body are the most suitable for buying, since all of the above signs indicate that the fish is fresh.
It is better to refuse to buy herring with defects (for example, with cuts or torn parts, with no eyes) and an uneven color.
Home-salted herring: canning rules
There are rules to follow when salting fish. If you do not neglect the recommendations below, then the dish will be evenly salted and will be tasty, and the shelf life of the treat will increase. So, you should remember:
- for whole fish salting, small or medium carcasses should be used, while the size of the fish of one salting should be the same;
- gutting fish is an optional procedure before salting it, but the emphasis of the gills is a necessity;
- the use of iodized salt for preserving the product is not allowed;
- for salting fish, any plastic containers with the marking PE (PE) - polyethylene, PETF (PET) or PET (PET) - polyethylene terephthalate, PP (PP) - polypropylene, as well as any glass and enamel containers with a lid are suitable.
- it is imperative to store the finished product in a cool place.
Home-salted herring in brine
This recipe is very simple, so if this is the first time you decide to salt fish, use this method. If you do not deviate from the cooking technology, then the dish will turn out to be interesting in taste with a slight sweetness.
Ingredients:
- two medium-sized herrings;
- litere of water;
- four tablespoons of common salt;
- two tablespoons of sugar (the proportions of salt and sugar must be observed);
- a tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Step-by-step cooking recipe:
Rinse the fish well and be sure to remove the gills. Gut the carcasses and remove the heads if desired. Place the fish in a special container, enamel pot, or jar.
Boil a liter of water, add sugar and salt, stir. Once the brine has cooled, pour in vegetable oil. Fill the fish with the resulting composition, close the lid tightly and put it in the refrigerator.
After three days, the herring can be eaten. Before serving, the fish should, of course, be sliced and, if desired, removed from the bones. You can add a sour taste to the dish by seasoning pieces of herring with lemon juice, table vinegar.
Important: for faster salting of fish, whole carcasses can be cut into small pieces and salted. Thus, the exposure of herring in brine can be reduced to two days.
Spicy home-salted herring
This dish will be appreciated by those people who love the rich spicy taste of dishes. If desired, you can add a little more or a little less spices, thereby adjusting the final taste of the product. However, it is worth remembering that a large amount of bay leaves can negatively affect the dish, namely, give it bitterness. To avoid such an incident, it is necessary to remember that no more than four medium laurel leaves can be added to salting fish (any) per liter of brine.
Ingredients:
- two herrings of the same size (necessary for even salting);
- litere of water;
- four tablespoons of salt;
- one tablespoon of sugar;
- two or three leaves of laurel;
- five peas of allspice;
- three carnation buds.
Step-by-step cooking recipe:
Remove the gills from the fish. Rinse the carcasses well.
Pour a liter of water into a saucepan, add all of the above spices and bring the mixture to a boil.
Place the fish in an enamel pot and cover the carcasses with the cooled solution. Cover the dish with a lid and leave in a cool place for four days. On the fifth day, the herring can be butchered and served with a suitable side dish.
Homemade salted herring in a jar
Herring salted in a jar has a number of advantages, namely: the product is easier to store in the refrigerator (the jar fits easily on the shelf and takes up less space than a saucepan or various dishes), fish and brine are visible through the glass, due to which you can monitor the condition food. And the fish is stored in the jar for a little longer - up to 25 days, provided that the herring is completely in the brine.
Ingredients:
- five to six carcasses of herring;
- two liters of water;
- six tablespoons of salt;
- three laurel litas;
- 10-15 black peppercorns.
Step-by-step cooking recipe:
Rinse the fish and remove the gills (if this is not done, the dish will be spoiled). Place the herring in a 3 liter jar.
Dissolve six tablespoons of salt in two liters of cold boiled water. Add spices to the jar to the fish and pour the herring with the previously prepared brine to the very neck of the jar (do not pour out the remaining brine, as it will come in handy later). Close the jar with a lid and store the container in a cool place.
The sample can be removed after two days (48 hours). After removing the first fish from the jar, the brine should be added to the neck of the container (this is where the previously left composition comes in handy). To prepare one of the main dishes of any festive table - herring under a fur coat, it is better to use fish that has stood in the brine for a week or a little longer.
Trick: if after eight to ten days the herring has not been used, then it is better to remove it from the brine, place it in a special bag or container and freeze it. Frozen fish can be stored for more than a month without losing the taste of the product.
How much can you store homemade salted herring?
Usually, when a herring is bought in a store, there is an inscription on the containers with the expiration date of the product. Often the shelf life of store-bought fish preserves is from three months, since, in addition to salt, they contain other preservatives that inhibit the growth of mold bacteria and yeast.
Since only one preservative is used for salting fish at home - salt, the shelf life of the product depends on the amount of this seasoning and the storage conditions of the workpiece. When using four or more tablespoons of salt per liter of water for brine and when storing herring at a temperature of no higher than eight degrees, the product can be eaten for up to four weeks from the moment the fish is salted. Herring can be stored without brine for up to two days in the refrigerator and no more than five hours at room temperature.
