Dried fish is a folk delicacy, a favorite dish of fishermen, beer lovers and everyone who loves salty foods.
What kind of fish to dry
Drying fish at home is easy. Chekhon, roach, bream, ram, perch, glanders, silver bream - all these fish species are great for drying.
The fish must be freshly caught - this is a guarantee of the subsequent good quality of the product. Each fish separately must be washed from mucus, dirt and debris, and allowed to drain.
To dry fish, you need to salt it
Before you start to dry fish, for example, roach, you need to salt it. For salting, you need dishes. It can be a plastic bucket, a basin, an enamel or aluminum container, a stainless steel pan. Sprinkle the bottom of the dish with coarse salt or pour in a strong saline solution (120 g of salt per 1 kg of fresh fish). Next, the first layer of fish is laid out, as a rule, the largest one and sprinkled with salt. The fish fit tightly, belly up. Then put the second layer of fish, on top - a layer of salt, etc. The dishes with salted fish must be placed in a cool place.
On the second day, brine or brine will appear. Now you need to put oppression on top of the fish (a large jar of water, a brick or stone in a bag). The air from the fish will be squeezed out by the load. After two days, the oppression can be removed.
You can determine the degree of salinity already on the third day. A properly salted fish, if pulled by the tail and head, crunches, because the salt has soaked the spine. In addition, when you press your finger on the fleshy parts of the fish, a dent remains; in under-salted fish, this trace disappears. The meat on the back of the salted fish is dense, dark gray on the cut.
Before the fish is dried, it is soaked
You need to dry the fish soaked and well washed. Each fish separately must be washed from salt and mucus without damaging the scales. The fish should be soaked in fresh water for several hours. For example, a fish that has been salted for three days should soak in water for 4 hours. Three hours of soaking is enough for a two-day salting fish. During this time, it is necessary to change the water and make sure that the water completely covers the fish.
There are several ways to string fish. For example, pieces of aluminum or copper wire 40 to 50 centimeters long are suitable. You can take a clothesline, twine, slats with nails. You can bend hooks from stainless wire, and a mesh in the frame will be needed if the fish is very small. Experienced fishermen advise to pierce the fish in the eye, so it will turn out smooth and will look delicious.
Where can you dry fish
You can dry fish at home in the country, in the attic, in the garden, on the balcony overlooking the courtyard. It is better to hang the fish in the evening, during the night it will wear off and in the morning the flies will not be so much interested in it. To protect against flies, you can use a nylon mesh or gauze stretched over the frame in which the fish is located.
And finally, how to dry fish
Do not place the fish tightly to each other. Each of them should be well ventilated and warmed up by the sun's rays. Drying time will depend on the weather, the season, and the size of the fish. It is better if it is not very humid and the air temperature does not rise above 23 degrees. At a higher temperature, fatty fish can leak fat, and wet fish can simply be cooked in the sun. In such weather, it should be dried in a draft under a canopy, in the attic or in the shade.
After five days, you can start tasting dried fish for readiness, and this should be done every next day. It is better if it is slightly underdried than vice versa. Properly dried fish has red-orange caviar, dry and harsh back, pink-yellow meat.
Cooked dried fish should be stored in a cool place in paper wrapping.
