River perch is found in abundance in the rivers and lakes of the European part of Russia. This fish is especially tasty when dried, the small size of the perch makes it easy to dry at home.
It is necessary
-
- 10 kg of fresh perch;
- 1.5 kg of coarse salt;
- cool
- well ventilated area;
- gauze.
Instructions
Step 1
Take a perch weighing up to 500 grams - it will be easiest to salt fish of this size evenly at home. Rinse the fish in cold water, gut the larger specimens, remove the gills from them.
Step 2
Pour coarse salt in a layer of up to three millimeters on the bottom of a wide enamel dish, put the fish on top - head to tail, close enough to each other. Cover the fish with salt, then add salt to each subsequent layer. You can put bay leaves in salt, other spices to taste.
Step 3
Close the container with a smaller lid, put a load on top, put it in a cool dark place and leave it for three to four days. Remove the perch from the salt and rinse under cold running water, removing salt, spices and mucus (if you want to remove some salt from the fish and make it lightly salted, rinse for 15-20 minutes).
Step 4
Dry the fish, leaving all the water on the wire rack, then pat dry with paper towels and hang to dry. To do this, pass ropes or paper clips through the eyes or lower lip (you can bend hooks from pieces of wire) and hang on the rope (the fish should hang freely, the carcasses do not touch each other).
Step 5
Hang the perch in a shaded, well-ventilated place - in a sheltered yard, on a balcony, on a tree if drying in the field. It should be dry and warm outside. Cover the fish thoroughly with two to three layers of cheesecloth to keep out dust and flies. Under these conditions, the perch will be ready to eat in five to eight days.
Step 6
Hang the fish over a gas stove to dry, making sure it is far enough away from the burners (at least 80 centimeters). In such conditions, a small perch is salted in two to three days. Store dried fish in the refrigerator wrapped in parchment paper or plastic.
