Balyk is made from fatty fish: sturgeon, halibut, silver carp or notothenia. A properly prepared balyk tastes better than smoked fish.
It is necessary
-
- coarse salt
- big fatty fish
- spices to taste (allspice and black pepper
- carnation
- Bay leaf)
- saltpeter (1g per 1 kg of fish)
Instructions
Step 1
Scale the fish and separate the ridge and tail from it. Pour boiling water over the dishes prepared for salting and dry thoroughly. Put the fish in it and sprinkle with a mixture of saltpeter, spices and coarse salt so that its parts do not come into contact with each other and the walls of the dishes. Otherwise, the fish may go bad. Then keep it in salt for 8 to 10 days. The larger the fish, the longer it will take to salt it. In warm weather, the time for salting fish should be increased to 14 days.
Step 2
When the balyk is well salted, remove the fish from the dishes and shake off excess salt well. After that, it must be soaked in water for 2 days. Water must be filtered or boiled. Periodically, the balyk needs to be turned over. Soaking the fish is necessary to extract excess salt from it.
Step 3
After soaking, hook the fish carcass and hang it outdoors, protected from rain or in a well-ventilated area. The fish should also be protected from insects with gauze or a special net. The place where the fish will be dried should be dry and well ventilated, warm and not too hot. If possible, in the first few days, keep the balyk in the open sun for 2-3 hours a day. This is necessary so that the fish is covered with a dense crust. This is the most important stage in the preparation of fish. If a crust forms on the fish in the first 3 days, it will definitely not deteriorate in the future.
Step 4
After that, hang the balyk under a canopy or put it in a dark and cool place for full maturation. Suspended fish should be well ventilated. Balyk ripens within 4 weeks. Its readiness is determined visually, from the outside it becomes a yellow hue, quite elastic and has a pleasant smell. If the fish does not have a yellow tint, then it is not completely cooked or salted. Poorly dried fish is juicier, but not stored for long. Well-dried fish is slightly tougher, but more flavorful and can be stored for a long time even without a refrigerator.
Step 5
Store the prepared balyk in a wooden container, carefully wrapped in paper, in a cool, dark place. Its shelf life is approximately 3 months.
