How to wilt perch yourself - recipe with photo. River perch in brine Salting perch for drying

- a native Russian dish. In Russia, it is customary to dry both sea and river fish, and a variety of species are used for this. The process involves pre-salting the fish, followed by soaking and drying it under natural or artificial conditions. As a result of dehydration and further ripening, it acquires a special taste and smell, as well as a certain consistency due to compaction of the pulp. Its dried meat takes on an amber hue and becomes translucent.

Typically, small species of fish that are not valuable in industrial fishing are used for drying.

Despite its apparent simplicity, this is not an easy task, and it takes a lot of time. A novice fisherman, in order not to spoil his catch, needs to pay attention to many nuances. The best quality is obtained from fish that was salted on the day of catch.

One of the popular types of fish used for drying and drying is perch.

How to dry river perch

River perch turns out to be somewhat dry, with a specific taste. As experienced fishermen say, it is fattier and tastier before spawning, that is, caught in winter or early spring. In the warm season, it is better to dry perch in the spring, before the heat sets in, or closer to autumn, when there are no flies. In the summer heat, the salting and soaking time will be long, and much more salt will be needed. There is a great risk that rotting will begin under the scales quickly seized by salt.

Preparation

For drying, it is advisable to take perches of approximately the same weight, since the salting period for small and large specimens is different. Ideally, these should be fish weighing 200-300 grams. In the warm season, 300 grams of coarse salt per kilogram of fish is needed; in winter it will be needed 2-3 times less.

The material of the dishes in which salting will take place should not oxidize. This can be enameled, glass or plastic containers (bucket, basin, pan), as well as boxes and baskets

In summer and in the spring-autumn period, the fish must be gutted, otherwise, if you leave the guts, you can ruin the entire salting. The gills are also removed, but the scales must be left behind. The perches are washed to remove mucus in cold water and then gutted. Cut fish is not washed. To make the fish tastier, the belly can be left uncut, and the entrails removed through a cut near the ridge. Some fishermen remove dirt with a rag, believing that washing spoils the taste. In winter, do not gut small fish, as this will make them fatter.

Pickling

Salting can be done dry or wet. Dry is more suitable for larger specimens. A box or basket is used as a container, with a piece of fabric placed at the bottom. The inside of the carcasses is rubbed with salt, then they are placed tightly in a box with their bellies up, tails to the head. Sprinkle salt on top, place plywood or something flat and press down with pressure, for example, a stone, to remove air from bubbles and compact the meat. The released liquid will flow through the cracks in the box or basket. The salting time lasts from 5 to 10 days. If you dry salt a small fish, you don’t have to remove the insides: they place it in a box on a rag, sprinkle it generously with salt, cover it with the other end of the rag and put pressure on top.

For salting, you need coarse, non-iodized salt and suitable containers. If the fish are different sizes, the larger ones are placed on the bottom of the dish, the small ones - on top.

Most often, perch is salted using the wet method. To do this, pour salt into the bottom of the container - approximately 3 mm. The fish are placed in rows quite tightly so that each fish rests its belly against the back of the other, and its head against the tail. Sprinkle all rows with salt, generously on the top row so that the perches are completely covered. You can optionally place bay leaves and spices between the rows. Cover it in a circle and put pressure so that it crushes the fish. Place in a cool place (refrigerator or cellar) so that the meat, which has not reached the salt, does not spoil. After salting, a brine begins to form, and in about two days it will cover all the fish. The resulting brine should be transparent. If it is cloudy and reddish, the fish has begun to spoil. Salting time will take approximately 3 to 7 days, depending on the size of the fish. The finished perch has hardened meat; if you pull the tail or head, you should hear a crunch, as if the back is being pulled towards the ridge. If these signs are not present, you need to keep the fish in brine for another day.

Flushing

After salting, soaking in cold water is necessary. Dried perch should not be too salty, with amber-colored meat. The duration of rinsing depends on the duration of salting. There is a rule: for every day of salting, there is an hour of soaking. The perches are placed in a container with a large amount of cold water and washed by hand, the scales should not fly off. Then leave for several hours. It is important not to keep the fish in the water too long, otherwise its outer layers will become soggy. You can try the perch for its salinity level.

Some recommend rinsing the perch under cold running water for 10 minutes to remove any mucus, remaining salt and spices. For lovers of lightly salted fish, the washing time can be slightly increased.

Drying

When the washing is completed, the water is allowed to drain, and the perches are placed in a well-ventilated place, but without sun, in a suspended form. Ideal drying conditions are outside at a temperature of 18-20⁰C.
It is recommended to pass the line through the eye or lower lip to preserve the internal fat in the fish and thus make it more tasty.

Instead of fishing line, you can use homemade hooks made from steel wire, cut and bent in the shape of the letter Z, or regular paper clips. To help the fish dry faster, you can insert toothpicks into the bellies.

Drying time depends on the size of the carcasses, the weather and who prefers what kind of fish - very dry or medium dried

Readiness is checked after about six days. If the fish is still raw, leave it to dry. On average, the drying process takes 5-8 days, and it is already ready to eat, but it takes three to four weeks to reach full maturity.

To speed up the process, you can hang the perches above the gas stove, but lower than 80 cm from its surface. In this case, the fish will dry out in three days. You can dry perch in a well-ventilated attic or balcony, as well as in a cellar. In the latter case, it will have to be dried in a warmer place.

Store dried perch, wrapped in paper, in the refrigerator. If the fish is cooked correctly, it will be stored for a long time - up to 6-10 months.

Recipe for curing sea bass

To dry sea bass, you need to take carcasses weighing from 0.5 to 1 kg, preferably the same size.

When choosing fish, be sure to pay attention to the following points:

• The eyes should be round, transparent, not sunken.
• The tail and fins must not be broken.

For 5 kg of fresh frozen fish you will need a kilogram of coarse non-iodized salt.

To begin, the perch needs to be defrosted naturally at a temperature no higher than 18⁰ C. If the carcasses break off well from each other, you can start salting.

Cut off the fish's head, humerus and caudal fin, and remove the entrails. Gently rinse the gutted carcasses and let the water drain.

To pickle, take an enamel basin or bucket and rinse it with cold water. Roll each carcass in salt and place it in rows crosswise tightly to each other, sprinkling each row with salt. Pour the remaining salt onto the last row, cover with a wooden circle, plywood or flat plate, and press with a weight of about 3 kg. This could be a three-liter jar of water.

The fish can be left at room temperature, but it is better to place it in a cool place for 3-6 days. After the expiration date, stir the carcasses and pour them into a bath of cold water, where they keep for 4 hours. Then rinse each fish under cold running water.

They pierce the fish in the tail section with an awl and hang it on hooks for two to three hours to drain the water. After this, they are taken out into a draft, it is advisable that the temperature does not exceed 25⁰C. If there are significant differences in daytime and nighttime temperatures outside, the perch should be brought indoors at night. It takes about 3-7 days to dry the fish, depending on what condition you would like to achieve.

If the finished sea bass will be stored for a long time, you need to place it in a box and turn it over periodically - about once a week

In winter, it is impossible to achieve the same ripening of fish as in summer, since only in the fresh air with low humidity is it possible to obtain a high-quality product. In winter, indoors, the process goes faster due to heat, and the fish does not have time to acquire an amber color and transparency.

Dried fish is considered an original Russian treat. For this method of cooking fish, you can use different varieties and types. Housewives and fishermen often dry perch, both river and sea.

After all the processes, dried perch acquires an amber color, and its meat becomes translucent. To get this result, you must strictly follow the technology for each drying point.

How to dry river perch

If the decision to cook fish in this way was made for the first time, then you may be faced with the question of how to dry perch correctly.

It is best to catch the perch before they begin to spawn. During this period, they are fattier and tastier (the best individuals can be caught in winter and early spring).

If you dry these fish in the heat of summer, the cooking time becomes much longer. Therefore, the best time for this is spring, when there is no heat yet, and late autumn.

By the way, when salting small carcasses in winter, you don’t have to gut them, this will preserve the fat content

How to prepare carcasses

In order to salt perch and subsequently dry the carcasses, you should prepare. It is worth choosing fish of the same size. This is due to the fact that the salting period for large and small individuals differs. The ideal size is considered to be the weight of one carcass 250 - 350 g.

Each fish should be gutted and washed well in cold water. After this, the gills and eyes must be removed from the head. To leave the abdomen intact, you can make a small incision near the ridge and remove the entrails through it. Some fishermen believe that rinsing after gutting removes the flavor from the meat, so they simply wipe them with a clean, natural cloth.

It is best to use glass, enamel, wood and plastic containers for pickling. It will not oxidize and will not spoil the taste of the future dish.

How to salt fish

There are two ways to salt fish.

1. Dry method. It is most suitable for larger carcasses. In order to salt perches using this method, you should take a wooden basket or box, 250 g of salt per 1 kg and pressure. Prepared carcasses are rubbed with salt and placed tightly in containers. During the laying process, you can additionally sprinkle the layers of fish with a small amount of salt. After this, a suitable sized plate and wooden shield are placed on the contents of the container and pressed down with a load on top. Carcasses remain in this state for 6–10 days (depending on size).
2. Brine method. In this case, it is recommended to use containers made of plastic, glass or enamel basins. About 3 - 4 mm of salt is poured onto the bottom. Afterwards the fish are laid out on it in dense rows. Sprinkle again with a layer of salt (amply). Cover with a lid of a suitable size and place pressure on top. After this, it is removed to a cool place and left for 4 to 7 days. Around the 2nd day, juice will begin to release from the fish, and when it is mixed with salt, a brine (brine) is formed.

If necessary, you can put bay leaves and allspice peas between the carcasses. This will give the fish new notes of taste and aroma.

If during the process the brine acquires a reddish tint or becomes cloudy, this will mean that the fish has spoiled. This happens when the carcasses were prepared incorrectly or the fish was not entirely fresh.

To salt perch correctly, you must use only freshly caught specimens that have not been frozen

How to soak carcasses after salting

In order to properly rinse and soak perches, you should know the following.

The fish is soaked only in cold water. If it was highly saline, then the water must be changed periodically.

The time for washing is determined as follows: for every 24 hours of salting, it is necessary to keep the carcasses in water for 1 hour. However, there is one exception. If the salting took place in brine, then the time is reduced to 40 - 50 minutes for every day.

It is necessary to monitor the condition of the carcasses and not let them get wet. Otherwise the meat will become too loose.

Before placing half of the finished dish in water, you should rinse the carcasses to remove mucus formed from water and spices.

Fishermen usually soak medium-sized river perch in cold water for about 3 hours

How to dry them correctly

After the carcasses have the required salinity, they must be dried. To do this, allow excess water to drain in a ventilated place in the shade.

Then a wire is passed through each fish's eye sockets or gill slits and hung in a special box made of mesh or gauze to dry. This barrier protects the treat from insects that could spoil it.

By the way, this method of stringing does not damage the carcass itself, and all the fat remains in the meat.

You can also hang fish on hooks. They are made of wire (steel) and bent so that there is a hook at each end (outwardly it looks like the letter Z). If the carcasses are very small, then simple paper clips (paper clips) can be used for drying.

In this state, the drying process lasts 5–6 days. However, if the carcasses are damp, you should leave them for another couple of days.

It is best to place the dryer on the balcony or outside in a shady place. After these steps, you can dry the perches.

If the attic is well ventilated, you can use it

How to dry perch

No matter how strange it may sound, drying and drying are almost the same thing. However, there is one difference. In order for the dried perch to take its correct form, they should be placed in the sun. You can dry perches this way at home in 60–120 minutes.

During this period, the carcasses will release a small amount of fat, which will dry out and give the perches an amber tint, and make their meat a little transparent.

After this, the dried perch can be served.

Provided that all points were made according to technology, the fish will be stored for quite a long time. On average it lasts 6 – 10 months, but usually the treat ends much earlier.

Dried fish should be stored in the refrigerator, wrapped in paper.

Step-by-step recipe for salting in brine

The following ingredients are used for this recipe:

• 2 kg of perches;
• 500 g coarse salt.

If necessary, you can add a small amount of bay leaves, allspice peas and other fish herbs to taste.

Delicious perches can be prepared according to the following instructions.

1. Inspect the carcasses for signs of spoilage. They should not have strange spots, unpleasant odor, cloudy eyes or other defects.
2. Wash and cut the fish, gut them and remove the eyes and gills. After this, dry each carcass well with a natural, clean cloth.
3. Rub each fish well inside and out with salt, making sure to avoid hard-to-reach areas.
4. After this, place them in an enamel container of a suitable size so that they lie very tightly. The bellies should be turned up.
5. Pour the remaining salt into a container and cover everything with a lid of a smaller diameter and place pressure on top.
6. After 3–4 days, remove the perches from the resulting brine and rinse them from mucus in running water.
7. Place them on the table and allow excess moisture to drain. After this, prepare them for drying.
8. Thread each carcass through the lip or eye socket onto a wire or fishing line and hang it in a shaded, ventilated place. A balcony is ideal.
9. Insert toothpick spacers into the bellies. After that, protect them from insects.

After 3 - 4 days, you can remove the fish, lay it out in the sun for 40 - 60 minutes and call friends. The cured meat in the finished dish will have a pleasant amber and slightly golden hue, and if you look through it into the light, it will be slightly transparent.

They prefer to eat this treat with boiled potatoes or foamy drinks.

If during gutting there is caviar inside, then it should be collected in a separate plate and subsequently salted. This will be a great addition to the main meal.

This recipe makes a delicious batter

What can you do with dried fish?

After the dish is ready, you can smoke it a little. To do this, you will need a smokehouse and prefabricated wood chips (usually birch barks with currant branches are used). Dried fish is loaded into the upper compartment of the smokehouse, and wood chips are placed in the lower compartment and set on fire. After it burns out, you can take out the perches.

Dried fish should not be kept in the smoker for more than 50 minutes, otherwise it will become too soft and lose its shape.

The treat will acquire a beautiful bronze hue and a delicious aroma. Its taste will also change a little and become brighter and richer.

How to dry perch is a popular question that fishing enthusiasts have repeatedly asked. In addition to being fried and baked, perch makes an excellent beer snack. Its main advantage is that it is prepared from fresh product caught the day before. By performing all the processes correctly, you will get a delicious battering ram.

Necessary ingredients for drying perch

In the summer, there are no problems with a place to dry the ram (balcony), which cannot be said about the cold season. The problem is solved by constructing a homemade dryer over a stove or in a warm, ventilated room. Knowing where and how to dry perches in winter, you should familiarize yourself with the required ingredients:

• 1.5 kilograms of perch;
• 300 grams of salt;
• 3 tablespoons sugar.

Perch drying process

The process of preparing dried fish involves 4 main stages:

1. PREPARATION. The fish is washed with running water. The large one is cleaned of entrails, the small one is not cleaned.
2. SALTED. Lasts 2–4 days (the size of the catch is taken into account). Salt and sugar are mixed. The resulting mixture is generously sprinkled on the first layer of the catch, placed in a prepared deep container. Place the second one on top, sprinkle with salt and sugar. The entire prepared volume of river fish is salted. The catch is covered with a plate with a diameter smaller than that of the main container. A weight (a container of water) is placed on the plate. If the back of the salted perch is elastic when pressed, it’s time to move on to soaking.
3. SOAKING. The duration is similar to the previous stage. The salted product is filled with water. During soaking, the liquid is changed several times. There is a third stage to get rid of excess salt. Knowing the basics of proper catch preparation and how to properly dry perch, your supply of excellent snacks will be replenished.
4. DRYING. How to dry perch, where it is best to do it, was discussed above. Having strung the fish on a wire, you should know how long to dry the perch. The recommended time is a week. You can try the snack earlier. Instead of a dried delicacy, you will get a dried one.

Having caught a rich catch of river fish, you don’t need to worry about the lack of ideas for preparing it. If fried or steamed dishes are no longer impressive, you should try the given recipe. Knowing how to dry perch at home, you will have a tasty ram with a long shelf life in your house.

People who care about their health and the health of their family must include fish dishes in their weekly diet. There are many ways to prepare fish. These include fish soups, fried fish, and baked fish with various sauces, but perhaps the most delicious fish is a salted or smoked carcass.

Sea bass is a valuable, nutritious fish that can be prepared in all of the above ways. Salting and smoking are also suitable for processing this fish.

How to pickle sea bass?

For every kilogram of fish you will need 100 grams of salt, that is, 10% of its weight. The fish needs to be cleaned of scales with a knife and a cut is made on the abdomen. Remove all the entrails from the perch. Before salting, it is also necessary to remove the gills and cut off the large dorsal fin. Before you start salting, rinse the sea bass and dry it with a clean, dry towel or thick cloth.

Pour some salt into the bottom of an enamel pan. Place the fish on the salt, pressing them tightly together. Place the fish layer by layer, sprinkle each layer generously with salt. The top row should be completely covered with salt. Now you need to put pressure on the fish. It is best to choose a cutting board that matches the size of the pan and place something heavy on it, for example, a three-liter jar filled with water.

The fish is cooked in a period of two to five days; the exact cooking time depends on the size of the fish. After this time it will be well salted. All that remains is to hang it out to dry. Important note: Before hanging the sea bass out to dry, soak it in water for about three hours.

How to salt sea bass before smoking?

It is worth noting that salted sea bass is not as popular as smoked sea bass. Before smoking, the fish also needs to be pre-salted, but unlike the first method, here the fish is not cleaned of scales, but only gutted and thoroughly wiped so that there are no blood clots left in the abdomen, because they can spoil the smell and taste of the finished fish.

Salt should be taken in an amount of 10% of the weight of the fish. Rub each carcass with salt inside and out and place under pressure in a cool place. Before smoking sea bass, it is enough to salt it for 15 hours, then hang the fish to dry for about 9 hours. It is important that the fish is well dried, otherwise it may become moldy when cooked. When the fish is dry, it is ready for smoking.

Smoked and salted sea bass will become an original appetizer on your table.