How to Dry Fish

For drying, fish with a weight of up to one kilogram are most suitable. It is better to dry fish of medium fat content, for example, ram, vobla, carp. First, the fish are well washed and cleaned. It is better to clean small fish from the abdomen, and large fish from the back, making a long incision from head to tail, so that the fish dries more quickly. Scooping fish scales is not necessary.



Before drying the fish, it is necessary to salinize it. The main task of salt is to draw out of fish excessmoisture, so it is better to take a coarse grinding salt, which dissolves more slowly and draws more moisture out of the fish. Gutted fish and table salt are laid out in a large pan in layers. The top layer is put salt, it should completely cover the fish. If the salt is too low, the fish will be fresh, if too much - the salt will be taken up by lumps. You can add a little sugar, spices or transfer salt and salt to the salt with a laurel leaf, the main thing is not to overdo it. The fish should be packed as tightly as possible.



On top of the pot put oppression (stone, vessel withwater) and leave it for a few days. A few hours later on the surface of the pot will perform a brine - the so-called brine. Salting fish is best in a cool place - it salves slowly, and the cold will prevent possible spoilage. The meat of a well salted fish is dark gray, the back is dense, and it creaks if you pull it by the head and tail.



Salted fish should be thoroughly washed, to wash away the mucus and excess salt and spices. Often fish is soaked in water until the moment when it starts to float. It is believed that the fish should be soaked as much as it did. Then the fish is carefully wiped with a towel and hung out to dry. To prevent fish from drying up in the fish, it can be dipped in unrefined sunflower oil or treated with a 3% vinegar solution.



Dry the fish in a sunny place, which is well blown by the wind. Suspending the fish on a rope, it is usually fastened tolower lip or through the eye - so the dried fish turns out juicier. Hooks for hanging fish are made from wire. To dry fish, you can use even ordinary paper clips. Still it is possible to string a fish on a twine with the help of a gypsy needle. Fish should be covered with gauze, and in its absence - an old tulle curtain in a fine mesh. It is good to dry fish in special boxes - wooden or plastic boxes with a rope or hooks for drying fish covered with gauze. You can dry fish over a gas stove, but in no case can it be hung too low - no lower than 80 cm above the plate level. Usually the fish in the air is dried about a week, above the stove - for a couple of days.



Store the dried fish in the refrigerator. It can be wrapped in polyethylene food film or parchment paper. Badly packaged dried fish can damp. A fine dried fish can be ground in a mortar - fish meal will turn out. It is poured into hermetic jars (preferably metallic) and used for cooking soup and some other dishes.



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