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Balyk is the back of the fish, its upper part. Fish balyk is fish that has been salted and dried in a special way.
Almost any river or sea fish is used for salting and drying fish, but special requirements are imposed on fish used for balyk. Its taste properties depend on what kind of fish is used to prepare balyk. Real balyk is prepared from valuable species of sturgeon and salmon fish - the so-called. balyk is made from sturgeon and red fish, but we will prepare it from any fish that is suitable in size.
You should know that balyk is made from pork, chicken, turkey, etc. - This is not exactly balyk, but salted-dried or dried meat. The word “balyk” is more correct to refer only to fish, and balyk is precisely the upper part, the back of the fish, and all that is cut off from it is the tesha, the abdominal part of the fish, which is sometimes cooked separately.
Another variety of balyk is bokovnik - it is prepared from halves of fish cut along the ridge.
What kind of fish goes for balyk
Any large fish whose meat has high and medium fat content is considered suitable for preparing balyk. Fatty fish with a small number of small fork bones is prized, but balyk can be made from almost any fish of sufficiently large size.
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The most popular types of fish from which delicious balyk is made are asp, silver carp, catfish and carp. Balyk made from sturgeon and red fish from the salmon family will be very tasty. The fattest fish will be any fish caught in the autumn and early winter.
List of fish that make delicious balyk, grouped by popularity:
- Asp, ide, chub, bream;
- Silver carp;
- Catfish;
- Carp, carp, crucian carp;
- Mackerel, mackerel, tuna;
- Pike, zander;
- Chum salmon, pink salmon, trout, omul, whitefish, nelma, salmon;
- Sturgeon and sturgeon species of fish.
There is a fish on this list that cannot be considered a boneless fish and is not a fatty fish, but this does not mean that it cannot be used to make balyk. There will always be lovers of dietary lean meat, for example, pike or pike perch in the form of balyk.
The asp is at the top of this list not because it makes the most delicious balyk, but because it more often ends up in the hands of the fisherman as a trophy. This is a rather bony fish, and when the question arises of how to cook it, two options come to mind: mince it and fry the cutlets, or make balyk and then deal with the bones - it is much more convenient to do this in dried fish than in cooked in a different way.
The fish from which balyk is prepared can be divided by size into medium, large and very large. Medium-sized fish is used for balyk almost entirely, and large ones undergo preliminary cutting - it is divided into tesha and the balyk itself. Very large fish is cut into pieces.
Cooking balyk
There are a huge variety of ways to prepare balyk, and there is always the possibility of improvisation, but there are also common principles that you should try to follow.
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Fish balyk is divided by type of fish, size, salting method, type and degree of drying of fish meat. Cold smoked balyk (drying fish in cooled smoke) turns out to be very tasty, but it cannot be prepared at home.
Subtleties of cooking
- Large fish are flattened on the side and cut for uniform salting and drying;
- A not very large fish is flattened along the ridge without ripping open the belly, the head and tail are not removed, only the gills and entrails are removed;
- Very large fish are filleted, which is cut into pieces from which the balyk is prepared separately from the meat;
- To speed up the process of preparing balyk, the skin of the fish is removed;
- If the fish is fished in pieces, their size should be large, but in moderation - small pieces dry out quickly, and too large pieces are poorly salted;
- The taste of balyk depends not only on the salting method, but also on the degree of drying - the drier the fish meat, the saltier it is;
- The salt that is used for salting fish should be coarse without foreign impurities;
- After salting, the fish should be soaked for as many hours as the number of days it was in the brine;
- To obtain the spicy taste of balyk, at the stage of salting the fish, up to ½ part of sugar (usually 20-30%) and spicy spices (allspice, nutmeg, bay leaf, black peppercorns, coriander, cloves, ginger and others) are added to the salt. .
In general, preparing fish balyk is done as follows:
- The fish is scaled and cut;
- Prepared fish is salted dry or in brine;
- Salted fish undergoes soaking, which removes excess salt;
- The fish is hung out for drying or sent for cold smoking.
It should be noted that balyk salted in brine, in cool conditions, can remain in it for several months.
How to cook carp balyk at home
Carp balyk prepared at home is tender and juicy. It can be served as a separate dish or used as an additional ingredient for appetizers and first courses.
There are several different recipes, following which you can give the product a piquant taste, but regardless of the technology, you will need to prepare the carcass for key processes.
Choosing fish for balyk
The delicacy is best prepared from fresh fish. Individuals that have been frozen will have a different taste and will not last as long. The larger the fish, the better. The optimal weight is 5-7 kg, but balyk is also made from smaller fish. Finding a big carcass is not difficult. In autumn, excellent catches are observed in Astrakhan. That is why there is nothing more valuable than Astrakhan fish.
When purchasing raw materials for balyk on the market, pay attention to the condition:
- eyes - they should be bright, glassy;
- surface – without mucus, shiny;
- gills - red or bright pink.
Depending on the size of the selected raw materials, you can adjust the recipe by determining the required amount of ingredients.
Cleaning and preparing the carcass
There are many videos that clearly demonstrate the cutting process. Conventionally, the process is divided into five stages:
- Cleaning. You need to remove the scales. This is done with a large knife, since the surface is very hard and the scales are large.
- Evisceration. The insides are removed through an incision in the abdominal cavity. We do this carefully so as not to damage the gallbladder.
- Trimming. The head, tail and fins are cut off. If you cut them with a small amount of meat, then you can use these parts to prepare fish soup.
- Washing. The carp is thoroughly washed inside and out to remove all residues that could spoil the taste and prepare the surface for salting.
- Layering. An incision is made along the spine, the spine and large bones are removed.
If the individual is large, it is better to cut it into pieces 5-6 cm wide. But the original recipe involves drying the whole carcass.
Ingredients
To prepare carp balyk at home, you will need a minimum set of spices:
- salt – 300 gr. for every kilogram;
- sugar – 15 gr. for every kilogram.
This is a standard set for drying. The use of additional spices will add piquancy and expressiveness to the dish.
Pairs well with carp:
These seasonings affect the taste. To make the color more attractive, you can add turmeric.
Herbs that are perfect include:
These components are usually added after salting, immediately before drying.
Advice! If the carp has a very pronounced river smell, then a few drops of lemon juice will help get rid of it.
When choosing seasonings, you should focus on 1-2 types. Too many spices can overpower each other and negatively affect the taste of the balyk.
Balyk recipes
Regardless of what kind of fish is used, you can always cook balyk according to a universal recipe . This is not a classic recipe, but adapted for quick preparation of balyk. The secret of delicious balyk lies in following the principles we talked about above.
Simple recipe
We will use a recipe in which the fish is salted in brine. This is the simplest option that allows you to achieve the right taste of balyk, even if you have never cooked it. This way you can bait almost any fish. So let's get started...
What you will need:
- Fatty or medium-fat fish of medium or large size;
- Salt and sugar;
- Spices and seasonings for fish.
For one kilogram of fish you will need: salt - 150 grams, sugar - 30-50 grams. As spices, you can always use allspice and coarse black pepper, bay leaf, coriander, cloves (with caution).
Main stages:
1. Cutting fish; 2. Salting fish in brine; 3. Drying salted fish.
Preparation:
- Clean the fish from scales and remove the entrails;
- Cut off the excess - head, tail, fins;
- Cut the fish into halves along the spine;
- Remove the ridge and cut the fish into pieces 1.5-3 cm thick;
- Sprinkle the pieces of fish with a mixture of sugar and salt, add spices, mix;
- Cover the salted fish with a lid on which to place a small load;
- Place the container with fish in the refrigerator for 4-7 days for salting;
- Remove the fish from the refrigerator, rinse with cold water;
- Pour clean cold water over the fish and let it free itself from excess salt for 2-5 hours;
- Drain the water, let the remaining water drain and hang the fish to dry in a cool, dry, ventilated place, protected from the sun and insects.
After just a couple of days, the fish needs to be checked for the degree of dryness. Thin pieces of fish will be ready earlier, while larger pieces will take longer to dry.
When the degree of drying suits you, you can consider that the fish balyk is completely ready. It can be served at the table, or sent to the refrigerator for storage.
We talked in detail about how to properly store cooked fish in an article devoted to how to properly salt and dry fish.
Classic recipe
Classic balyk is made from sturgeon or fish from the salmon family. The fish is cut into balyk and tesha. If this is freshly caught fish, it will have to undergo a long salting stage for one and a half months - this is required by established standards. Thawed fish is salted much faster. See more details in the video:
Silver carp balyk
Silver carp grows to impressive sizes; it can be classified as a very large fish, which requires cutting the carcass into pieces. Silver carp balyk can be made as shown in the video below:
Balyk from carp
Like silver carp, carp grows to impressive sizes, and if you have a very large carp in your hands, you will have to cut it up in a special way.
In general, the technology for preparing balyk from carp is similar to those described above. For a diagram of cutting carp and a recipe for salting, see the following video:
the-fishing.ru
Fish balyks have long been considered a delicacy that is eaten both on weekdays and on holidays. I offer a recipe through which you will learn how to cook pike perch balyk at home!
approximately 2-3 kg, but the more, the tastier it will be!
- Coarse salt 1 To taste
depending on the size of the pike perch - Sugar 1 To taste
depending on the size of the pike perch
Prepare the fish carcass, remove scales, trim the fins, tail and head. Next, you need to carefully make an incision from the back along the entire spine, cut off the fillet, trim the ribs and, very carefully, so as not to damage the bile, remove the entrails. After this, remove the backbone, trying to trim it so that there is practically no meat left on it.
Lay out the cut carcass, make even cuts on the meat, trying to cut as deep as possible, but not touch the skin (the distance between the cuts depends on the size of the fish: the larger it is, the smaller the gap).
Rinse the pike perch with cool water (preferably boiled or filtered). At the bottom of a clean and dry container of suitable size, pour a small even layer of a mixture of salt and sugar (proportions 3 to 1), place the fish on it skin side down, then evenly sprinkle the carcass with the same mixture on top, making sure to get into the cuts.
Fold the carcass in half (fillet to fillet), put it in a bag or wrap it in cling film, wrap the resulting package tightly with thick thread and send it to a cool place for 4 hours.
After the allotted time for salting, take out the fish, rinse it from excess salt, make a through cut from the tail side and use a hook to hang the carcass in a well-ventilated place protected from insects.
In approximately 2-3 days, depending on weather temperature conditions and the size of the carcass, the pike perch balyk will be ready and you will be able to enjoy its original, delicate taste!
e-hot.ru
Cutting pike perch into balyk
Pike perch is a lean fish that does not have as much fat as carp or silver carp. But even it can be prepared in the form of balyk. For this you need a little:
- pike perch carcass - 1 piece weighing 1.5-2 kilograms,
- coarse rock salt - 1 pack,
- allspice - 5-6 peas.
- Number of servings: 5-6 pieces;
- Preparation time: 7-9 days.
Any recipe for pike perch balyk begins with processing the fish: it needs to be cleaned, gutted and cut up. This is what we will do: first we remove the scales, make an incision from the gills to the anus and remove the insides. Then we cut off the head and tail fin. Using scissors, we cut out the remaining fins, after which we make a neat cut along the ridge of our pike perch and divide the fillet into two halves.
Remove the fillet from the backbone and pull out the rib bones with tweezers. After this, we cut off the lower (abdominal part of the fillet) and leave the dense, fleshy back - it is this that is considered the ideal basis for pike perch balyk. Carefully pry the skin with a sharp knife and remove it from the fillet, otherwise it will dry out in the balyk and become tough and inedible. We lightly cut each half of the fillet diagonally - this way it will salt better and faster. After this, you can safely move on to the second part of the pike perch balyk recipe - salting.
Salting and preparing balyk
To salt pike perch, we need a food container made of polyethylene or enameled. This can be a bowl, pan, basin - the main thing is that the fish fits completely into it. Take allspice and crush it in a mortar or crush it by rolling it on a board with a rolling pin. Mix crushed pepper with salt - this mixture will give the fish not only the desired degree of salting, but also a pleasant spicy aroma. Add a layer of salt and pepper to the bottom of the container and place the fillet halves on top. Add salt again and apply pressure. Fish should be salted in a cool place for two to four days, depending on the size (the larger, the longer). After a day, the oppression can be removed, and the fillets themselves should be turned over periodically.
While the fish is salting, take a look at the video section on the “All About Fishing!” website. and watch the latest videos about fishing, or even go fishing yourself, because you will have plenty of time!
After a few days, our future balyk will be salted. We take it out of the leaked brine and place it in an empty container. But before you cook pike perch balyk, the fillet needs to be soaked in cold water for at least 12-18 hours. We put it in a container with fish and leave it so that the excess salt comes out. After a couple of hours, the water needs to be changed to fresh. After soaking, dry the fillets and hang them on wire hooks or rope. Now the future balyk needs to be hung in a sunny, ventilated place for half a day - thanks to the sun, a crust will form on it, which will prevent the fish from rotting. It is better to hang the balyk from flies with gauze or thin cloth. And after the crust has dried, we hang the ropes or hooks in a shaded place and leave them there for 3-4 days. But this is not the end: for pike-perch balyk it is important not only to wither, but also to ripen, and this process will take place in the refrigerator. We place the dried balyk there, wrapped in a clean, dry linen, and leave for another day or two. And after this, you can try the tender, aromatic pike perch balyk! Cut it into thin translucent slices and serve on sandwiches or as a snack.
ribalka-vsem.ru
New Year's carp balyk
This recipe makes the perfect New Year's treat at home. For cooking you will need fish caught in the fall. She's the fattest. The drying period is more than 2 months, so the product will be ready just in time for the New Year. According to the recipe you need:
- carp – 4-5 kg;
- salt – 1 kg;
- sugar – 1 tbsp. without slide;
- hot pepper – 1 tsp;
- spices – 1.5 tsp.
Of all the fish, carp is one of the budget options, so a home-cooked product will not require much expense.
Cooking features
The fish is cooked whole. After cleaning you must:
- Rub the inside of the carp with sugar;
- Cover the surface of the carcass evenly with a mixture of salt and spices.
- We pack the fish in a plastic bag and tie it with rope.
- Place the bag of fish in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
- Wash the carp thoroughly under running water.
- Wipe the surface with a paper towel or napkins.
- We pack the fish again in a bag and tie it with a rope.
- We put the carp balyk in the refrigerator for another 2-3 months to ripen.
After the specified period, the carp can be eaten. It is served in sliced pieces. Sandwiches and snacks with dried fish look original. The aroma and taste of homemade dishes will delight everyone.
Fish balyk - cook at home
There are two types of fish balyks: hung (without heat treatment) and cold smoked, which are produced within 3-4 days. To prepare a delicacy, you first need to choose the right fish.
It should be fresh , not frozen, and caught from a clean reservoir, preferably in the autumn. If these conditions are met, the dish will turn out tasty and healthy.
Everyone's favorite delicacy is usually prepared from large fish with a fat content of 5 to 30%. Suitable varieties include:
The quality of the dish will depend on what percentage of fat the fish contains. Balyk will turn out to be especially aromatic and juicy from silver carp, sturgeon, salmon, asp, carp, halibut, and catfish. These breeds have a lot of fatty layers , which makes the taste of the delicacy simply wonderful. Pike perch, perch, and pike are low-fat varieties, so it is best to cook them in a dried way.
The process of preparing a delicacy
Balyk from fish at home is not difficult to make, you just need to follow a certain technology, which includes: cutting the carcass, salting, cold smoking or drying and proper storage.
Ingredients used: fish, weighing from 3 kg, with a high percentage of fat content; sugar (per 1 kilogram of meat - 30 grams); salt (per 1 kilogram - 150 grams); spices, seasonings - to your taste.
Cooking:
- Before making balyk, you need to thoroughly clean the fish from scales. Then it must be gutted and washed well. After this, make an incision along the spine, completely separate the loin from the bones and divide the carcass so that you get 2 pieces of meat.
- Now you need to cut the fish into portions. To do this, take 1 piece of fillet and cut it lengthwise into several pieces. Then take one of the meat strips and, with a sharpened knife, cut off small pieces of fish, about 2 cm thick. Thus, cut all the meat. Keep in mind that the cut pieces must be without skin.
- Start salting the fish fillets. Place the chopped meat in a saucepan, add salt, sugar and stir. Then take the appropriate seasonings, treat the pieces of food with them, then roll them into rolls and place them in the same container. The best combinations with fish are the spices intended for it, as well as ground black pepper and suneli hops, which will give the future balyk a pleasant taste and appetizing aroma.
- Place the pan with semi-finished products in the refrigerator for 3-4 days so that the meat is well saturated with salt and spices. During this time, you can stir the fish pieces once a day. If the carcass is large and there is a lot of meat, then salting will last longer, for example, about 1 week.
- After this time, the container with meat must be placed in the freezer for 2 days so that possible microbes and parasites are killed by the cold. If you want, you can first freeze the fish fillets for a few days, and then start salting.
- The last step in preparing balyk is drying (drying) the fish. To do this, remove the pan from the freezer and string the pieces onto a strong thread, leaving small spaces between them. First, it is better to hang the meat for 3-4 hours in the bright sun so that each part of it is covered with a light crust. Then it should be dried in a warm and dry room, without the presence of insects. The drying process usually lasts from 3 to 7 days.
The finished balyk has a pink-yellow color and an appetizing smell of a fish delicacy. It can be used to make sandwiches, added to salads and consumed as a snack with alcoholic drinks. The treat should be stored in the refrigerator, wrapped in cling paper, for no longer than one week.
Useful properties of homemade delicacies
Since culinary processing does not involve boiling or frying the fish, it retains many useful substances, so this delicacy is very healthy.
100 grams of homemade balyk contains the following vitamins : A - 0.057 mg; E - 2.5 mg; B 2—0.2 mg; PP - 1.8 mg; B 1—0.05 mg.
The product also contains minerals necessary for human health:
- magnesium - 23 mg;
- calcium - 40 mg;
- sodium - 3475 mg;
- phosphorus - 180 mg;
- sulfur - 205 mg;
- chlorine - 164 mg;
- iron - 0.8 mg;
- zinc - 0.6 mg;
- fluorine - 432 mg;
- chromium - 56 mg;
- nickel - 7 mg.
Fish meat also contains saturated fatty acids, which have a beneficial effect on the appearance of skin and hair, a small amount of cholesterol, water and ash. Therefore, by consuming a home-made delicacy, you can not only enjoy its rich taste, but also provide your body with vitamins and minerals .
Butchering the carcass
Before you start preparing balyk from river fish at home, you need to thoroughly clean the carcass of scales. After this, it is cleaned of all the insides and washed well under cold water. Then an incision is made along the entire spine, the loin is completely separated from the bones and divided so that you get 2 pieces of meat.
Next, the recipe for balyk at home involves cutting the carcass into portioned pieces. Take one piece of fillet and cut it lengthwise into several pieces. After this, take one of the meat strips, cut small pieces of fish with a knife, the thickness of which should be 2 cm. This is how all the meat is cut. Please note that the pieces must be without skin.
We suggest you familiarize yourself with: Wobblers for pike perch: wobblers for trolling, night fishing, in the current
Recipes for balyk from fish of different breeds
People who prefer fish dishes definitely need to master simple recipes for preparing a homemade delicacy. Excellent self-produced balyk can be obtained from carp, silver carp, asp, pike, and pike perch. Just do not forget that the starting product must be fresh and quite fatty, since the quality of the finished treat will depend on this.
A delicious delicacy made from asp . This fish is ideal for making balyk. To make the dish truly tasty, you need to use Asp weighing from 3 to 5 kilograms, caught after the onset of autumn. Small specimens are not suitable for cooking.
Fresh fish must first be cut . To do this, make a longitudinal cut in its lower part and carefully unfold the carcass. Then remove all the entrails and the head. You can leave the ridge or cut it out. Then wash the meat well with running water, place it in a saucepan, add coarse salt and add the desired seasonings. Leave the fish to salt for 10-14 hours in a cold place.
After this time, the asp must be washed to remove excess salt, and then soaked. The soaking process should last from one to two hours, depending on the weight of the fish, and the product with a lower weight should be kept in the water a little longer. After this, hang the meat pieces so that all the water drains from them. Then wrap the Asp in gauze and leave until completely dry.
While drying the fish, you can cover each piece with sprigs of dill and add cut cloves of garlic - this will add additional flavor to the balyk. It is advisable to dry the fish in the evening and at night in the open air, and during the day put it in the refrigerator, after wrapping it in a clean cloth. When the balyk is ready, place it under the sun for 1-2 hours so that it becomes covered with an appetizing crust. After this, the delicacy can be eaten.
Aromatic carp dish
To prepare this balyk you will need recently caught Carp, weighing 7-9 kg. Fresh fish must be cleaned of scales, then cut and carefully remove all the insides. Also cut off the head and tail and remove large bones and backbone from the carcass.
Now cut the Carp into portioned pieces , 5-7 cm thick, wash them thoroughly with water, rub with salt, sugar and place in a pan so that the skin is at the bottom. After this, add spices, cover the meat with a lid and place oppression on top. Then put the pan in the refrigerator for 6-7 days.
When the salting time comes to an end, remove the Carp and soak it in water for 2-3 hours. After it gets wet, let the water drain and hang the fish to dry in a cool room. In order for the pieces of meat to acquire a beautiful and appetizing appearance, they need to be pressed . To do this, 4 days after the start of drying, the Carp must be placed under pressure for 8-10 hours, and then hung again indoors.
After about 2 weeks, you can try the balyk . The finished product should be stored in the refrigerator, wrapped in cloth or paper.
A savory delicacy of pike
To make your own delicacy from Pike, use only a fresh carcass, otherwise it may not be salted. Before cooking, gut the fish and cut off the head. There is no need to clean the scales or wash the Pike. Then cut it along the spine into two parts and make small cuts along the entire surface of the body so that pickling is most effective.
After this, rub the fish well with salt and place it in an enamel pan, skin side down. After 30-50 minutes, hang the Pike to dry outside or in a well-ventilated area protected from insects.
After a few hours, when the meat is dry and slightly chapped, it should be placed in the oven and dried well . To do this, place the fish carcasses on the grill so that the scales are at the bottom. Then turn on the oven at approximately 100-130 degrees and leave for final processing for 4-5 hours. When the Pike acquires a yellow-orange color and begins to exude a rich aroma, the balyk can be considered ready. Bon appetit!
If you are an avid fisherman and have the conditions to prepare your favorite delicacy, try cooking your caught trophy using one of the suggested methods. Considering the simple cooking recipe, you are sure to get a gorgeous balyk that will please all the family and guests who come to the festive dinner.
How to pickle pike perch caviar
If the caviar is frozen, it should be thawed; fresh caviar should be removed from the fish. For 600 g of caviar you will need to take:
- 3 liters of boiling water;
- 6 tbsp. l. salt;
- 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil.
The cooking process consists of several stages:
- Chop the caviar in the eggs with a knife in several places.
- Pour boiling water over, stir with a fork, wrapping the film.
- Place in a fine sieve.
- Pour 2 full tablespoons into water (2 liters). l. salt and boil.
- Pour the hot brine over the caviar and continue to collect the remaining film with a fork. At the same time, the pike perch caviar will change color.
- Repeat the procedure 3 times. At the end the caviar will become very light. Almost white.
- Pour half the vegetable oil into a sterile jar, then put the caviar and pour the rest of the oil on top.
- Place in the refrigerator.
After 6-8 hours, the delicacy is ready to eat, preferably on sandwiches with butter.