How to pickle pink salmon

What do we know about pink salmon? It belongs to the salmon category and proudly bears the title of red fish; it is not only tasty, but also a healthy product. It has high levels of vitamins, Omega-3 and amino acids. Salting fish yourself has many advantages: firstly, many recipes from which you can choose your favorite, and secondly, strict control and confidence in quality. We reveal all the secrets of how to pickle pink salmon of the “Bellissimo!” category.

Recipes and tips for salting pink salmon in the article:

How to fillet pink salmon for salting - Step by step
How to pickle pink salmon with dill
How to pickle pink salmon with salt and sugar
How to pickle pink salmon in parchment
How to pickle pink salmon with mustard and vinegar
How to deliciously pickle pink salmon in spicy brine
How to pickle pink salmon with butter
How to pickle pink salmon with cognac
How to pickle pink salmon caviar at home
Secrets of properly storing prepared pink salmon

How to fillet pink salmon for salting - Step by step

Before salting frozen pink salmon, the whole carcass must be thawed. The product must be defrosted at a temperature of 22-23 ºС without additional use of a microwave oven or immersion in hot water. It is important to ensure that the carcass is not completely defrosted; when partially frozen, it is better cleaned and retains the shape of the pieces. Whole fish must be placed in a plastic bag and placed in a deep bowl with cold water for 3-4 hours. Advice! The body of pink salmon is covered with mucus, which makes the cleaning process long and inconvenient. Rinse the carcass with cold water and sprinkle with coarse salt, this will create a good grip between your fingers and the surface of the fish.
Pink salmon is excellent when cooked because it has scales that do not adhere tightly to the skin, which means that cleaning it will be simple and quick. Turn the knife so that the blade goes under the scales and is positioned in the direction from the tail to the head. Brush with short, sharp strokes, working section by section. You can also quickly clean the fish with a kitchen grater. This method has a huge advantage - all the scales remain inside the grater and do not scatter around the kitchen.
It is rare to find frozen pink salmon uneviscerated. If this is your case, then the next step will be gutting. Using a sharp thin knife, cut the fish along the belly, moving from head to tail. Spread the edges of the cut and remove the insides. An important point - do everything as carefully as possible so as not to damage the gallbladder. If it ruptures and the contents get on the fish meat, the product will be irrevocably damaged. You can quickly correct the situation by sprinkling the area with salt for 3-4 minutes and rinsing thoroughly with cold running water.
After removing the contents, the abdominal cavity must be washed, an incision made along the spine and blood clots and films on the inner surface of the carcass removed.
The head is cut off, retreating 1 cm from the line of the gills. Incisions are made alternately from both sides to the spine and the head is separated. The most convenient way to remove gills is with scissors.
Unless you plan to brine the entire pink salmon, the next step is to separate the backbone and bones from the fillet. To do this, take a small sharp knife, insert it between the rib bones and the fillet at the base of the ridge, moving the knife towards the abdomen. Remove the fillet from the tail section.
To remove the skin, use a knife to pick up the skin from the wide part and cut with the knife, moving towards the tail.

Gills

Gills are part of a fish carcass that negatively affects the taste, so they should be removed before cooking. This is done very simply: using special “fish” scissors or directly with your hands. The gills of pink salmon break out quickly and easily. Experts also recommend removing the eyes. But here everything is individual. How to cut pink salmon, remove the eyes or not - the decision is made depending on the type of dish you are going to cook.

After you remove the gills and eyes, you should rinse the fish again under water. The next step is removing the fins. They can be cut with scissors or a knife.

How to pickle pink salmon with dill

The answer to the question of how to deliciously pickle pink salmon can be a simple and quick recipe using dill. By the way, it is this greenery that goes best with fish and seafood.

Ingredients

pink salmon – 1.5 kg;
salt – 200 g;
sugar – 100 g;
dried dill – 4 tsp;
ground black pepper – 2 tsp;
chili pepper – 1 pinch (1/2 tsp);
vegetable oil – 6 tbsp.

Preparation

This salting method can be used even for fillets that have not been skinned. Pour the dry ingredients into a deep bowl and mix. Dip each piece of fish into the prepared dry mixture and place in a container.

Leave the fish at room temperature for 1-1.5 hours, covering the dishes with cling film. After time has passed, pour the fillet pieces with vegetable oil and place them tightly together. Place in the refrigerator for a day. If you are using fillets with the skin on, place the pieces together on the skin-less side.

Advice! How to properly cut cooked pink salmon and serve it? First, place the pieces in the freezer, freeze slightly and cut with a sharp knife, placing it at an angle of 45º.

How to gut

To gut a pink salmon carcass, you can press it tightly to the table with one hand and carefully cut the belly of the fish. If there is caviar in the pink salmon, you need to carefully remove it. You can pickle the delicacy yourself.

The remaining insides of the sea creature should be thrown away and the carcass should be washed with water. If necessary, you can cut through the ridge with the edge of a knife and scrape the insides from the inside of the carcass. It is necessary to carefully wash off the blood and residues from gutted fish, because due to poor-quality cutting, the taste of the fish can deteriorate.

How to pickle pink salmon with salt and sugar

You can quickly salt fish and get an unsurpassed taste using just two ingredients: salt and sugar. On average, per kilogram of finished cleaned fillet, take 2 tablespoons of coarse salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. You can slightly diversify the taste of salted fish with spices. Most often, the well-known black pepper, ground coriander and mustard seeds are used, a little more rare: nutmeg, cumin, chopped cloves.

Ingredients

fish fillet – 1 pc.;
salt – 2 tbsp;
sugar – 1 tbsp;
vegetable oil – 120 ml;
ground pepper, coriander - optional.

Preparation

Cut the fish into portions and place in a single layer in the prepared dish. It is recommended to use glass or ceramic containers, but it is better to avoid plastic and metal. The latter can give the finished dish an unpleasant metallic taste, and it is difficult to remove the smell of fish from plastic. Grease the first layer of fish with oil and sprinkle with a mixture of salt, sugar and spices. Lay out the second layer and repeat the steps. Cover the top of the container with a lid or cling film and place in the refrigerator for 6-7 hours.

How to pickle pink salmon in parchment

Salting in parchment is designed for cooking a whole carcass. In this case, the finished fish will be lightly salted, which does not make it less tasty.

Ingredients

medium-sized pink salmon – 1 piece;
coarse salt – 2 tbsp;
sugar – 1 tbsp;
black peppercorns – 5-6 pcs.;
bay leaf – 2 pcs.

Preparation

The whole defrosted and gutted fish is coated on all sides with a mixture of dry ingredients and wrapped in parchment. The carcass is laid out in a wide dish and placed under a press for a day at a temperature of 22-23 ºС. A pan filled with water can serve as a press.

Advice! What to do if the fish is too salty? Cut raw potatoes into pieces and place on top. Potatoes have an excellent ability to absorb salt. After a few hours, the potato slices can be removed.

How to pickle pink salmon with mustard and vinegar

The delicate unusual taste of red fish can be obtained by salting it with mustard and vinegar. This recipe is suitable for skinless fillets. So, let's look at how to pickle pink salmon in brine.

Ingredients

pink salmon (fillet) – 2 kg;
coarse salt – 200 g;
sugar – 2 tbsp;
dill - one large bunch;
medium-sized oranges – 4 pcs.;
honey – 40 g;
mustard beans – 40 g;
olive oil – 80 ml;
table vinegar 9% - 40 ml.

Preparation

Rinse the prepared fillet and dry with a paper towel.
Wash the oranges with the soft side of a clean kitchen sponge to remove the waxy layer, cut each into 6-8 pieces.
Combine salt and sugar and mix with a spoon, rub the pieces with the mixture and place the fish in a bowl in which it will be marinated later.
Wash, dry and finely chop the sprigs of fresh dill. Sprinkle the fish on top and place the sliced orange slices.
Cover the dishes with cling film or a tight lid and place in the refrigerator for a day.
For the marinade, combine honey, mustard, oil and vinegar, mix well and pour over the fish. If the honey is thick and does not mix well, preheat it in a water bath until liquid, but do not let it boil.

Advice! To give the orange maximum flavor, pour boiling water over it before slicing.

This homemade recipe is suitable for any red fish: sturgeon, pink salmon, salmon, trout. Prepared fish salted in brine should be stored in the refrigerator under a tightly closed lid.

How to deliciously pickle pink salmon in spicy brine

You can salt any red fish with hot brine very tasty and quickly. An important point - before salting pink salmon in brine, it must be completely defrosted, gutted, cut off the fins and tail, cut into portions 3-3.5 cm thick. For this recipe, the fish is not filleted, separated from the spine or removed from the skin.

Ingredients

whole pink salmon – 1 piece;
sugar – 20 g;
salt (preferably fine) – 70 g;
cloves – 7 pcs.;
bay leaf – 3 pcs.;
spicy peppercorns – 8 pcs.;
coriander and cumin - ½ tsp each;
water – 0.5 l;
Unflavored sunflower oil – 100 ml.

Preparation

The brine that will be used for salting fish is called brine. To prepare it, pour the indicated amount of sugar and salt into a medium-diameter saucepan, pour in 500 ml of cold water and place over medium heat.

Wait until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved in the water and add all the listed spices. Let the brine simmer for 4-5 minutes and leave to cool at room temperature until slightly warm.

Place the fish in a glass container in which it will be marinated and fill it with brine, cover the top with a tight lid or cling film.

Place the container with the fish in a cool place and do not disturb it for 24-30 hours. The marinating time depends on how large the fish is cut into pieces.

Drain the brine with spices from the finished fish, place each piece on a paper towel and let the excess liquid drain off. Prepare dishes for storing fish (it is recommended to use glass or ceramics).

Pour in half the indicated amount of oil, lay out the fish pieces and pour the rest of the oil on top.

Cover tightly with a suitable lid and refrigerate for 24 hours. Now you know how to pickle pink salmon in pieces at home. It can be used not only as cutting, but also for preparing salads.

Now let's look at how to pickle entire pink salmon in brine. This recipe will be relevant if you have small fish weighing up to half a kilo.

To prepare the brine, pour 1 liter of water into a saucepan, add salt and sugar (0.5 cups each), place on the stove and let the grains dissolve completely.

Bring the brine to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, strain if necessary and combine with 2 tablespoons classic hot mustard. If desired, you can add bay leaf to the brine.

Pour the completely cooled marinade over the prepared fish and refrigerate for 12-14 hours.

How to pickle pink salmon with butter

How to properly salt pink salmon so that it remains soft and juicy for a long time. A recipe for pickling with butter comes to the rescue.

Ingredients

salt – 1.5 tbsp;
sugar – 2 tsp;
bay leaf – 1 pc.;
fish fillet – 1 pc.;
refined oil – 1 cup;
onion – 1 large onion.

Preparation

Before salting pink salmon at home according to this recipe, it must be taken apart into fillets and cut into pieces.

In a small deep bowl, combine salt and sugar and add a bay leaf, broken into small pieces. Dredge each piece of fish thoroughly in the prepared dry mixture. Peel a large onion and cut into rings/half rings.

Rinse and dry the jar in which the fish will be stored. Pour a small amount of refined oil onto the bottom and place the first layer of fish, with onion rings on top. Fill each layer with oil.

Repeat until the jar is full. Please note that the top layer of fish must be filled with oil.

Close the jar with a tight nylon lid or screw it on with a metal one and place it in the refrigerator for 48 hours.

How to pickle pink salmon with cognac

A recipe using cognac will be an excellent solution for those who are looking for a way to quickly pickle pink salmon.

Ingredients

pink salt – 4 tsp;
sugar – 1/2 tsp;
mixture of peppers (white, red, black) – 1/2 tsp;
cognac – 3 tsp;
fish fillet – 0.6 kg

Preparation

Before salting frozen pink salmon, it is slightly thawed, separated from the bone and skin, and cut into fillets (the calculation in the recipe is given for clean fillets).

Pour the dry ingredients into a deep bowl; if the mixture of peppers is unground, it must first be ground. Place the first layer of fish pieces in a glass bowl as close to each other as possible, but not overlapping, sprinkle with the dry mixture and sprinkle with cognac.

Advice! If you are afraid to overdo it with cognac, use a silicone brush. With its help, any liquid can be applied evenly and in small quantities.

The fish continues to be laid in layers, each time doing a step with spices and cognac. Now cover the dishes with a lid and leave them in the refrigerator.

Salting time depends on how thinly the fish is sliced. If you managed to cut pieces about 1 mm thick, then the dish will be ready in an hour, thicker pieces (up to 7 mm) will require at least 7 hours. How to pickle whole pink salmon

The easiest way to pickle large pink salmon is to use salt and ground pepper. The method itself is very similar to salting regular lard. The fish is prepared: the entrails and scales are removed, the head, fins, and tail are cut off, while the skin is left on the carcass. Peppercorns are rolled with a rolling pin.

Rub the carcass inside and out with coarse salt and sprinkle with pepper. Please note that you need to rub the salt into the fish. Pink salmon is wrapped in a baking sleeve or foil and placed in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. The cooking time of the fish depends on its size.

Advice! When choosing a step-by-step salting recipe, please note that the presence of lemon juice or vinegar “eats” the red color of the fish and makes it pale pink, which does not always look appetizing on the table or in a more complex dish, such as a salad or canapé.

You can speed up the marinating process as much as possible by adding alcohol, such as cognac.

If you have already chosen how to pickle pink salmon, the recipe can always be varied with spices. Basil, dill and even a small amount of garlic will perfectly complement red fish. But it is better to avoid mint, fennel, sage, curry and turmeric; they are not combined with fish dishes and are not used in either the “dry” or “wet” salting method.

Healthy recipes

Once you have processed the fish, you need to cook it. We have selected simple but delicious recipes for you.

Delicious recipe! Recipes for multicooker philips hd2178

"Cheerful Pink Salmon"

For cooking you will need the following products:

pink salmon – 1 piece;
onion – 1 piece;
garlic – 2 cloves;
soy sauce – 2 tbsp. spoons;
seasoning for fish to taste;
mayonnaise – 3 tbsp. spoons;
sparkling water – 200 g;
eggs – 2 pcs;
flour – 1 tbsp. spoon;
cheese to taste.

The process of preparing this dish is very simple. To begin, we place the pink salmon cut into pieces in a bowl and sprinkle generously with thinly sliced onion. Then you should take a glass and put crushed garlic, soy sauce and spices in it. Then you need to pour the mixture with mayonnaise, sparkling water and mix. This will serve as our marinade. Pour it into the bowl with the fish.

Now you need to prepare the sauce. For it, we take a deep plate and break eggs there, add a little flour and cheese. Next, you should take a baking dish and place the marinated fish there, pouring the sauce on top. All we have to do is put the mold in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 170 degrees.

You can also bake pink salmon in foil. For this you will need:

pink salmon – 1 piece;
basil;
green onions;
garlic – 3 pcs;
table salt to taste;
ground black pepper to taste;
lemon – 1 piece;
olive oil – 4 tbsp. spoons.

To begin with, we stuff the pre-processed pink salmon with finely chopped onion, lemon and basil leaves. Then cover a baking sheet with foil and grease it with olive oil, and place pink salmon on top. We make cuts on the top of the pink salmon and put lemon rings there. Drizzle the fish with olive oil. Wrap it in foil and put it in the oven.

The cooking time for this dish is 25-30 minutes at a temperature of 190 degrees.

How to pickle pink salmon caviar at home

Before salting pink salmon caviar, pay attention to a few points:

Quick salting recipes, for which a quarter of an hour is enough, are suitable exclusively for chilled caviar. If the caviar is frozen, choose another longer method.
To prepare the brine, use regular (not iodized, no additives) salt, preferably extra or medium grind.
You need to remove caviar from fish very carefully so as not to damage the gall bladder, the bitterness of which will spoil both the caviar and the fillet.
Caviar should be defrosted at room temperature; avoid the idea of using hot water or a microwave.
Before salting, be sure to carry out an “inspection” and remove any burst eggs.

Ingredients:

unpeeled caviar – 400 g;
fine salt – 6 tbsp;
sugar – 1 tbsp;
water – 2 l

Preparation

Pour water into a small 2.5 liter saucepan, add sugar and salt. Place on the stove, let it boil and leave to cool to a temperature of 50 ºC.

Pour the resulting brine over the caviar eggs and leave for a quarter of an hour. Gently use a fork, being careful not to damage the eggs, stir the caviar until the film covering it is wrapped around the cloves. Pour the caviar into a colander and let drain.

Place the finished caviar in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and sprinkle with sunflower or olive oil. The main condition is that the oil should not have any aroma.

Product preparation

Now let's move on directly to the process of preparing the fish before cooking it. More often, stores sell frozen fish, but this is not a problem if you know how to defrost it correctly. To defrost fish, just put it in a bag and dip it in warm water for a few minutes.

Delicious recipe! Lightly salted trout appetizers

Mucus can also interfere with further processing. To get rid of it, just rinse the fish under running water or wipe the surface of the fish with salt. This will strengthen the grip, making further processing easier.

Secrets of properly storing prepared pink salmon

Now you know all the secrets of how to pickle pink salmon at home tasty and quickly, all that remains is to find out how, under what conditions and for how long you can store ready-made fish.

If the fish was salted with small pieces of fillet without skin, it can be stored in vegetable oil for up to 7 days.
Pink salmon prepared using the “wet” method is left to be stored in brine in a refrigerator. But it is important to remember that the longer the fish is in the brine, the saltier it becomes, in addition, the meat itself will be drier and tougher, since the salt draws out the juices. You can improve the situation a little by washing the fish before serving and adding vegetable oil. The same rule applies to marinated pink salmon whole in brine.
If the brine contains oil, the shelf life in the refrigerator is up to 5 days.
If you have prepared a large amount of fish and are sure that you will not be able to consume it in 10 days, transfer some of it to the freezer, after removing the layer of salt.

To sum it up. It is not difficult to properly salt red fish; everyone can choose a suitable recipe that suits their liking and taste.

All that remains is to wish you bon appetit!

Fillet

So, you already know how to cut pink salmon. Now all that remains is to separate the fillets from the resulting fish parts, having first removed the skin. Here, again, we repeat, everything will depend on the chosen recipe. If you need individual boneless fish pieces for a salad or first course, then you should cut the large part into several small ones and remove the elongated vertebral bones. If, for example, the fillet will be baked in the oven as a whole, then small bones do not need to be removed. Under the influence of high temperature they will become softer and will then be easily separated from the fillet.

This is important: do not throw away the skin cut from the fillet. It will be an excellent ingredient for making fish broth. Thanks to the skin, the broth will be lighter, golden and rich. Once cooked, simply strain the broth and discard any unnecessary ingredients. If you also didn’t need the fish head to prepare the main dish, then it is perfect for the subsequent preparation of fish soup or fish broth.

Pink salmon is an amazingly tasty and healthy fish. We told you how to cut pink salmon. What to cook from it is up to you. This is a universal fish, perfect for baking, frying, salting, smoking, and stewing.

fresh or frozen pink salmon – 1 pc.;
large sharp knife;
small thin knife;
fish tweezers (if available).