Salted flounder recipe. Flounder: Ambassador in small industrial quantities in an artisanal way
The fish is thoroughly washed to remove mucus, cleaned of scales, and all the insides are removed. Then it is rubbed on all sides with salt, preferably sea salt, but it can also be table salt, at the rate of 150 g of salt per 1 kg of fish, which is also stuffed into the gills and inside through the incision. In large fish (weighing more than 1.5-2 kg), an additional longitudinal incision is made on the back, where salt is also poured.
The fish prepared in this way is laid in rows, belly up, in a barrel or tightly knocked down box, sprinkling the rows with salt, black and allspice peppercorns and bay leaves, and more salt is poured closer to the upper rows, and left in a cold room.
The duration of salting in a refrigerated room, for example, in a cellar with ice, of such fish as bream, asp, pike, is up to 12 days, carp and pike perch - up to 15 days, in an uncooled room - up to 5-7 days.
After the specified time, the fish is taken out, washed with cold water and dried by hanging in a cold, well-ventilated place.
The fish is cleaned of scales, gutted and placed in a barrel or other suitable container.
Then a brine is prepared at the rate of 250 g of salt per 1 liter of water, a few peas of black and allspice and a bay leaf are added.
The brine is boiled, then cooled and the fish is poured over it.
After 3 weeks, the fish is taken out of the brine and, hung in a cold, well-ventilated room, dried.
The fish is washed, the entrails are removed, then each is immersed separately for 1 minute in boiling salted water (40 g of salt per 1 liter of water).
After removing from the water, the fish is immersed for 2 minutes in pure table 3% vinegar, and then for half an hour in a saturated chilled salt solution.
To prepare a saturated solution, put such an amount of salt in water that part of it remains undissolved; the solution is brought to a boil and cooled.
The fish, taken out of the saline solution, is suspended in a cold, well-ventilated room.
When dried, a thin layer of salt should form on its surface.
Interesting articles
With a rich catch of fish, the problem of its safety arises. It is usually salted or smoked hot and cold. At home, hot smoking of fish is more often carried out. What is hot smoking Smoking is one of the laborious and time-consuming methods of heat treatment of fresh products. To him
Avid fishermen know everything about salting and drying fish, but for those who accidentally got smelt, and how to dry it properly is a big question, it is recommended to refer to our article. There are several variations of getting this delicious fish for beer. for example, dry and wet. And many more on request
Salted mackerel - general principles of cooking Mackerel, salted at home, is no worse than a store-bought snack. In addition, it is not so difficult to do this, just cut the fish and prepare the brine. The brine is usually done like this: salt, black peppercorns are added to the water,
How to pickle red fish at home: recipes, the advantages of a homemade delicacy over a store-bought product, the subtleties and methods of its preparation. Red fish can be both an independent dish and a noble snack. Its most delicious varieties are salmon, trout, sockeye salmon, pink salmon, chum salmon,
Delicious dried fish is not only an ideal snack for beer. And without foam, she goes with a bang, especially in a warm company of friends. In this case, the most important criterion is the quality of salting, as well as the process of further preparation. In stores, you can rarely find a successful, in our opinion, fish. It can be over-salted or over-dried, and for some it will turn out to be too wet. Therefore, the ideal option is to cook it at home yourself. Today we are interested in dried her so that "squeaking behind the ears"? art, because those who tried to harvest for the first time often got sticky, over-salted or under-salted fish, which quickly deteriorated.
river or sea
Most often, dried bream, perch and other river inhabitants are sold in our stores. They taste good, but still cannot be compared in quality with sea fish. Therefore, if you decide to buy a freshly frozen product and cook it yourself, then it is better to give preference to the second. Dried flounder is a real delicacy. Try once and forget about roach and bream forever.
Another important fact is the infection with helminthic invasions. Choosing marine life, you practically do not risk anything. Therefore, dried flounder is much more preferable than the perches we are used to.
Cured or dried
Most often, people confuse these two cooking methods with each other, so let's dwell a little on the terminology. Dried fish is obtained by drying pre-salted raw materials. It could also be meat. However, it is often referred to as dried. What is the difference? Dried fish is a complete and independent dish. But the dried billet is considered a semi-finished product. It can be both fresh and salted, but is used only for cooking, and not as an independent snack.
Procurement method
Why are we interested in dried flounder today? After all, you can quickly fry it or cook a pie with it. The thing is that such processing makes it possible to prepare a fish for future use. If you come across a large batch of fresh fish at a reasonable price, then be sure to take advantage of the offer. Dried flounder is a dietary product that can be stored for months.
To get a high-quality and tasty fish, you first need to pickle it, and then it just hangs in a ventilated place and comes to readiness. That is, it does not undergo heat treatment and retains all vitamins and minerals in full. And there are a lot of them in fish. These are polyunsaturated fatty acids, calcium and iodine, iron and phosphorus. Regular consumption of such a product in food helps prevent diseases of the heart and blood vessels, improve thyroid function, normalize blood clotting and lower cholesterol.
Dried fish calories
This question interests most women. Of course, if you follow the rules of a healthy diet, then salty products are not included in the list of what you should eat. However, occasionally pampering yourself is still worth it, especially when it comes to such a useful product as dried flounder. This product is not only dietary, but also does not entail weight gain. Therefore, even being on a strict diet, you can please yourself with a piece or two of dried fish, diversifying your diet.
Choosing a fresh frozen product
If you live near seaports, then there is usually no end to offers. Surprisingly, connoisseurs meticulously choose which flat beauty they are offered to buy. It is believed that dried flounder-ruff is the most delicious of all representatives of this species. By the way, its price in dried form is also the highest. This must be kept in mind if you plan to put up cooked fish for sale.
Cooking method
First of all, we need to buy a quality product. Usually it is frozen fish in braces, which will have to be thawed a little. But don't wait for it to thaw completely, just long enough to be able to separate one from the other. Now you need to sort it by size. If this is not done, then it will be difficult to guess with the dosage of salt, as well as the time required for its complete readiness.
Learning to do everything according to science
In order for the fish to be perfect, salt will require 4.7% of the total weight of the fish. Therefore, weigh separately large and small specimens and get the optimal ratio. According to reference books and textbooks, the proportion is much higher, from 7 to 15%, but in this case you care more about the safety of the fish, and not about the taste. We simply sprinkle the fish with salt and put oppression on top. Small specimens will spend 48 hours in salt, and one that is larger than 20 cm can lie down for three days.
At the end of this time, you will need to wash each fish from salt and soak lightly in plain water. For small fish it will be two hours, and for large fish it will be three. There is very little left, soon you will have the most delicious dried flounder. The recipe is simple but takes some getting used to. Do not forget that iodized salt is not suitable for you. For salting, you need a large, stone, grinding No. 2.
drying process
You will need cameras or frames that are completely protected from various insects. They should be installed in the shade so that direct sunlight does not fall on them. But the breeze is very welcome. The optimum temperature is +15. Each copy is pierced in the tail area with a wire and remains hanging in this form. Large fish are removed after 5 days, for small individuals four is enough.
Dried flounder, cooked at home, turns out to be very tasty, but all the subtleties must be observed: we salt the still frozen fish, keep the proportions and be sure to wash and soak the fish and dry it at a low temperature. Industrial plants use hot air blowers. In this case, the drying process is accelerated, but the quality of the final product deteriorates noticeably. Therefore, it is not recommended to repeat such an experience at home, it is better to wait until the breeze does its job.
Instead of a conclusion
Flounder is a very useful fish, so if you happen to find a large batch, then be sure to buy and prepare it for future use. In the process of drying, unlike frying and boiling, all vitamins and microelements are completely preserved, which makes it an incredibly valuable food product. The calorie content of dried flounder is only 85 kcal per 100 g of product, which is a very low indicator. It is considered a dietary product, very valuable in clinical nutrition. In addition, flounder is considered an effective aphrodisiac. However, if boiled and fried flounder has no contraindications, then the presence of salt can be considered as such. Pregnant women, hypertensive patients, and people with chronic kidney disease should avoid it or consume it in small amounts.
About three years ago, a little less, a friend approached me. A couple of years before that, he had sold his Moscow apartment and moved to live in his winter dacha in the Tver region. with a large plot: I wanted to escape from the bustle of Moscow into beautiful open spaces, fresh air and unhurried village life.
But after some time it turned out that the money received for the apartment was slowly living, and it was necessary to look for sources of income.
And he came up with the idea of drying flounder for sale. Comparing retail prices, I found out that the most expensive flounder-ruff Hippoglossoides platessoides
and took aim at her. Their heads are cut off on board the vessel in the fishery - so I can’t give a photo of a specimen with a head: I didn’t hold it in my hands.
But in order to make sure that it is a ruff, it is enough to know the differences between the types of flounder in the pattern on the skin and fins, as well as in the shape of the body.
A friend read about the general principles of salting and drying fish, built a drying chamber with climate control, called wholesale fish depots, went, bought 25 kg for a sample, salted it, dried it - and was not satisfied. Well, he didn’t throw it away, of course - he called his friends and knocked it out with beer - but it was clear that they wouldn’t buy such quality from him.
He simply threw out the second 25 kg: it was undersalted and rotten.
The fish from the third experimental batch, having dried up, became not dry - but for some reason sticky, the consistency of plasticine.
Well, then he gave up - he realized that there were some subtle nuances he did not understand that you did not write about on the Internet - and invited me as a technologist.
And so, now he, setting off from the Volga to buy flounder, called for me, we moved to one of the bases near Moscow, chose blocks with flounder-ruff - and went to his dacha.
It immediately became clear that the friend did not know what kind of salt was needed: he bought expensive sea salt in the ABC of Taste, did not know that the fish needed to be sorted by size, did not know how much salt to put and how long to salt - and then what to soak. In general, I didn’t know anything - even how long to dry and with what airflow.
So I won’t list the mistakes for a long time, but I’ll just try to describe how approximately it should be - all of a sudden it will come in handy someday.
Fish at the bases are sold in blocks packed in sewn bags. You cannot select unbroken and non-frozen blocks: the bags are opaque. But you can feel the bag and understand that the edges of the blocks are even and smooth. You also need to look for torn bags. Then the contents are visible: if the block inside is dry and whitish, then the rest in this batch will most likely be the same. So, fish from this batch is not worth taking.
Most likely, they will not let you into the freezer, they will take out the bags to the scales. But the bag, rejected with reason, will be changed.
The label is affixed directly to the bag. Look, two different labels - we went many times 
Fish are not sorted by size (Size: Ungraded). FAO-27 - fishing area according to the FAO code.
The name of the vessel is indicated here: Chernihiv.
But surprisingly: the Latin name is given absolutely incorrectly - Anarhichas minor, spotted catfish. Actually a different family.
That is, the confusion with the names that we encounter on the counter does not always come from the illiteracy or scam of the seller: sometimes it starts right at sea.
Opening the bag 
and extract blocks 
The temperature of the block - even after the road from the Moscow region to the Tver region. - no higher than -20C: blocks in sewn bags, bags were riding on top of each other in the back of a pickup truck, nothing was defrosted. Hands immediately become cold to the point of pain, gloves do not help.
The fish are weighed, the results are recorded in the work log.
As a rule, the weight does not match what is indicated on the label, especially when exactly 30 kg is indicated: it never happens exactly.
By the way, it usually happens a little more: 30 kg is a guaranteed minimum.
Only after defrosting, the net weight of the fish will always be slightly less: in addition to fish, we paid for the weight of frozen water at the wholesale base.
We lay out the blocks in all free containers - troughs, basins, vats - for defrosting 
we have about 20 of these different basins and troughs.
And let it thaw a little - so that the specimens do not defrost, but only separate themselves from each other 
You can’t tear off the fish with your hands: you can damage the skin.
Instances that thaw from the blocks, set aside 
The rest of the fish from the block, having thawed, remains right at the bottom of the trough 
We sort the fish by size, we will have 3-4 weight categories 
it can be seen that in this batch all the fish with caviar.
You need to sort in order to salt small fish separately from large ones: for small and salt you need less, and we salt it for 2 days, and large - all three.
large copy 
The underside of which the flounder lies on the ground 
We put fish of the same size in a vat (in a trough, etc.) - but reaching the edge of 10-15 cm: soon the brine will begin to stand out and rise - a brine, in which you can then salt new batches.
Then we take out the fish, weigh it - it is important to know how many fish are in each of the vats - then we throw a few handfuls of salt at the bottom of the vat and lay the fish in layers, pouring salt from a handful 
We begin to salt as soon as the fish are sorted, inside it is still frozen. This is very important: if you salt a completely defrosted fish, then by the time the salt passes into the muscles through the thick skin, they will already begin to deteriorate there inside.
Therefore, fish often disappears from those who try to salt it in the summer right on a fishing trip.
Those who read about the capelin ambassador from me remember that I and its salt are still frozen - as soon as it is possible to separate it from the block and put it in a container: it will thaw itself, allocate some water, and take the salt.
We lay the flounder at the bottom to the metal with a dark thick rough skin down, and then we put the layers so that the dark sides are turned to the dark ones, and the white ones to the white ones. 
see some specimens with spots? This is a notorious future marriage - but we salt such fish along with good fish: because it loses only aesthetically, but it will be tasty like the rest. But we will try the quality precisely for such ugly ones: in order not to take anything for testing that will definitely be sold - such an increase in profitability.
Salt used Baskunchak grinding No. 2, there is no such salt in stores. They took bags of 50 kg on the basis of salt in Maryino.
The required weight of salt was determined by the residual: they took a sample of 2 kg, salted by eye, then weighed how much salt was left - and counted how much was left.
Knowing how much the fish weighs in each of the vats, we calculated the ratio of salt to fish. A large sample allowed in the end to determine the optimal amount: 4.7% of the weight of the fish.
And according to reference books and textbooks - from 7% to 15%. I think I know why. The main task of the Soviet food industry technologist was not to create delicacies - but to guarantee the preservation of products, save them from spoilage and not poison the population. Well, don't sit down.
And I need a person to try - and say "ah!".
It is better to put vats one into the other, using the upper one as oppression for the lower one. 
The fish in the upper container was covered with a pair of boards wrapped in plastic bags, stones wrapped in bags were placed on them.
Every 12 hours, the vats were changed in places: the top one was placed down.
Fish larger than 20 cm were salted for three days, small fish for 48 hours.
After that, they were washed from salt and soaked in water - 3 hours, the one that was salted for 72 hours, and 2 hours that was salted for 48 hours.
The large one was hung out for 5 days in a chamber 16 sq.m, lined with galvanized sheet, at T=15C and weak air circulation.
Small - 4 days.
They were hung on frames, piercing the tail stems with pieces of aluminum wire. What is good about the drying chamber - there are guaranteed no flies or other insects.
In industrial production, fish is dried under powerful hot fans for 2-4 hours, and it goes on sale - but fish that has dried, like ours, gradually over several days, is much tastier.
The finished product was collected in cardboard boxes: for tasting and for pre-sale packaging 
Exposure 5 days.
Dark side 
Bright side 
He took off the skin - it is torn off immediately entirely 
You can clearly see the fat in the area of the fins, and the anatomy of the muscle plates - myomers. This structure of muscle tissue helps the fish to bend the body to move through the water column.
And understanding of such geometry allows us to eat fish without choking on small bones. Now I’m not talking about dried fish, but about boiled, baked in the oven or fried.
Do you see a thin white stripe running along the entire body from the head of the carcass to the tail? This is a lateral line with nerve endings located in it, perceiving a change in water pressure from the wave movement of water that occurs when reflected from other fish or stones: this helps the fish navigate in space, especially in conditions of limited visibility.
Muddlers and clumsies, starting to eat fish, irrationally rip open its side or back with a fork, destroy architecture - and then choke on the scattered bones. And we will draw the side of the fork along the side line, separate the upper part of the carcass from the lower one along it, and then we will begin to peel off the myomers with the tips of the teeth - and small bones will begin to be released from the myomers and become visible, after which they can be easily removed from the fish directly on the plate, not sending their mouth.
The flesh from the spine is also removed almost in one piece, this is an indicator of quality 
Somehow there were interruptions in the supply of flounder-ruff from Murmansk, they took a sample of the sea flounder Pleuronectes platessa 
she is pretty, but she lost in taste compared to the ruff 
The business itself, of course, is not simple.
Flounder-ruff at the beginning of 2012 cost - if taken in small bulk, up to 1 ton - 145 rubles / kg.
He gave dried 650 rubles / kg. We seemed to have a margin.
But only fish during drying loses from 30 to 60% of the mass - so consider the profit. Moreover, transportation costs, work, depreciation of the drying chamber, in which he initially invested money.
And his flounder, bought at 650 rubles, he followed up, gave 850 rubles / kg to the saunas (that link had a job - only to transport the batch from place to place and get a delta of 200 rubles per kilogram), where it was sold customers for 1200 rubles / piece.
A friend tried to sell directly to the sauna for 850 rubles, but he was so shuged that they discouraged such bargains.
So a friend abandoned this business about a year ago. Firstly, when he made fish without me, the quality was worse, and sometimes the marriage went on: the flesh was not dry, but sticky, then it did not separate from the bones at all - we broke our heads, looking for reasons. We did the timing of my work, and video filming, and carefully weighing, and temperature control, and measured the speed of the draft in the chamber with an anemometer - we didn’t figure it out: he said that working without me, he repeated everything one to one.
But I have a hunch that he did not have time to pick and salt 100-200 kg of fish without me - and it overheated and began to deteriorate.
And it was unprofitable for him to call me every time, although I then took a little: 10 thousand rubles. for departure, $100 per day.
Now, if anything, more expensive.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of salt crystals then, larger than black peppercorns - and it was one of the most delicious that I have tried in my life - only the platform of this warehouse in Maryino 
In such 1-ton bags, salt is brought from Baskunchak and repackaged in the hangar that can be seen from behind into 50-kilogram bags. I recently asked my friends for the address of the base, but he doesn’t remember at all.
It's a pity.
Well, I told all this so that you know and remember: all this dried fish in the markets and shops is done in much the same way: as a rule, in the garage and on your knee. Only, unlike us, manufacturers usually do not have drying chambers and climate control. And even these cameras are not there: they are dried in the attics.
Dried flounder fish photo by Petr de Cril'on
Dried fish (especially flounder)- This is a very popular dish among both beer lovers and "ordinary" people. The history of dried fish recipes has been lost for centuries. Fish in this state could be stored in reserve for ancient people who lived before the invention of refrigerators.
Previously, the fish was simply dried in the sun. Later, they began to pre-salt, because in this way the dried fish turned out to be tastier. Any fish can be dried. But, there are types of fish that are especially tasty when dried. For example, flounder.
For drying, it is better to choose medium-sized flounder, flatter, not very oily. If you come across a fish with caviar, you will receive an additional tasty bonus.
Recipe: If you have fresh-frozen flounder, then before drying it must be thawed. Then we gut the fish, clean the ridge and remove the black film. We make cuts throughout the carcass on both sides, not reaching the spinal bone, with an interval of 2-3 cm. Pour coarse salt into the selected container with a thin, even layer. We rub the flounder with salt and put it in a container on a layer of salt. Lightly sprinkle the top with salt from the pack. We press the fish with oppression and cover the container tightly with a lid. We take out in a cool place for 6 hours. Then we take out the flounder and put it on the grate so that the glass is excess liquid, occasionally turning it over to the other side. Hours through 12 we hang out on air for withering.
Dried fish flounder photo of ingredients
- Fresh or fresh-frozen medium-sized flounder - 2 pieces.
- Coarse salt - 1 pack.
Dried fish flounder recipe description
- Dried flounder will turn out tastier if it is well salted. And for this, it needs to be properly prepared.
- We choose a flounder that is not very large, not very fat, flatter. If it is fresh-frozen, then we first defrost it at room temperature, putting it on a wire rack so that it does not become saturated with excess moisture during defrosting.
- Then we cut off the head and remove the insides. We clean the blood on the spinal bone and remove the black film. We show the whole process in our video recipe.
- If there is caviar in the fish - and flounder caviar is very tasty, especially if it is well salted, then you should try not to pull it out of the abdomen, leave it inside.
- We also try to clean the blood as much as possible, best of all with a paper towel or towel. Once again, it is better not to wet the flounder with water.
- Further, we make cuts along the entire surface of the flounder carcass with a sharp knife, not reaching the spinal bone.
- The distance between the incisions is 2-3 cm.
- This must be done so that the fish is well salted, and then dried.
- We try not to cut through the spinal bone. If there is caviar, we also try not to touch it with a knife.
- Turn the carcass over to the other side and repeat the operation. And so it is with every fish. Just in case, blot the flounder carcass with a paper towel.
- For salting fish, it is best to take an enameled or food-grade plastic container of such a size that the flounder carcass fits freely on the bottom.
- Salt for salting fish must be used ordinary, not iodized, without any additives, coarse grinding.
- Pour the salt into the container in a thin layer, gently level it along the bottom of the container.
- Then, rub the flounder on each side with the same coarse salt.
- We also try to pour salt into the slot.
- Rub the belly from the inside with salt.
- If there is caviar, it must also be sprinkled with salt.
- But do not forget that caviar is salted faster than the rest of the fish.
- The carcass of flounder, grated with salt, is placed on a layer of salt in a container for salting.
- Gently level and sprinkle a little salt on top of the fish.
- All the fish that you have prepared for drying is also rubbed with salt and laid out on top of each other in a container.
- On top of all the laid fish, we still pour coarse salt and gently level it.
- On top of the fish we lay a plastic mesh, on which we then put the load. The mesh is needed to more evenly distribute the pressure of the load on the fish.
- You can use any flat cover or board instead of a mesh.
- We put a load on the net.
- Instead of cargo, we have two thick cutting boards.
- You can use anything: pebbles, a jar of water, any piece of iron wrapped in a bag.
- After 6 hours, our flounder was sufficiently salted. If the fish is kept in the resulting brine - brine (the fish itself will give the brine) for more than 6 hours, then it will oversalt.
- Open the lid of the container.
- And we free our fish from gravity.
- Each carcass of fish must be cleaned of undissolved grains of salt.
- You can do this procedure with a brush and brine.
- And you can rinse with water, but try so that the water does not soak into the fish too much.
Loading...
