Sturgeon balyk: step by step cooking

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Sturgeon balyk: step by step cooking
Sturgeon balyk: step by step cooking
Anonim

Sturgeon salmon is incredibly tasty, but it can be quite difficult to buy a quality product in a store. Although, it would seem that it could be easier - to go to the fish department and purchase the desired carcass. But, in practice, it is almost impossible to buy delicious cold-smoked fish that can be stored in the refrigerator for several days without smelling. This article will tell you how to make sturgeon salmon yourself at home as quickly as possible and without much effort.

Preparation

live sturgeon
live sturgeon

If you decide to cook sturgeon balyk at home, then you should start cooking right from the purchase of ingredients. The first step is to purchase high-quality sturgeon. It is best to choose a fish that weighs about 3 kg. It should be chilled, that is, stored at a temperature of 0 to -2 degrees. It will not work to use fish that has been re-frozen for smoking - it will be watery and tasteless.

Cutting fish

The first step in cooking sturgeon balyk is cutting the fish. She should be cut off her head and tail, and also pulled outall the entrails from the belly. Then, in the middle of the ridge, you need to make an incision and pull out a screech through it, that is, the so-called spinal cord, which is not prepared for large fish, since it is often poisonous. Then the peritoneum is cut off, and the rest turns into salmon. For smoking, it is best to take the middle part - it is the most delicious and juicy, because there is a lot of fat.

Soaking and s alting

The next step in cooking sturgeon balyk is s alting. To do this, s alt is laid out at the bottom of the container about 1 cm in height, and then pieces of fish are placed on it. This should be done exclusively with the skin down. Each layer is also sprinkled with s alt. Sturgeon should be put in a cold place for a day.

After this time, a brine is made. To prepare it, a tablespoon of sea s alt is dissolved in a liter of water, after which the whole fish is poured with this liquid so that it is completely covered. Sturgeon should stand in brine for about 5 days, after which it is soaked in a saucepan with fresh water for the same time as s alting lasted.

Smoked salmon
Smoked salmon

Drying

Already s alted fish after soaking should also be dried before smoking. It should stand in a warm place with dry air. In total, drying will take no more than two days, if you follow these rules. However, if the air is too humid, then the cooking time will be delayed by the same amount of time. So you need to carefully monitor that the fish wilts, but at the same time it does not have an unpleasantsmell. After that, it can be eaten or smoked a little more if desired. This will make cold-smoked balyk.

Hot smoked

small smokehouse
small smokehouse

If there is no desire to wait so long and, moreover, there is a smokehouse, then the sturgeon can be smoked in it. To do this, rub a mixture of various spices into the fish - for this you should use cloves, cinnamon, ground black pepper, bay leaf and sugar. Leave it in this form for about a day, and then pour a glass of white wine. The fish will be ready in a day. After that, it should be removed from the marinade and rinsed well, and then dried in the fresh air for several hours.

For hot smoking, sturgeon is placed in a smokehouse, where it must be cooked for several hours at a temperature of 70–80 degrees. You should carefully watch the time and temperature, otherwise the fish will turn out quite dry.

For those who want to get salmon with a pronounced taste of smoking, you should keep the fish in the smokehouse for a longer period. It is best to leave it for about 2-3 days. The temperature on the first day should be no more than 25 degrees, and the rest of the time no more than 30.

Shop selection

smoked sturgeon
smoked sturgeon

If you doubt that you can cook sturgeon balyk on your own, then try to make a quality purchase in the store. To do this, you will need to follow a few rules:

  1. The weight of the fish carcass should be about three kilograms, that is, it should bequite large with a lot of fat. Only such a sturgeon will taste good.
  2. The smoked balyk should feel very elastic to the touch, and a very thin layer of fat should cover it on top.
  3. There should be no gray spots on the cut, as well as moisture - these are indicators that the fish is stale and soaked.
  4. If mold or slime is visible on the sturgeon, then it is completely spoiled and cannot be eaten.

Conclusion

Be sure to remember that this is a rather expensive fish, so it is simply impossible to buy a good and high-quality cold-smoked sturgeon sturgeon at a low price. So for such a purchase you will have to pay more than one and a half thousand per kilogram. That is why it is best to cook it yourself, because in this way you can be sure that it will be incredibly fresh and tasty.

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