Carp is a river bony fish, but you can prepare many aromatic and healthy dishes from it, in which it will no longer be obvious whether it is sea or freshwater. In addition to banal baking, boiling, frying and fish soup, carp herring can be prepared. It won’t take much effort and will require a minimum of ingredients.
You can make herring from carp
Carp meat is considered dietary, and it is also recommended to be consumed for many diseases.
Advantages
There are two ways to salt fish. The first is in brine, when the herring is left in the prepared marinade. The second is dry salting, when the fish is rubbed with salt and spices. This herring turns out to be fattier, drier and spicy. It slightly resembles dried fish. Although with any of the salting methods at home, it turns out much more aromatic and tastier than store-bought. In addition, this is a significant saving on the family budget. Also, the undeniable advantage of dry salting herring is the ease of preparation, the use of available products, and the minimum amount of time spent. Interested?
How to choose the right fish for salting
It is very important to approach the choice of fish itself responsibly, as this is the key to a tasty dish:
- You should pay attention not only to the beautiful appearance, but also to the freshness.
- To prepare a delicious appetizer, it is better to choose chilled Atlantic or Pacific herring.
- Choose big fish. It's fattier and tastier.
- It is important that the herring is not flattened or crushed. Pay attention to details: there should be no cuts in the skin, damage to the skin or dark eyes. It is definitely important to check the integrity of the fins!
- The freshness of any fish is determined by its head and gills. Herring typically have red gills and bulging white eyes. Do not buy fish without a head, as often sellers thus want to hide the unsuitability of the product.
- If the herring is soft, most likely it has been defrosted and frozen frequently. It is better not to take such fish, because when salted it will fall apart or peel off from its own skeleton. The fish will lose its beautiful appearance and its taste will deteriorate. In addition, eating stale fish can cause stomach upset.
Do not defrost herring in a microwave oven or in a warm bath. Simply place the fish in a deep bowl and leave for a couple of hours until the carcass is a couple of degrees cooler than room temperature.
It is not recommended to use fine or iodized salt for pickling. This can greatly affect the taste of the snack.
Today there are many recipes for delicious salting of herring at home. You can use different products, for example, carrots, onions, lemon, mustard and others. Lightly salted fish is considered to be fish that has been salted for 2-3 days. Every day the concentration of salt in herring increases. Adjust the exposure level yourself.
Dry salted herring at home
This is one of the most popular ways to cook fish without water. The herring turns out very tasty and aromatic. It will take less than half an hour to prepare.
To dry-salt herring you will need:
- half tbsp. spoons of sugar;
- 2 herrings;
- half a teaspoon of ground black pepper;
- 1.5 tbsp. l. salt.
Recipe for delicious salted herring in brine
I really love cooking this way, even though it uses vinegar. Because I know that many people don’t like to add it, but I, on the contrary, like this snack.
Ingredients:
- Herring - 2 pcs.;
- Water - 250 -300 ml;
- Salt - 1 tbsp. spoon;
- Vinegar 9% - 1-1.5 tbsp. spoons;
- Peppercorns - 10 pcs.;
- Bay leaf - 3-4 pcs.;
- Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp. spoon;
- Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. spoons.
Cooking method:
1. Carcasses need to be cleaned, removing the head and rinsed well in cold water.
2. Bring water to a boil and add spices and salt, turn off the heat. Wait for the brine to cool.
3. Now add vinegar to the liquid. Place the carcasses in a container and fill them with marinade, close them and put them in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
4. Clean the lightly salted fish from the bones and serve.
Cooking method
We salt herring using the dry method at home. The cooking process is described in detail below.
After purchasing suitable fish, it must be washed and dried with a napkin. You can also cut off the head and remove the giblets to prevent future inconvenience when eating. Pour salt, sugar and pepper into a deep container. Mix the ingredients until smooth. Rub each fish individually with the mixture prepared in advance. Place it on a dish, cut a square of cling film and wrap each fish in it. If you don’t have film at home, you can also try putting it in a plastic bag, sealing it tightly. Place all the wrapped fish on a shallow plate and refrigerate for two to three days. Every 10 hours it is important to turn the product from one side to the other.
This method of dry salting herring in a bag balances the salt level in the product. Therefore, the fish can be lightly salted or, if you add more salt and salt longer, salted.
Incomparably delicious salted herring in brine with onions
The method described below for marinating a dish was given to me by a fisherman I know. And I want to share it with you, because I have never eaten tastier fish anywhere else!
Ingredients:
- Herring - 1 kg;
- Onion - 0.5 kg;
- Salt - 3 tbsp. spoons;
- Sunflower oil - 5 tbsp. spoons
Cooking method:
1. The fish needs to be cut, filleted and cut into large pieces.
2. Rub the fillet with salt on all sides and place in a jar. Coarsely chop the onion into half rings and sprinkle on top of the fillet.
3. Fill the contents with oil and add salt, mix everything well. Close the lid and put it in the refrigerator for two days. It turns out that the food will be marinated in its own juice. This brine is the most delicious, in my opinion.
Step-by-step preparation
Let's look at how to prepare dry-salted herring. You will need separate bags for each fish so that it is better salted. Frozen carcasses should be thawed first. Fresh fish must be washed. To reduce salting time, carcasses can be cut or filleted.
The prepared herring should be placed in a clean bag. Then add salt, add sugar, add bay leaf, ground black pepper and allspice. If you wish, you can add any spices and herbs, for example, onions, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice and more.
After this, you need to tie the bag and shake the herring thoroughly in your hands so that the salt is evenly distributed throughout the carcass. Send the fish to the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Then they tear off the fin and taste the finished fish. If everything is satisfactory, it is removed from the bag and washed under running water. Dry salted herring is ready to eat. If the fish is not ready, you can continue salting for another 5-6 hours.
This herring can be used for the same dishes as industrial salting. For example, remove bones and skin from the fish, cut into pieces, pour in oil, sprinkle fresh chopped onions on top and serve with boiled potatoes. You can prepare your favorite “Herring under a fur coat” salad.
Pickling herring with lemon
Fish can be salted whole or chopped. This method will emphasize the tenderness and brightness of all ingredients. In addition, thanks to the lemon, the herring will be incredibly aromatic.
The fish will take approximately 15 minutes to cook, plus three days for salting in the refrigerator.
Ingredients:
Recipes for homemade bream herring
In fact, homemade bream herring can be prepared according to many recipes. Now we will share the most common of them, namely, a recipe for preparing regular herring and spicy salted herring.
Conventional salting method
For two large fish, prepare:
- Water – 800 ml;
- Sugar – 1-2 tsp;
- Salt – 1-2 tbsp.
Place the fish in a glass, plastic or enamel bowl (preferably glass). It is not recommended to use containers made of iron and aluminum, as they will give the herring a specific taste.
Bring the water to a boil, add the ingredients, cool to room temperature and pour the resulting brine over the fish so that the liquid completely covers it. After an hour, put it in the refrigerator. After two days the fish will be lightly salted, and after a week it will be heavily salted.
Salting fish
Rinse fresh lemon under running water. Then cut it into thin slices and put it in any container. Mix all the spices: salt, sugar and black pepper in a separate deep bowl. Rinse the herring under running water and dry it with a napkin. You can also discard the head, remove the giblets, or cut into small pieces. Place lemon and fish in layers in glass containers (you can put them in a jar if you don’t have a container). Also add all the spices mixed in a bowl in layers. Cover with a smaller cup and place something heavy on top. Place in the refrigerator for 2 days. After this, take it out, mix and leave for another day. Serve in a dish with sliced fresh lemon.
Pickling herring in Dutch style
Thanks to this unusual recipe, you will have a ready-made delicious snack on your table, which is loved not only here, but also in Holland.
To prepare you will need:
Dry salted herring is prepared as follows. It is necessary to wash the lemon and cut into small circles. Also wash fresh carrots and peel them. Grate on a coarse grater. Peel and wash the onion. Then cut into medium rings. Place herring fillets with onions in a glass container, then carrots, bay leaves, peppercorns and lemon slices. Sprinkle everything with the required amount of sugar and salt. Alternate all products. Then simply cover the jar and put it in a cool place for three days. When serving, pour vegetable oil over the fragrant herring. Also cut Borodino bread into small squares and lay out the fish.
How to cook herring according to GOST regulations
And this recipe is from distant Soviet times. We will prepare food according to GOST. We make the salting spicy, and take the proportions from the fishing industry of those years.
Ingredients:
- Fresh, not gutted herring – 2 pcs.;
- Water – 1 l;
- Salt – 90 gr. (8 tbsp);
- Sugar – 20 gr. (2 tbsp);
- Coriander – 1 tsp;
- Bay leaf – 2-3 pcs.;
- Nutmeg – 2-3 pinches;
- Allspice – 7-8 pcs.;
- Cloves – 6 pcs.;
- Cinnamon – 0.5 tsp;
- Dried mint – 3 pinches;
- Ground chili – 0.5 teaspoon.
Cooking method:
1. Remove the gill plates from the fish.
2. Grind all spices and herbs in a mortar. Crumble the bay leaves and mint with your hands, grate the nuts on a fine grater, and use the cinnamon and pepper as they are. Mix all the spices together, adding 1 tbsp. sugar and 1 tbsp. salt.
3. Cover the herring with the prepared mixture from head to tail, on both sides. Let the fish sit like this for 30 minutes. At this time, prepare the marinade: add the remaining products on the list to the water, dissolve the salt in the liquid.
4. Place the carcasses in a pickling container and fill them with the prepared brine. Place in the refrigerator for three days, turning the carcasses over occasionally. After the time has passed, fillet the fish and cut into pieces. Bon appetit!
Dry salting with onions and butter
For salting you will need:
Preparation:
- Initially, you need to clean the herring, separate the head, remove the bones, and remove the skin to obtain a clean fillet.
- Then cut the onion into half rings.
- Rub the prepared fillet with salt. Place in a container (a regular jar will do). Alternate each layer with onions.
- After this, pour everything with oil and leave for an hour at room temperature. Then put it in the refrigerator for 48 hours.
Spicy lightly salted herring with lemon. Original recipe
To dry salt herring in this way we will need:
Cooking fish:
- Clean the herring from entrails, bones, skin and head. Rinse well in water.
- Mix sugar and salt. Cut the lemon into slices.
- Place the herring, lemon, cut into slices, in layers in a small saucepan, sprinkle with a mixture of sugar, salt and spices.
- Place a saucer on top, place a jar of water on it and leave in the refrigerator for a day.
- After this, take out the pan, mix the layers and put in the refrigerator for another 5-40 hours.
Carp herring
Everyone knows that river fish contains a fairly large number of small bones, but due to this cooking technique they dissolve and become insensitive. Is it possible to compare homemade herring with store-bought herring? Of course not, because a person knows what products it was made from and how fresh they were.
Using this recipe, you can cook herring from any fish; carp is perfect for this. It should be large, about two kilograms, in which case the dish will turn out amazing.
Ingredients:
- 400 grams of carp fillet;
- 150 milliliters of 9% vinegar;
- 300 ml purified water;
- oil (preferably sunflower);
- 1 medium onion;
- 2-3 tablespoons Extra salt;
- one and a half tbsp. l. Sahara.
Herring is prepared from carp loin
We remove the scales from the fish, clean it, removing the black film from the belly, and fillet it (leaving the skin). We will get two meaty halves, which we will cut into portions, rinse well several times, or even better, soak in cold water, dry with paper towels and put in a clean bowl. An enamel or plastic pan is suitable for this, but in no case an aluminum one. Separately, mix sugar and salt and thoroughly rub all the pieces; sprinkle the remaining mixture over the future herring. Leave in the refrigerator overnight.
After the time has elapsed, rinse to remove excess salt and add a marinade of water and vinegar and leave overnight. Then drain the liquid and place it in a jar in layers: carp, onion cut into half rings, and lightly cover with oil. After a couple of hours, the dish is ready to eat.
