Making balyk from carp at home

Peculiarities

There are three species of representatives of the carp family - motley, white and hybrid silver carp. Individuals with silvery scales and a large head live in schools, and their weight varies depending on age: young silver carp weigh three, and adults - sixteen kilograms.

Stores sell meat balyk: chicken, pork, turkey. Meat, like fish, is salted, soaked and dried in a draft. Although a dish made from meat is called balyk, it is not balyk.

The homeland of silver carp is Chinese reservoirs. Due to the destruction of fish farms in the late 50s. XX century in China, he found himself in the tributaries of the river. Amur, and a decade later schools of fish were noticed in the rivers: Prut, Amu Darya, Terek, Don, Kuban, Dnieper, Volga, Syr Darya, Dniester. Silver carp do not spawn in European waters. In Russia, it is bred artificially not for sale, but to clean “green” ponds. By feeding on microalgae, it purifies the water by removing excess dead organic matter.

How to clean silver carp for balyk

If you want to cook balyk with skin, you need to remove scales from the fish. When subsequently removing the skin, the scales do not need to be peeled off.
Cut off the head, tail, cut out the fins. They will come in handy for fish soup.
Carefully cut the belly and gut the fish. Be sure to remove all the dark film lining the abdominal cavity, otherwise the fish will subsequently taste bitter.
Rinse the fish and pat dry with a paper towel so that it does not slip on the cutting board.
Using a sharp knife, remove the fillet. To do this, trim the meat near the ridge and use short cutting movements to separate it from the bones, moving from head to tail. Turn the fish over to the other side and remove the fillet there.
Place the fillets skin side down on a board. Separate the skin from the pulp from one edge. Pull it tight. Hold the knife flat and trim the fillets from the skin.
If you want to cut silver carp crosswise, then make pieces about 3-4 cm thick. Although most often their width depends on the size of the fish itself.

Composition and calorie content

100 g of dried silver carp contains only 86 kcal. Due to its low energy value, the dish is classified as dietary and is recommended to be included in the menu for those who are on a diet or trying to reduce the calorie content of the dishes included in the diet. It contains 23% proteins; 0.16% carbohydrates and 1.38% fat.

Fish meat contains vitamins necessary for the human body (for example, vitamin A (34 mcg/100 g), thiamine, riboflavin, tocopherol, vitamin PP, E) and macroelements (phosphorus (213 mcg/100 g), sodium, sulfur ( 210 mcg/100 g), calcium).

Step-by-step cooking recipe

Only very large fish are suitable for balyk, I have an initial weight, but 10 kg will be a fairy tale for fish lovers.

The fish must be scaled, gutted and filleted.

I’ll tell you in more detail how to perform this operation. Cut the fish up to the ridge around the head, but do not cut off the head; it will be more convenient to cut the fillet while holding the fish by the head. Cut the skin along the ridge from head to tail and, holding the knife at an obtuse angle to the skeleton, begin to cut the fillet from the rib bones, gradually moving towards the tail. Then do the same operation on the other side.

You are left with an excellent set for fish soup or aspic, which freezes 100% without gelatin.

Cut the fillet into the desired pieces and begin placing it in a prepared container, preferably a glass or enamel container.

Sprinkle a good layer of salt on the bottom, lay a layer of fish, cover it well with salt, and so on for each layer, finishing with salt.

Cover with a flat lid and press down. Since I don’t yet have a rare cobblestone, I used a water bottle as before. (Yura, I’ll correct myself)

Place everything in the refrigerator or in a cold place for seven days and let it salt.

After seven days, take out the required amount of fish and soak it in cold water for seven hours, changing the water three times.

How many days will the fish lie in the brine, how many hours should it be soaked in water, but no more than a day, changing the water after 1.5-2 hours.

Then you hang the fish to dry for 2-4 days, depending on the air humidity and ventilation of the room. Here it’s up to your taste, how you like it, drier or softer.

This is how you can pickle and store it, and take it out when necessary.

Silver carp balyk belongs to the category of fish delicacies, being one of the favorite dishes of true gourmets. Balyk is a pre-salted and then dried fillet of large fish, which is distinguished by its exquisite taste and unique aroma. However, the cost of dried fish in stores is quite high, so in order to save money, you can learn how to cook balyk yourself.

The benefits and harms of dried silver carp

Since silver carp contains many useful substances, eating it has a beneficial effect on health. Including it in the diet prevents the development of heart and vascular diseases and atherosclerosis. Omega-3 fatty acids contained in it have a beneficial effect on the circulatory system; amino acids prevent the development of tumors, improve the condition of people suffering from high blood pressure, gout, rheumatism; zinc and iron improve the condition of hair, skin and nails, and also normalize carbohydrate metabolism and increase hemoglobin.

Like any other product, balyk is eaten in small quantities and carefully monitors its health. Scientists have proven that smoked balyk can cause serious allergies.

Fish that is cooked incorrectly in a home smokehouse may contain carcinogens, which can subsequently cause the development of tumors. Therefore, one cannot deviate from the recommendations of chefs and doctors: proper processing of silver carp is the key to the absence of pathogenic microorganisms in it.

Balyk storage

The storage period for silver carp is short - 3-4 days. It must be placed in the refrigerator, first wrapped in parchment paper or foil. In view of this, you should not cook more dried fish than you plan to eat. If a large carcass is salted, then the salted fillet can be placed in the freezer, and, if necessary, defrosted and dried. In this case, the silver carp is washed from salt, dried and hermetically sealed so as not to lose its taste.

In some cases, people prefer to freeze ready-made dried balyk, but then its taste after defrosting will be different.

Silver carp balyk, prepared at home according to the recipe described, is a tasty and, most importantly, budget-friendly dish. The costs are minimal, and everyone will like the appearance, aroma and taste of the product. This dish can be safely presented to relatives and friends as a delicious treat.

How to select and store silver carp?

Not any fish is suitable for making balyk. If they want to make delicious balyk from silver carp, they don’t buy it from a fisherman at a spontaneous market. Otherwise, there is a high risk of contracting the parasitic disease opisthorchiasis. It is better to buy silver carp in a specialized fish store, where there are sanitary documents for it. Choose a fresh or chilled large-sized specimen weighing more than 2 kg so that it has a minimum amount of bones.

Signs of quality fish

It smells not like rotten meat, but like a river;
Elastic, wet and straight tail;
Pink gills;
“Clear” eyes: they should not be cloudy or sunken;
Shiny scales, tightly fitting to the body;
The body is dense, and if you press on it with your finger, the trace of it will disappear in a minute.

Having bought silver carp, they prepare balyk from it on the same day. The duration of storage in the freezer is no more than 24 hours, otherwise the quality of its tender white meat will deteriorate.

What is smoked balyk like?

The most interesting thing for housewives begins when they pickle the silver carp: they choose the method of preparing it. It is good both dried and smoked. When this fish is cooked in a smokehouse, it acquires a special aroma and reaches the desired state. It is saved using one of the methods listed below:

Cold smoking. Silver carp is smoked for 3-4 days in a smokehouse at a temperature of 25-30°C, taking a break every six hours for half an hour to an hour;
Hot smoking. Small fish are smoked over a fire for half an hour, and large ones for about forty minutes.

The method is chosen based on when you want to get a tasty dish to go with beer. Smoked balyk, unlike dried balyk, has a different taste and smell.

You should not eat smoked foods often. Otherwise, health problems cannot be avoided.

How to make whole balyk from silver carp at home

Usually small-sized specimens are salted this way. Use the same proportions of salt, sugar and spices. Make even cuts on the inside of the carcass and salt everything well. Leave the silver carp under pressure for 2-3 days. Rinse and line dry. Some people prefer to use a fan.

Cooking secrets

Housewives can cope with preparing silver carp balyk at home if:

They will take the middle of the carcass for cooking, not the tail;
The ridge will be taken out/left;
They will cut the layers into pieces so that they dry well and do not spoil;
Take fish with or without skin;
Cut pieces of medium rather than small size, preventing them from drying out and lack of juiciness in the finished dish;
The taste of the delicacy will not be impaired by adding sea or iodized salt;
Make a marinade from simple ingredients and aromatic “fish” seasonings.

How to clean fish?

They don’t start preparing silver carp balyk until they decide what to do with the skin—whether they leave it or not. If you leave it, clean the carcass from scales. If it is not needed, preliminary cleaning of the scales is not required: they will be removed along with the skin. The head and tail are not dried. They don't leave fins behind. Unnecessary parts are cut off, placed in a separate bag and put in the freezer to later cook fish soup. The abdomen is opened and the giblets are taken out. Balyk is not made with giblets to avoid bitter taste.

How long can silver carp balyk be stored?

Balyk from this representative of the carp family does not last long - only 3-4 days. Once it is ready, place it in the refrigerator, wrapped in foil or parchment paper.

Due to the short shelf life, they do not dry a lot of fish at a time, for example, 5-6 heads for two people. There is a great risk that they simply will not have time to eat it. If the housewives initially did not take into account the above and salted several large carcasses, then the salted fillet can be packaged in bags and put in the freezer.

When the desire to eat dried fish arises again, they will take it out of the freezer, defrost it, rinse it of salt, dry it and dry it. In this case, it will not lose its taste.

Tips for housewives

Those who prepare dried or smoked silver carp for the first time face difficulties. For example, they rush for a long time between enamel and glassware instead of salting it; they notice with disappointment that it has dried out a day after preparation. The tips below will help them:

Firstly, if housewives have salted a lot of fish, then they need to dry exactly as many pieces as they and their household will be able to eat in the near future;

Secondly, after salting, silver carp can be kept in the refrigerator for twenty-one days, and before drying, it is soaked for a long time and thoroughly;

Thirdly, dried fish will never dry out if you keep it in the freezer. Before serving, it is removed from it in advance and defrosted at room temperature;

Fourthly, you can get a delicious smoked balyk from dried silver carp, but thoroughly soak it before smoking to get rid of excess salt;

Fifthly, fish fillets often emit a specific odor, which can be removed by soaking it in vinegar;

Sixth, for salting fillets it is better to use coarse sea salt or table salt. Iodized salt is not suitable for it, as it spoils the taste and worsens the appearance of the fish;

Seventh, silver carp is salted in plastic, enamel or glass containers.

Balyk: cooking secrets

For balyk it is better to take the middle of the fish carcass. That's where the most meat is.
Pieces can be cut either from one fillet or with a ridge (across the fish). The main thing is that the layers of fish are not thick, otherwise they will wilt badly inside and begin to deteriorate.
Balyk can be cooked with or without skin.
The pieces should be moderately large. Finely chopped fish will become even smaller when dried. It can dry out a lot and not be as juicy.
It is believed that you should not use iodized or sea salt for salting, as this can worsen the taste of the finished product.
The mixture for salting balyk is prepared from salt and a small amount of sugar. For 1 kg of fish take 10 tablespoons of salt and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Spicy lovers can use aromatic spices, adding them to taste during pickling.
The quality of balyk depends not only on proper salting and soaking, but also on the drying time. The longer the fish is dried, the drier it becomes.

Cooking technology

The recipe for making silver carp balyk is quite simple and consists of two stages: salting and drying.

Pickling

To do this you will need 3 kg of fillet, 100 g of granulated sugar, 700 g of non-iodized coarse salt, 3 bay leaves, 20 pieces of sweet peas and 10 g of coriander. The step-by-step salting looks like this:

salt and seasonings are mixed, and half of the resulting mixture is poured onto the bottom of a ceramic container;
the mixture is evenly distributed over the bottom, silver carp is placed on top;
top the fish with the rest of the salt and seasonings, evenly distributing it over the surface of the carcass, and press down with pressure;
the cup of fish is placed in the refrigerator for 5 days, after which the released liquid is drained, the fish is washed and filled with cold boiled water;
Soaking time depends on the personal preferences of the cook and can range from three to five hours.

Drying

After the fillet is soaked, you can start drying. To do this, remove the pieces from the water and blot them with a paper towel. Then they take a strong cord and string the pieces onto it. In winter, the fish is left to dry at home, and in the warm season they are hung outside or on the balcony. When drying outside, the fish must be covered with gauze and sprinkled with diluted vinegar on top. This will repel insects and prevent them from laying eggs on the meat.

Hanging fish in the sun is highly undesirable. The optimal place for drying will be a shaded, well-ventilated area, located away from busy roads and industrial enterprises. After 2.5 days, the fish is checked for readiness. To do this, press the piece with your finger and look at the result. If a greasy film remains on your finger, and no liquid is released from the fish, then the process is more than successful, and in a day the delicacy can be eaten.

To obtain a drier balyk, the drying process is increased to five days; in other cases, as a rule, 3.5 days are sufficient. This method of preparing fish allows you to preserve all the nutritional properties as much as possible and results in a low-calorie, tasty dish.

The drying process when making balyk can be easily replaced by smoking, preparing the fish in Astrakhan style. To do this, after salting and soaking, the fillets are dried with towels, strung on a thick thread or special skewers made of wood, and smoked at a temperature of 35 degrees. After the balyk acquires a beautiful golden brown color, it is taken out, kept in the air for an hour and a half and served.

How to fry pistachios

Pistachios are delicious nuts that differ from other nuts in lower calorie content and have a fairly rich vitamin composition. These nuts have a tonic effect and help with chronic fatigue and depression. They are also called “funny nuts” because of the effect they have and the cracked, smile-shaped shell.

Iranian pistachios are considered the most delicious. They are sprinkled on ice cream, added to baked goods, cocktails, meat and fish dishes, and salads. In the East, pistachios are used to make baklava, Turkish delight and other national sweets.

Nowadays pistachios can be bought at any store, but since all nuts contain a large amount of oil and quickly become rancid, it is best to stock up on fresh pistachios, which can be dried or fried if desired. Fresh pistachios are soft and have a milky taste. We are more accustomed to eating them cooked. In addition, fresh nuts do not last long, and after drying in the sun they can be stored for almost a year. Few people know how to properly fry pistachios.

To properly fry pistachios, according to some recipes, you must first soak them in salt water. This is for those who like their nuts soaked through with salt. A simpler process sequence looks like this:

Raw pistachios must first be peeled and peeled, then boiled for five minutes. Then drain the pistachios in a colander and let them dry thoroughly.

Place the peeled, boiled and dried nuts on a baking sheet in an even layer. Preheat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees and place a baking sheet with pistachios there. Fry for about five minutes, then sprinkle with spices and salt. You can do without spices altogether. You can eat pistachios after they have cooled completely, during which time they will have time to absorb salt.

Frying pistachios at home is easy; if you wish, you can do it not in the oven, but using a cast-iron frying pan. Pistachios, as already mentioned, can be pre-soaked and dried, or boiled. The prepared nuts are poured into a frying pan, greased with oil and fried until golden brown, with constant stirring, then seasoned with salt.

We recommend reading: Beetles in a Bucket of Honey Fungus

Frying pistachios in a frying pan is especially popular, as this method gives them a more pronounced taste. In addition, you can control the degree of “toasting”. If there is too much oil, place the nuts on a paper towel after frying. which will absorb excess fat.

Raw pistachios must first be peeled and peeled, then boiled for five minutes. Then drain the pistachios in a colander and let them dry thoroughly.

Bake fish in the oven

Silver carp baked with vegetables will serve as an excellent hot dish for any holiday table. To make sure of this, we suggest making such a lunch yourself. For this you will need:

Ingredients

small silver carp - 1-2 kilograms;
medium potatoes - 4 pieces;
carrots and leeks - use as desired;
fresh lemon – 1 small;
salt and other aromatic spices - use at discretion;
mayonnaise is not very fatty - about 100 grams.

Preparation

To make such a dish, you should alternately process the fish and all the vegetables. First you need to remove the scales, entrails, head and fins of the silver carp, and then wash it thoroughly and cut it into steaks (you can cut it in half lengthwise).
Next you need to start preparing the vegetables. They should be peeled and then cut into not very thick circles. You need to do the same with lemon.
After processing the ingredients, you should immediately begin to formulate lunch. To do this, you need to grease the pieces of fish with mayonnaise in advance, and also season them with salt and other spices. As for vegetables, they must be placed on thick cooking foil in the following sequence: carrots, potatoes and leeks.
Next, the ingredients need to be sprinkled with salt and covered with a layer of fish pieces. Finally, it is recommended to place thin slices of fresh lemon on the silver carp. After this, all products should be wrapped in culinary foil and the resulting package should be placed in a baking dish.
After the dish is formed, it must be placed in a hot oven. It is recommended to bake silver carp with vegetables for 45-48 minutes at a temperature of 210 degrees. During this short period of time, the fish, potatoes, carrots and onions should be well cooked, soft and very tasty.
Silver carp baked with vegetables turns out incredibly aromatic, tender and tasty. After heat treatment, the dish should be removed from the oven and then placed on a plate. It is recommended to serve ready-made lunch to the table with slices of bread, as well as plenty of fresh herbs.

As you can see, silver carp can be prepared in different ways. Some people make balyk out of it, some smoke it, and some even bake it in the oven along with vegetables. Among other things, you can safely make rich fish soup from such fish, or you can fry it in a frying pan. In any case, dishes made from fresh silver carp turn out very tasty, aromatic and satisfying.

If you decide to stew or fry such a product with oil, then it is recommended to serve it along with a side dish of buckwheat porridge, boiled rice or mashed potatoes.

Inventory

Any non-aluminum pan or basin with pressure (use, for example, a suitable sized wooden circle and a glass jar filled with water), kitchen knife, hatchet, cutting board, gauze, refrigerator, cord or hooks for hanging, plate.

Step 1: clean the silver carp.

I’ll say right away that when cleaning silver carp to prepare balyk, there is no need to remove scales, fins and spines from it, leave it

The main thing is to be careful not to hurt or tear the gallbladder, rip open the abdomen and remove all the insides from it, using a blade to clean the fish from the inside from films and blood clots. None of this should happen, otherwise bitterness will appear, which will ruin the whole taste.

Finally, remove the head and cut off the tail. Go back to the belly and cut it in an arc, starting from where the head was and ending towards the tail. This will also cut the ribs. Simply put, carefully cut off the pieces that are hanging out on the sides after gutting the fish. The thickness of the cut after this procedure should be approximately the same everywhere.

Step 2: cut the silver carp.

The dressed silver carp now also needs to be cut into pieces. Cut it across. Maintain the thickness of the pieces, making them no wider than 7 centimeters, but not narrower than 3 centimeters

This is very important, because too small ones will dry out, but too large ones will not be salted and will not dry out properly, which is why they will begin to deteriorate in the middle.

Step 3: salt the silver carp.

In a separate plate, mix the required amount of sugar and salt, based on the size and weight of your fish, and also add various spices to them. Pour the resulting mixture into the container that you will use for pickling. Pour the salt not all at once, but so that it is light in an even layer, 2-3 millimeters thick. Then place the fish pieces in 2-3 layers, sprinkling each with a mixture of salt, sugar and spices. Place the tail and bellies at the very top, with the flesh facing down and the skin facing up. Place everything under pressure and refrigerate for 6 days.

Step 4: bring the silver carp balyk to full readiness.

During the time that the silver carp stood in the salt under pressure, it released juice, and in general, it needs to be washed with cold water before continuing. To do this, remove the fish and rinse it for several hours under a thin stream of running water to wash away all excess salt. When you need to stop washing, try and decide for yourself. Hang the washed pieces of silver carp on a cord in a well-ventilated, but not sunny, room. Tuck all the places that can stick together with sharp small wooden skewers. Cover the hung fish with gauze, and to prevent insects from choosing it before you, spray it with vinegar. That's it, let it hang and dry for 3-4 days, no longer needed

Although, of course, after 2 days you can remove a couple of pieces and try, but before doing this, please note that when you press on the balyk, no liquid should flow out, but a greasy film will remain on your fingers.

Step 5: serve silver carp balyk.

Serve the finished balyk to the table as a snack or just indulge in it with good beer. For the festive table, you will have to peel the skin from the silver carp and cut it into thin, neat slices so that it turns out even more appetizing, and the guests don’t have to rummage through the fish, bones and fat. But, what is there, each of us knows exactly what he would do with the delicious silver carp balyk. Bon appetit!

Tips for the recipe:

– Instead of silver carp, any other large and fatty fish, for example, catfish, carp, pelengas, sturgeon, will do.

– Use spices at your discretion, and if you want to give the river fish a little color, add more saffron, not much, a teaspoon.

– To prepare balyk, you can cut the silver carp into portioned pieces, so that you don’t have to dig up to your elbows in the fatty fish and suck on the bones.