How to pickle ripus at home

Rhipus is a fish belonging to the salmon family. It is also called vendace, although it is a relatively larger fish: its weight reaches up to 1.5 kilograms. The back of the ripus is found in a marsh, dark green or bluish tint, the sides have a silvery tint, and the belly is white. The fins are not at all remarkable. The ripus differs from the vendace in that it lives at great depths in lakes in rocky shallows. It feeds on plankton and small fish. This fish is very prolific and takes root well, but still it is often artificially bred. The meat of the ripus is quite fatty and very tasty. It's a little surprising that fresh ripus smells like cucumber.

Catch of ripus

You can start catching such fish at the beginning of winter, when the first ice covers the reservoirs. But the ripus (fish) bites more readily in early spring, when the last ice melts. The most profitable time of day for an angler is night, provided, of course, that the light from a car's headlights or a hand-held flashlight is directed into the hole. It is best to use boiled jig as bait; dough, worms or lard can also be useful.

Fishing for ripus

To catch ripus, you need to know its habits in order to determine the places where it likes to be. In the process of catching ripus, a chebak is also caught. Most likely, you need to look for ripus where the chebak is, since it can be part of the ripus’ diet.

Where is it caught?

Rhipus is a schooling fish, so if you get into a school, you can provide yourself with a catch. The fish does not like fast currents, so it chooses quiet bodies of water or areas of water where there is no current. It can be located both at depth and not far from the shore, if the bottom is sandy mixed with stones. Often found within small islands located on various lakes.

Ripus on Uvildy

When is the best time to catch ripus?

Since the ripus is considered a relative of the whitefish, fishing has similar features. They begin to catch it when strong ice is established on reservoirs. This period continues almost until spring, when a real flood will not allow fishing at all. Around the end of winter and spring, the ripus bite is most intense, which means fishing is the most effective.

A characteristic feature of catching this fish is the fact that ripus must be caught at night. According to experienced fishermen, the greatest success awaits those fishermen who have their holes illuminated. This can be done either with a flashlight or with car headlights. Here everything depends on imagination and possibilities.

When fishing at night, and even in winter, when there is severe frost outside, a tent will never hurt. For example, on the Chelyabinsk Lake Uveldy, many fishermen who regularly come to this reservoir have built insulated houses here, many of which today resemble a tent camp.

Features of the tackle

Tackle (garland) for catching ripus

This fish is caught with a regular winter fishing rod with a hard tip. They start fishing from the maximum depth, gradually reducing it. It can be at any depth, so ripus are caught “vertically”. For greater results, you should not fish with just one jig. As a rule, several of them are knitted on a fishing line, at a distance of about 30 cm from one another.

It is better to use a stiff line so that it does not twist, but the hook should be light and thin.

It is advisable to always fish in one hole. This is especially true for those fishermen who decide to fish in the same tent. If you drill two holes side by side, the line may become tangled due to the fact that you have to fish at great depths. As a result, the fishing process will not turn into an interesting activity, but into a waste of time.

Types of bait

To catch ripus, fishermen use a wide variety of baits. Bloodworms are considered the most common, although good results can be obtained if insect larvae such as burdock flies or bark beetles are planted.

Some fishermen prefer ordinary pieces of lard. Therefore, if possible, it is better to take several different baits for fishing, and during the fishing process it will become clear which one the fish liked best.

Fried rhipus

It doesn't take much time to fry this fish. To prevent the ripus from becoming too dry, constant attention is necessary. That is why it is better to fry either a whole fish (if it is not very large) or large pieces of the carcass. Pre-made cuts on the sides will indicate readiness or unreadiness. If the flesh is not transparent, but white, then the fish is ready.

Lightly salted rhipus, salted rhipus

Before you start salting, you need to know how to salt ripus fish correctly.

To make the ripus lightly salted, it is best to fill it with brine. First you need to clean the fish from scales and entrails. Sprinkle the finished carcasses with a special seasoning for cooking fish or coriander (optional). Then give the pulp time to soak.

Now you need to prepare the brine. You immediately need to decide what level of salinity you want to get the fish. Here you will need a chicken egg (raw). Wash it thoroughly with soda. Place the egg in 1.5 liters of water and add 2 tablespoons of salt. It is the egg that will indicate the salinity of the brine. If you cook lightly salted fish, then only the tip of the egg will float to the surface; if you need saltier fish, then you need to add salt until half of the egg begins to peek out of the water. Once the desired result is achieved, the egg must be removed.

Nutritional characteristics and reproduction

Rhipus is considered a predatory species. Small individuals feed on zooplankton. As they grow, the diet expands to include insects, crustaceans and young fish of other species. Adults eat small fish. Individuals hunt for smelt, chebak and bleak.

Readiness for reproduction usually occurs in the fourth year of life. Spawning occurs in November and December. Individuals prefer sandy areas of the bottom located at a depth of 1.5 meters. The eggs are very small, so the fish bury them in the sand so as not to be carried away by the current. Typically, females lay 2-3 thousand eggs. They should develop for about 15 days, and only then the larvae appear.

Lazy ripus pie

Fried fish, salted, lightly salted, it happens that all this becomes boring, sometimes you want something special, but there is not always enough time to create culinary masterpieces. One of the fairly quick recipes for making ripus is the so-called lazy pie. Rhipus pie is not only tasty, but also very healthy.

Before you start cooking, you need to prepare the ingredients. You will need: 1 kilogram of ripples and potatoes, several onions, salt, ground black pepper, dill and sour cream (can be replaced with low-calorie mayonnaise).

First, you need to clean the fish from scales and entrails, remove all the bones (small and large) so that only the fish fillet remains. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices, and the onion into half rings. Grease a baking dish for fish pie with butter, lay out the pie in layers: put potatoes in the first layer, then chopped onions. After this, sprinkle a little salt, pepper and finely chopped dill. Then add the ripus fillet, and then again the potatoes, salt, pepper and dill. Grease the top of the pie with sour cream or mayonnaise. Place in the oven for about an hour and you are ready to serve.

Pickling for the lazy

Another interesting way to pickle grayling is with lemon or soy sauce. This method can be called “for the lazy”, since it does not require much effort. It is worth noting that as a result the fish will have an excellent taste; lemon perfectly complements the taste of noble grayling.

The processed, cleaned carcass must be cut into small pieces and placed in a glass container. Then prepare the filling. Squeeze the juice of one large lemon into a separate container, add 1 tbsp. l. salt and sugar. Based on your taste, add ground black pepper and fresh herbs - dill is perfect for this method of pickling.

Stir the ingredients and pour over the fish. It takes no more than half an hour to prepare. Ready grayling has a pleasant piquant taste and slight sourness.

By the way, if there is no lemon in the refrigerator, you can safely use citric acid by mixing 1 tbsp. l. water and 0.5 sachet of lemon.

Pickling with soy sauce is also very popular and requires no effort at all. Clean the fish, rinse thoroughly and place in a container. Pour store-bought soy sauce over the fish. Grayling is salted according to the time indicated on the package.

Ripus Pie

Rhipus is a delicious fish, and the pie made from it turns out simply delicious.

To prepare a ripus pie, you need to take half a kilo of fish, three eggs, two onions, a little butter, half a glass of rice, salt and pepper, and 400 grams of ready-made yeast dough.

The fish must be thoroughly cleaned of scales and bones, leaving only the fillets. Boil the rice until half cooked, hard-boil the eggs. Next, you need to roll out half the dough, sprinkle it lightly with flour and place salted boiled rice in the center. Fish is laid out on the cereal, then finely chopped onions and eggs, you can add pepper and salt on top. The pie is covered with the remaining dough, the edges are sealed.

Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and place the resulting creation in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for one hour.

Ripus is tasty and easy to prepare. Fish, the recipes for which are very simple, is also notable for the fact that it does not require many ingredients and time. Depending on personal taste preferences, you can replace certain products with others, and you can also experiment, creating your own amazing, tasty dishes from the most delicate ripus meat.

Vendace is a freshwater fish that is found off the coast of Karelia, in lakes Onega, Ladoga, White, as well as in the White Sea and the Gulf of Finland. A small fish 20–35 cm long, similar in appearance to a small herring. With tender meat and small scales, which is very convenient for cleaning. It is consumed in different forms: fried, boiled, stewed, salted. Dishes made from vendace are tender and very tasty.

It is very easy to clean from scales. There is no need to remove the insides before frying, since there are few of them, but usually there is a lot of caviar. Once cleaned, it disintegrates when fried .

Description of ripus fish

Appearance

The ripus fish is characterized by a slender, elongated body. The back has a dark greenish or blue tint. The sides of the ripus are silvery, and the belly is pure white. The scales on the body are not tightly held, so cleaning this fish is not at all difficult, and the fins are not bright brown in color. The fish can grow up to half a meter in length, weighing about 1.5 kilograms.

A distinctive feature of the ripus is that it has a characteristic aroma of fresh cucumbers if it is just caught.

Where does the ripus fish live?

Rhipus, like most salmon species, prefers cool water. Therefore, this fish is found in reservoirs located closer to northern latitudes. These are Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega, as well as reservoirs of the Russian Urals and Siberia.

Fishermen of the Chelyabinsk region catch this fish in numerous reservoirs of this region, both paid and wild.

It prefers to be at depths of 3 to 5 meters, choosing quiet areas of the water area, closer to the coastal zone, where there are scatterings of stones at the bottom.

It mainly feeds on zooplankton and small fish such as smelt.

Spawning period

At the 3rd or 4th year of life, this fish can already spawn. This happens in November-December at depths of 1 to 1.5 meters.

Each female ripus is capable of laying up to 3 thousand eggs, yellow in color and not large in size. Ripus fry appear after 14-16 days.

Commercial catch

Karelian vendace: step-by-step recipe

Preparing the fish. Remove the husks and entrails, wash well, and prepare the fillet.

Peel the potatoes and peel the onions.

Ingredients:

vendace 1 kg;
potatoes 800 gr;
onion 2 pcs.;
sour cream 200 gr;
salt, pepper to taste;
bay leaf if desired.

Preparation progress:

Sprinkle the heated baking sheet with pepper and salt, add a bay leaf if desired.
A layer of fish is laid out, more compactly, sprinkled with salt. If you have caviar, you can add that too.
You need to cut the onion into rings and place it on top of the fish.
Then you need to cut the potatoes into slices 5 mm thick, add salt and place the third layer on top of the onion.
Sprinkle the potatoes with spices, pour sour cream over it all, so that there is enough for another layer.
We perform all five points again. Ideally, you get 2 layers with sour cream.
Place the baking sheet in the oven, set 180 degrees, cook for 30–40 minutes.

A similar recipe for a whole carcass “Vendace in Karelian style in a frying pan” is also prepared; the readiness of the dish is determined when the eyes turn white, then the fish is ready to eat.

Vendace with spicy salting at home

Fresh frozen fish and fresh carcass are salted. The first is preferable. When the product is frozen, parasites die . Fish is salted in two ways: dry, when the carcass is rolled in salt and spices, and in brine. The first method dries out the fish. With the help of brine, vendace turns out tender and very tasty.

Let's figure out how to salt vendace using marinade.

Before salting, you need to defrost and prepare the fish. To defrost, place it in a container of water at room temperature until it thaws. After removing the scales, gutting, preparing the carcasses, rinsing well. Next you need to prepare the marinade. If there is caviar, carefully remove it from the fish and rinse under running water.

Ingredients:

water 500 ml
salt 60 gr.;
sugar 30 gr.;
allspice 5 peas;
cloves 3 pcs.;
black pepper 10 pcs.
bay leaf 3 pcs.;

The volume of brine is calculated for 1 kg of fish.

Method for preparing brine:

Pour half a liter of water into a saucepan, add salt, sugar, pepper, cloves, bay leaf, and bring to a boil. After boiling for three minutes, remove from the stove and let cool. The vendace, ready for salting, is placed in the required container and filled with marinade. If you have caviar, you can also add it to the carcasses. The fish will be ready in 3–4 days.

You can serve it with onions, sliced into rings and vegetable oil.

This salting method is also used for capelin, dace, and tugun.

Dry salt

This recipe is about how to pickle vendace using salt and spices. So-called dry salting recipe. Especially if you need ready-made fish every other day.

vendace carcass 400 g;
salt 400 gr;
bay leaf 2 pcs.;
Allspice and black pepper;

Preparation progress:

You need to take a container of the required depth. Sprinkle a small layer of salt on the bottom.
Place the fish ready for salting in a container with its belly up and sprinkle with salt, lay another layer of carcasses, also sprinkle with salt, add bay leaf and pepper.
Press all this down with a board or lid and put it under pressure. After a day and a half, you can take out the fish and rinse it under running water. To get rid of excess salt.

Spiced vendace salted in 24 hours at home

Freshwater northern fish Vendace is mainly salted or fried. It turns out tasty in both cases, but lovers of spicy salted fish will undoubtedly appreciate this particular method of preparation. Salting the fish is very simple, and literally after 24 hours it is already ready, during which time it salts perfectly.

fish - 6 pieces,
water 1l,
salt - 1.5 tbsp,
peppercorns - 4 pcs,
bay leaf - 2 pcs

Wash the vendace, remove the scales and remove its insides.

Prepare the marinade. Add salt, bay leaf and peppercorns to the water.

Place the fish in a jar of a suitable size and fill it with marinade. Place the jar in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours.

After some time, the spiced-salted vendace is ready. Serve it cut into fillets with onions pickled in vinegar.