Who does not know in our country what a herring is? Of course, this is a banal, but favorite treat, especially in the company of boiled potatoes. This fish is associated with Norway, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, because the one that was born in these places is especially tasty. But few people know about the existence of a special type of herring - crease. What is it, where does the fish live, what is its value and in what form is it most appetizing? We will try to find out all this in the article.
Description
Kessler herring, as this fish is also called, is the largest representative of the Volga herring family weighing up to two kilograms and a length of 36-52 cm. Its back is painted black or black-violet. The head and pectoral fins also have a dark color, and behind the gill cover there are dark spots on both sides, sometimes also present on the sides. From the usual herring, the hall is distinguished by a thicker body structure with an elongated tail, slightly bent down.
Fish with many names
Modern fishermen, having caught the heroine of today's article, may not recognize that it is a herring in the hall. Especially if they do not fish on the banks of the Volga, the Urals, the Caspian Sea or the rivers of the Astrakhan region, because it lives there and is the largest among its family.
This now rare fish is famous for its delicate, tasty meat with a sufficient fat content, which is why it is well salted. Thanks to excellent taste qualities, another nickname was fixed for the crease - royal herring.
By the way, it’s more common for anglers to call her rabies because of the peculiarity of splashing heavily in the water during the spawning period, and sometimes even throwing themselves ashore, as if enraged. And for the black color of her back, she was also dubbed a black back. Experienced fishermen recall that 30 years ago there were a lot of rabies in their usual habitats and pecked very “aggressively”, sometimes even on an empty hook. It was simply impossible to mix it up with other fish, since it jumped out of the depths and rushed at a level of 3-4 cm above the surface of the water with its mouth open, forming a powerful breaker.
Etymology of the main name
But still curious is the appearance of an unusual name for herring - hall. What is it and why is it so called? There are several versions of the answer to this question. According to the first of them, in the past only wealthy, money merchants traded this herring, not all of it was available. And they called these merchants "darn merchants", hence the name of the fish.
The second version is tied to the size of the herring, the standard length of which is greater than the distance from the tip of the finger to the elbow. For this reason, during salting, it did not fit in the barrel and the tail part was wrung into it. So the name "hall" has taken root. And also such a “name” is applied to a special type of Volga herring, which is distinguished by its large size, increased fat content and tender meat, but it does not tolerate long-term storage and transportation. To date, the deplorable ecological state of the Volga waters has led to the almost complete disappearance of this species of fish.
Red Book Character
The Caspian herring in a hall echoed the sad fate of sturgeon fish. She used to live in shoals in the waters of the Caspian, spawned on the Volga and the Urals, the Oka and the Vyatka. A decrease in its number was spoken back in the 19th century, but its population catastrophically decreased with the construction of hydraulic structures and dams, as well as with a constantly increasing level of pollution of the habitual habitat of this fish. A small “ray of light” was the recent message on the domestic profile television channel about the appearance of a crease in the Saratov reservoir and catching it with amateur gear. This gives hope that, if not on an industrial scale, but at least in professional fishing circles, it will still be possible to meet this fish.
Gastronomic value
According to gourmets, the taste of the Caspian herring is much higher than that of its ocean counterparts, due to the greater fat content and delicate structure of the meat. They say that to taste it resembles the Iwashi herring, popular in the USSR.
First of all, the herring is known as the queen of cold appetizers. But the hall can also be deliciously fried, pickled and smoked.
How to salt herring?
The salmon of rabies first began to be used in the Middle Ages - during the appearance of the Dutch herring in Russia. Then the Russian people especially liked the method of salting and influenced the salting of the local representative from Azov and the Caspian.
It is best to salt, of course, fresh herring. But this is not always possible, and in the case of the crease, it is generally very lucky to find it fresh. It is important to thaw fish properly after prolonged storage. To do this, you do not need to rush, but it is better to put it in the refrigerator a day before salting. Thawed in this way, it will be resilient and will not lose its palatability. Before you salt the herring, you must definitely get rid of the gills of the fish, otherwise you risk getting bitterness in the finished product.
The most popular is the classic method of salting, in which, based on 2 fish and one liter of water, 6 tablespoons of salt, 3 sugar, and 1 tablespoon of sweet peas and mustard seeds, 2 clove umbrellas and a few bay leaves are taken. You just need to put the fish in a convenient container, pour brine (in the cooled form) and try after 4 days.
For those who do not like pickle or do not have free space in the refrigerator, a method of dry salting herring was invented. It consists in thoroughly rubbing the fish carcass with a mixture of salt and black pepper (1.5 teaspoons each), as well as 1 tablespoon of sugar. Then the herring is wrapped in three layers of cling film and placed in the refrigerator for 3 days. They say that fish cooked in this way tastes much better than the herring in the banks that was popular in Soviet times.
Original way
There is a curious recipe for pickled blackberries, which is a ready-made cold appetizer. To prepare the brine (per liter of water) you need:
- coarse rock salt - 5 tbsp;
- sugar - 2 tbsp;
- allspice - 10 peas;
- carnation - 2 umbrellas;
- coriander or caraway seeds - 1 tsp;
- bay leaf - 2 pcs.
The carcasses of the crease, along with the scales, but without giblets and gills, must be poured with a cooled marinade and left for two days. After that, we take apart the herring on the fillet and pour the sauce, which includes mustard, honey and unrefined olive oil (1, 0.5 and 8 teaspoons, respectively). There you can add a little apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Great cold appetizer ready. And if guests do not come today, insisting her in the refrigerator for a couple of days will only add to the taste of sophistication.
Finally
So what is herring by the hall? In fact, the same herring, just larger. And it is unfortunate that today it is difficult to find out its true taste, since it is very rare to buy, and even more so, to catch a real madness. Let's hope that in the future the situation with the crease population will somehow change for the better, then everyone can personally feel the difference between the oceanic herring and its famous Russian "relative".