Not everyone knows how to make a balyk from silver carp. In this regard, we decided to devote the presented article to this particular culinary theme.
General information about the fish dish
Before telling you how to cook balyk from silver carp (dried), you should tell what kind of dish it is. After all, not everyone tried it, and even more so - did it on their own.
Balyk is a dish, which is a salty, and then the back of a large fish sun-dried in the air. Typically, such an appetizer is made from valuable breeds of marine and river inhabitants (for example, beluga, chum, stellate stellate sturgeon, pink salmon and others). Silver carp, the photo of which is presented in this article, is also great for home cooking a balyk. The snack from it turns out to be very tender, with a pleasant specific aroma and taste.
It should also be noted that some manufacturers of smoked meat are called balyk and pulp along the spine of the animal. This is due to the visual similarity of the product with a real fish snack.
Silver carp balyk: a recipe for a fragrant snack
To make a real balyk at home, there is no need to purchase a lot of spices and use expensive varieties of fish. You only need:
- large fresh silver carp - about 3-5 kilograms;
- crushed rock salt - use at your own discretion.
Selection and processing of large fish
Balyk from silver carp, the recipe of which we are considering, turns out to be very tasty and fragrant. Such an appetizer can be safely served to the festive table for alcoholic drinks. But before you cook this dish, you should correctly choose the main product. It should be as fresh and large.
The acquired silver carp (you can see the photo of the ready-made jerky snack) should be cleaned of scales, then the belly should be cut and completely gutted. In this case, it is highly not recommended to damage the gallbladder. Otherwise, the meat of the fish will be irreparably damaged.
After the ingredient is cleaned of the insides, it is necessary to cut off all the fins, tail and head from it. Next, from the silver carp you need to pull off the skin and remove all the bones. As for the remaining pulp, it should be cut into pieces. Moreover, they should not be too small, since subsequently the fish will creep in the open air and significantly decrease in size.
Salting process
How to make a balyk from silver carp? To do this, you need to take glass, ceramic or enameled containers, and then lay the processed fillet in layers, alternating with crushed rock salt. After all the components are in the container, they should be covered with a regular plate of a smaller diameter, and then install a can of water or some other load on it. In this form, the fish should be in the refrigerator for about a week. This time is quite enough for the silver carp to be well salted.
Product drying process
As mentioned above, silver carp balyk is a salty, and subsequently jerky snack, which has a delicate texture, pleasant taste and aroma. After the fish is salted, it must be removed from the general container and soaked in cold (preferably spring or filtered) water. Moreover, the number of pieces should be taken as much as you plan to eat. The rest of the fillet in salt can safely be put back in the refrigerator. Keep in this form it is permissible up to 3 weeks.
After the fish is soaked in water (for six to seven hours) and gets rid of part of the salt, it must be dried with paper towels and hung in a ventilated room. A delicious and fragrant silver carp balyk will be ready in about three or four days. If you want to get a more dried snack, then the drying time can be increased by another 1-2 days.
How to properly serve?
The cooked balyk from silver carp must be cut into thin slices and put on a flat plate. In this form, a snack should immediately be presented to guests.
If the dish is left after a feast, then it is recommended to wrap it with cling film and store in the refrigerator for no longer than 3 days. By the way, some housewives cannot correctly calculate the number of snacks and make it too much. In this case, the balyk should be placed in a bag and frozen. If necessary, pieces of fillet can be removed and thawed at room temperature.
Silver carp fish: recipes for preparing various dishes
If you have purchased such fish, but would not like to make a balyk out of it, then we offer several other recipes. For example, smoked silver carp or baked with potatoes and other vegetables is very tasty. On how to make the mentioned appetizer and a full hot lunch, we will tell you right now.
How to smoke silver carp?
If you are the proud owner of a smoke chamber, then you can easily make delicious smoked fish at home. For this you will need:
- large fresh silver carp - about five to seven kilograms;
- fine granulated sugar - use at discretion;
- ground rock salt - use at discretion.
Product processing
How to cook a silver carp tasty? To do this, it should simply be smoked. But before exposing the fish to such treatment, it must be cleaned of scales, entrails, fins, and the tail and head removed. Next, the silver carp needs to be washed and cut into transverse pieces together with the skin.
Marinating ingredient
To make smoked fish as tasty and fragrant as possible, it should be pre-marinated. To do this, the processed pieces must be laid out in an enameled or glass dish, and then seasoned with salt and sugar. In conclusion, the fish must be placed under oppression and kept in the refrigerator for about 3 days.
Drying the silver carp
After the product is pickled, it must be soaked in cold water (for 3 hours) so that all excess salt is gone. If necessary, you can taste the snack. Next, pieces of fish need to be planted on a skewer and placed in a well-ventilated area (you can above the fan). In this form, silver carp should be dried for 72 hours.
Fish smoking process
Having achieved partial drying of the silver carp, pieces of fish must be placed in the smokehouse. The temperature in this device should not be higher than 30-35 degrees. The time it takes to smoke the snack depends on your personal desire. So, some cooks keep the fish until it acquires a light golden color. Although you can cook it before getting a light brown tint.
After the silver carp is completely ready, it must be removed, cooled and immediately presented to the table with bread. Good appetite!
Bake fish in the oven
Silver carp baked with vegetables will serve as an excellent hot dish for any festive table. To make sure of this, we suggest making such a lunch on your own. To do this, you will need:
- silver carp small - 1-2 kilograms;
- medium potatoes - 4 pieces;
- carrots and leeks - to use at the discretion;
- fresh lemon - 1 small;
- salt and other aromatic spices - use at discretion;
- mayonnaise is not very fat - about 100 grams.
Ingredient preparation
To make such a dish, it is necessary to process the fish and all vegetables in turn. First you need to clean the scales, viscera, head and fins of the silver carp, and then thoroughly wash it and cut it into steaks (you can cut it in half). Next, you need to start preparing vegetables. They should be peeled, and then cut into not very thick circles. With lemon, you must do the same.
We form the dish correctly
After processing the ingredients, you should immediately begin to form lunch. To do this, you need to lubricate the fish slices with mayonnaise in advance, and also season them with salt and other spices. As for vegetables, they must be laid out on a dense cooking foil in the following sequence: carrots, potatoes and leeks. Next, the ingredients must be sprinkled with salt and covered with a layer of fish pieces. In conclusion, it is recommended to put thin circles of fresh lemon on the silver carp. After that, all products should be wrapped in cooking foil and place the resulting package in a baking dish.
The heat treatment process in the oven
After the dish is formed, it must be placed in a hot oven. Baking silver carp with vegetables is recommended for 45-48 minutes at a temperature of 210 degrees. During this short period of time, fish, potatoes, carrots and onions should cook well, become soft and very tasty.
Correctly presented to the festive table
The silver carp, baked with vegetables, is incredibly aromatic, tender and tasty. After heat treatment, the dish should be removed from the oven, and then put on a plate. Serving a finished dinner is recommended along with pieces of bread, as well as plenty of fresh herbs.
To summarize
As you can see, silver carp can be cooked in different ways. Someone makes a balyk out of him, someone smokes, and someone even bakes in the oven with vegetables. Among other things, from such a fish you can safely make a rich ear, or you can fry it in a pan. In any case, dishes from fresh silver carp are very tasty, fragrant and satisfying.
If you decide to stew or fry such a product with oil, then it is recommended to serve it with a side dish of buckwheat porridge, boiled rice or mashed potatoes.