You can salt and sluggish almost any fish, at least sea fish, at least river fish. But in order to cook high-quality tasty balyk, you need to be more selective. It depends on the right choice how delicious the dish will be. A pike balyk is considered a real delicacy.
In general, such a dish is made exclusively from valuable varieties of fish, which include sturgeon and salmon. But the pike also turns out very tasty. Since this fish in any form is unique. The main thing is to strictly follow the recipe.
Fish balyk
Few people know what a dish of pork or poultry is wrong to call a balyk. It can rather be called salted, dried or jerky. And only in relation to fish can the word "balyk" be applied. However, not all parts of the fish carcass can be called that, but only the back. Everything below is tesha. From this abdominal part, completely different dishes are prepared. We are not talking about them today.
There is another kind of balyk - this is a sidewall. In order to cook it, the carcass needs to be divided in half along the ridge.
Why to cook you need to choose a pike
Of all the wealth of choices that our rivers, seas and lakes give us, our ancestors have always been the most respectful of all to pike. No wonder it was her who was sung in fairy tales like a sorceress, the queen of the river kingdom. This fish has always been the main decoration of even the royal feasts. They cooked fish soup from it, served it stewed in sour cream, stuffed with their own meat, but dried fish, that is, pike balyk, was always considered the most delicious dish.
Today, this fish also has enough admirers. The only thing that darkens in our time is the state of reservoirs in which, due to negligence of people, not only pike, but also all other fish die.
It’s worth cooking the pike also because it has a lot of useful qualities:
- Those trace elements that have gathered in the carcass of this fish help the proper functioning of the heart.
- The pike is full of antiseptics, namely they help the human body fight infections. That is, thanks to the use of this fish, immunity improves.
- Pike - a find for those who suffer from diseases of the pancreas or liver. It is digested very quickly.
- If you include fish in the diet on a regular basis, then the nervous system will always be in good shape.
- Fish is useful in the prevention of diabetes.
- Pike fat can be used to regulate blood cholesterol. It is used in the prevention of diseases of the cardiovascular system.
That is why when cooking not only a balyk, but also any other fish dish, it is worth choosing a pike. She, in fact, is a real treasure of useful elements for the human body.
Before preparing a balyk from pike, you need to think carefully about whether it is worth giving it up to just such a treatment.
Is there any benefit from a pike balyk?
The big disadvantage of pike balyk is that this dish has a high salt content.
Before you dry the fish, you need to thoroughly study the entire technology of the process, since there should not be an error.
If you disrupt the technology at least at one stage, there is a high risk of helminth infection, which in itself is unpleasant. One of the types of these parasites is the wide ribbon. It can be caught from the fish in which its larvae live. The trouble is that in the intestines of a person he can quietly live for several years and grow up to twenty meters.
What to do in order not to get infected
To avoid this infection, it is necessary to subject the carcass to a long heat treatment. Or, as an option, freeze heavily for six to eight hours.
Of course, in order to get the most out of pike, you should not tumble it down. But no boiled go fried fish in gastronomic qualities can not be compared with a pike balyk. So you can still please yourself and loved ones with such a delicacy.
Pike Balyk Recipe
Such a fish can not only be served at the festive table, but also taken with you on the road, because after this method of preparation it is stored for a long time.
In order to cook a pike balyk at home, the carcass does not need to be cleaned of scales. The only thing that really needs to be done is to cut off her head and remove the giblets.
Then perform the following actions:
- An incision is made along the spine. He reaches across the whole carcass.
- Now the fish needs to be turned upside down and “uncovered”. In the middle, cuts are made across. They are needed in order to achieve maximum salting. So salt will penetrate even the thickest places.
- The following is the salting process itself. The fish is slightly evenly sprinkled with coarse salt. If the carcass itself is large enough, then it is better to sprinkle with salt in addition to the incisions. Here the culinary sensation should work, since it is impossible to say how much salt is needed. It all depends on the size of the fish. But there is a caveat: if the salt is not enough, then the dish may deteriorate, and if there is too much, the meat will lose its tenderness in taste.
- Now the carcass is sent to an enameled container, pickled for about half an hour.
- The fish must be hung in a dry, ventilated place, inaccessible to flies. She should be there for about two days.
- At the last stage, the pike goes to the oven on a grate, where it must be kept at a minimum temperature of five to nine hours.