Ukrainian cuisine is not imaginable without fat. Even if there is an abundance of other, undoubtedly authentic dishes on the table, it will still seem inferior. And although this product is used and prepared in many other national cuisines, Ukrainian salted salting recipes are traditionally the most popular. Among them, you can find boiled and salted, and salted-smoked options. And there are millions of versions of just salty fat. Those who think that this is too greasy and rather tasteless product can test their beliefs by preparing bacon in Ukrainian. We will tell you the recipe, and not one, so it will be possible to try for many months, never once repeated in taste.
The right choice is the key to success
For those who want to make tasty bacon in Ukrainian, recipes (one and all) are strongly advised to be very meticulous about the choice of the product itself. If you make a mistake when buying, no further tricks will save your cooking. It will take freshness and there are not so many ways to determine it, so remembering them is easy:
- The color of fat is necessarily white or pinkish. Gray and yellow indicate that it is "stale" or removed from an old animal.
- An ordinary unsharp match should pierce a piece without difficulty. Entry resistance suggests that veins and fibers are present in the fat. It will not work out particularly tasty.
- The thinner the skin, the more tender the fat. And the skin should not be stiff; it should be easily bent.
- Taking fat in wild markets is far more dangerous than other foods. If you do not want to fight long and tedious with all sorts of parasites, check the presence of the stigma of veterinary testing on the skin.
- Salt is used only large, stone. Neither the Extra canteen nor the iodized one are suitable.
Having chosen the necessary, mouth-watering piece, you can begin to process it.
"Rural" method of salting
It was from him that from ancient times, lard was prepared in Ukrainian. The recipe includes only the main product and salt (if desired, you can add food nitrate, but this is by no means a prerequisite). Large pieces of bacon are scraped to clean up possible contaminants. You can not wash it categorically. If you use nitrate, mix a kilogram of salt with a spoonful of this supplement. Chunks of bacon are cut to the skin, fan, rubbed with salt. She pours into the cuts very generously. The bottom of the salting tank is also sprinkled with a layer of salt. Pieces are placed on it with the skin down. The next layer of fat is already placed upside down - and so until a bucket or tub is filled. The oppression is placed on top and the container is hidden in the cool for a month. It is not necessary to measure a certain amount of salt - lard will take only what is needed. When it is ready, it is packed in linen bags or gauze and hung in the pantry.
Dry salting with spices
The above describes a simple method of saltless cooking. True, it is designed almost on an industrial scale. If you do not cook a delicacy for the future, and enjoy a clean meal, and even respect spicy dishes, use a different recipe for making Ukrainian lard. A kilogram of the product is cut with suitable pieces or ribbons, cuts are made in it, where halves of garlic cloves are inserted. The fat itself is rubbed with salt and spices (five tablespoons of salt - half a tablespoon of white and red peppers, a whole - ground black pepper, a spoonful of coriander and cloves, plus five finely chopped bay leaves). Pieces fit tightly into a container (skin to skin) and left for a day right in the kitchen. After five days, put in the refrigerator - and you can start tasting.
Brine recipe
To some people, the result of dry pickling seems harsh. Others doubt that without liquid the product will be cooked in a good quality. For such skeptics - a recipe for Ukrainian lard in brine. Since it will still have to be “wetted”, large bars of the original product are carefully washed. Filling is being prepared: salt is diluted in a liter of water (preferably sea salt, two spoons with a slide), several peas of pepper are poured, pieces are five leaves of parsley, chopped six garlic cloves and a tablespoon of ground allspice. The brine volume is enough for about a kilo and a half lard. Its slices are immersed in a pan and crushed with cargo for three days, in cool. Then the Ukrainian-style salted bacon recipe tells the product to dry, grate with pepper and garlic - and you can cook the appetizer.
Homemade Spiced Lard
It is prepared not in brine, and not dry. And it turns out very tasty lard in Ukrainian. The recipe for cooking the first steps prescribes the already familiar: scrape, chop coarsely, put garlic in cuts, without stinting, grate with salt. And here comes the innovation: two tablespoons of acute adjika are mixed with four of the mustard seed, and all the slices are well coated with this composition. Then they are rammed into a container and sprinkled with cranberries or lingonberries. The vessel is tightly closed and exposed to cold for five days. The taste of the final product is a masterpiece!
Almost smoked bacon
It is clear that the smokehouse is not accessible to everyone. And many people like smoked bacon. In this situation, city dwellers will find it very useful to recipe boiled lard in Ukrainian. The selected slice in kilogram weight is cut in large pieces. Water is poured into an enameled large container; as it boils, a spoonful of salt, five parsley, and the same amount of garlic cloves and peas pressed are poured (calculated per liter of water). About five minutes, the brine should boil. Then two handfuls of washed onion peel are poured into it and lard is laid. It will cook for two hours. It will get a golden “tan” and it will be easy to pierce - it is removed, dried, rubbed with a spicy mixture (five crushed garlic, a spoon of salt and half a spoon of pepper) and hides in a refrigerator in a wrapped form for a day.
Super Speed Cooking
Those who don’t wait a long time will surely enjoy the “canned” Ukrainian bacon: the recipe ensures that it will be ready in a maximum of five hours. The chunk is cut into strips and the lard is folded into a regular three-liter jar, sprinkled with salt, crushed garlic and, if you want, spices (for example, a set “For lard”). The vessel is poured with steep boiling water, tightly closed with a plastic lid and heat wrapped. When the brine has completely cooled, the lard is placed in the freezer for an hour - and cooking is finished.
Pecherin
Under this name, there is another interesting way to cook bacon in Ukrainian. The recipe involves the use of an oven. A piece is necessarily selected with an interlayer; this is what this name bears in Ukraine. Lard is generously rubbed with a mixture of salt and ground peppers, black and red. Incisions are made in a fan-cut ribbon into which garlic and carrot sticks are stuffed. A little water is poured into the bottom of the pan to soften the skins. Pecherovin goes to the oven until it is browned. Then, wrapped in mergamet, it is slightly frozen in the freezer, cut into slices and put on the table.
Ukrainian rolls
It is very interesting to cook and convenient to use "portioned" bacon in Ukrainian. The recipe is very simple. The main thing for complete success is to choose fat that is not too thick (up to three centimeters in height) and cut it into narrow and not too long strips. For better salting, again, cross sections should be made to the skin. Each tape is rubbed with salt on all sides and sprinkled with crushed garlic with pepper on the side of the pulp. Particularly diligently processed slit incisions. Each strip folds tight; You can tie rolls with food floss. The resulting “rings” are more densely stacked in a closed container and put in a cool place for salting for a day.
Sweet lard
As you can see, it is not so difficult to cook bacon in Ukrainian! The recipes are quite "liberal" and quite allow experiments with varying spices. For example, if you like aromatic dishes, then try the method of dry salting using caraway seeds, cardamom, dill and marjoram. Well, and, of course, indispensable garlic. Note: herbs must be dried and chopped - with a blender or in a mortar. Garlic is also squeezed out, it is taken necessarily, but in accordance with your tastes, you can quite a bit. Three glasses of salt are mixed with a glass of seasonings and stand for at least a day - for mutual soaking. Then, the chopped pieces are rubbed with the composition, it is also poured onto the bottom of the vessel and sprinkled on top of the bacon. Three days later - bon appetit!