Balyk from sturgeon is incredibly tasty, however, it can be quite difficult to buy a quality product in the store. Although, it would seem that it could be easier - go to the fish department and get the right carcass. But, in practice, it is practically profitable to buy tasty cold-smoked fish, which can be stored in the refrigerator for several days without the appearance of a smell, is almost impossible. This article will talk about how to make a sturgeon balyk on your own at home as quickly as possible and without much effort.
Preparation
If you decide to cook sturgeon balyk at home, then you should start cooking right from the purchase of ingredients. First of all, you need to purchase high-quality sturgeon. It is best to choose a fish that weighs about 3 kg. It must be refrigerated, that is, stored at a temperature of 0 to -2 degrees. It will not work to use fish that have been repeatedly frozen for smoking - it will be watery and tasteless.
Fish cutting
The first step in making a sturgeon balyk is to cut the fish. Her head and tail should be chopped off, and all entrails should be pulled out of the abdomen. Then, in the middle of the ridge, you need to make an incision and pull out a screech through it, that is, the so-called spinal cord, which is not prepared for large fish, since it is often poisonous. Then the peritoneum is cut off, and the rest becomes a balyk. For smoking, it is best to take the middle part - it is the most delicious and juicy, because there is a lot of fat.
Soaking and salting
The next step in cooking sturgeon balyk is salting. To do this, salt is laid about 1 cm high at the bottom of the container, and then pieces of fish are laid on it. This should be done exclusively with the skin down. Each layer is also sprinkled with salt. Sturgeon should be removed to a cold place for a day.
After this time, a brine is made. For its preparation, a tablespoon of sea salt is dissolved in a liter of water, after which the whole fish is poured with this liquid so that it is completely covered. Sturgeon should stand in the brine for about 5 days, after which it is soaked in a pot with fresh water for as long as the salting lasted.
Drying
Already salted fish after soaking should also be dried before smoking. It should stand in a warm place with dry air. In total, drying will take no more than two days, if you follow these rules. However, if the air is too humid, then the cooking time will be delayed for another period of time. So you need to carefully monitor that the fish fades, but at the same time it does not have an unpleasant odor. After that, it can be eaten or smoked a little more if desired. So it will be cold smoked balyk.
Hot smoked
If there is no desire to wait for so long and, besides, there is a smokehouse available, then sturgeon can be smoked in it. To do this, rub a mixture of various spices into the fish - for this, use cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, bay leaf and sugar. Leave it in this form for about a day, and then pour a glass of white wine. The fish will be ready in a day. After that, it should be removed from the marinade and rinsed thoroughly, and then dried for several hours in the fresh air.
For hot smoking, sturgeon is placed in a smokehouse, where it must be cooked for several hours at a temperature of 70–80 degrees. You should carefully watch the time and temperature, otherwise the fish will turn out to be quite dry.
For those who want to get a balyk with a pronounced taste of smoking, you should keep the fish in the smokehouse for a longer period. It will be best to leave it for about 2-3 days. The temperature on the first day should be no more than 25 degrees, and the rest of the time no more than 30.
Store selection
If you doubt that you can cook a sturgeon balk yourself, then try to make a quality purchase in a store. To do this, you must adhere to several rules:
- The weight of the fish carcass should be about three kilograms, that is, it should be quite large with a lot of fat. Only such a sturgeon will taste good.
- To the touch, the smoked balyk should be very elastic, and a very thin layer of fat should cover it from above.
- The section should not have gray spots, as well as moisture - these are indicators that the fish has stale and has been soaked.
- If mold or mucus is visible on the sturgeon, then it is completely damaged and cannot be eaten.
Conclusion
It is worth remembering that this is a rather expensive fish, so it’s simply impossible to get a good and high-quality cold smoked sturgeon balk at a low price. So for such a purchase will have to pay more than one and a half thousand per kilogram. That is why it is best to cook it yourself, because in this way you can be sure that it will be incredibly fresh and tasty.