Balyk is made from fish of fatty varieties: sturgeon, halibut, silver carp or notothenia. Properly cooked balyk tastes better than smoked fish.
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You will need
-
- coarse salt
- big fatty fish
- spices to taste (allspice and black pepper
- clove
- Bay leaf)
- saltpeter (1g per 1 kg of fish)
Instruction manual
1
Clean the fish from the scales and separate the ridge from it along with the tail. Pour over cooked salting dishes with boiling water and dry thoroughly. Put the fish in it and sprinkle with a mixture of nitrate, spices and coarse salt so that its parts do not touch each other and the walls of the dishes. Otherwise, the fish may deteriorate. Then keep it in salt for 8 to 10 days. The larger the fish, the more time will be required for its salting. In warm weather, the salting time of the fish should be increased to 14 days.
2
When the salmon is well salted, remove the fish from the dishes and shake well off excess salt. After that, it must be soaked in water for 2 days. Water should be filtered or boiled. Periodically, the balyk needs to be turned over. Soaking the fish is necessary to extract excess salt from it.
3
After soaking, put the carcass of the fish on a hook and hang it outdoors in a place protected from rain or in a well-ventilated area. Fish also need to be covered from insects with gauze or a special net. The place where the fish will crawl should be dry and well ventilated, warm and not too hot. If possible, in the first few days, hold the balyk in the open sun for 2-3 hours a day. This is necessary so that the fish becomes covered with a dense crust. This is the most important step in cooking fish. If a crust forms on the fish in the first 3 days, it will definitely not deteriorate in the future.
4
After that, hang the balyk under a canopy or put it in a dark and cool place for full maturation. Suspended fish should be well ventilated. Balyk matures within 4 weeks. Its readiness is determined visually, from the outside it becomes a yellow hue, quite elastic and has a pleasant smell. If the fish does not have a yellow hue, then it is not completely prepared or salted. Poorly dried fish is juicier, but not stored for long. Well-dried fish is a little tougher, but more flavorful and can be stored for a long time even without a refrigerator.
5
Store cooked balyk in a wooden container, carefully wrapped in paper, in a cool dark place. Shelf life is approximately 3 months.
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