Of the entire salmon family, sockeye salmon occupies a special place in the pages of cookbooks. Meat of moderate fat content, it is fatter than that of chum salmon, but not the same as that of salmon or trout. The salmon is also distinguished by the color of the meat, which has a bright red natural color. An appetizer made from lightly salted sockeye will always look great. And so that the taste does not disappoint, it is better to salt the salmon on your own.

It's not just about saving money. Sockeye salmon is a predator and feeds mainly on crabs, shrimps and small crustaceans. In fact, they color the sockeye meat red and give it a unique taste. Salting at the factory or on the ship is standard, and sometimes a lot of spices are used for this, which kill the taste. Sockeye meat is becoming common, like any other fish.

It's easy to cook lightly salted sockeye salmon at home. For her, the same recipes are suitable as for other species of the salmon family, with only one caveat: try to use as few spices as possible, unless your dish requires something special.

When the salmon is completely thawed, peel off the scales, tail, head and fins. Fillet the fish. If you find caviar, or milk, they can also be salted, along with the fillet. How quickly salted sockeye is cooked depends on the cooking method you choose.

If you are in a hurry, and you have a day or two left, use this method of preparing lightly salted sockeye salmon.

• 2 kg sockeye fillet;
• 1 liter of water;
• 150 g salt;
• 50 grams of sugar;
• 1 lemon (juice)
• 100 g vegetable oil;
• Spices are optional.

Place the sockeye fillets in a deep bowl or pail.

Heat the water and dissolve the salt and sugar in it. Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to the brine and pour this brine over the fish.

Press down on the fish with a plate so that it is completely submerged in the brine, and place the container with fish in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

Drain the brine, transfer the sockeye salmon to another bowl and cover it with vegetable oil. Stir well and refrigerate again for 12 hours.

After this time, salted sockeye salmon is ready. If you haven't consumed it all at once, it can stand in vegetable oil for at least a week, without compromising its taste.

A dry, quick way to cook lightly salted sockeye salmon

Cut the sockeye salmon into comfortable pieces.

Mix salt and sugar in the ratio:

• For 3 tbsp. salt - 1 tbsp. l. Sahara.

Dip each piece of fillet in a mixture of salt and sugar, and place in a bowl. It is highly undesirable to use metal containers for salting, and if there is nothing like this at hand, put a plastic bag inside the pan and put the fish directly into it.

Send the rest of the salt and sugar there, and do not be afraid that the fish will be oversalted. The degree of salting depends only on the salting time.

Put an inverted plate on top of the fish and set the oppression on top. Typically, this function is performed by a three liter bottle of water. Leave the fish to pickle for 4 hours at room temperature.

This time is enough for sockeye salmon to become lightly salted. Shake the salt off the fish and rinse the fillet pieces in running water. Do not soak or soak, just rinse with water.

Dry the salmon fillets with a towel, wrap the fish pieces in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Now, the salted sockeye salmon is really ready.

Watch the video on how to cook lightly salted sockeye salmon:

Salted red fish, tender, aromatic, piquant, can be an excellent appetizer, filling or an independent dish. Due to the economic crisis, fish prices have jumped a lot, so many housewives thought about how deliciously salting red fish on their own so that it turns out to be no worse than Finnish or Norwegian. lies in the fact that there are no preservatives and dyes in your delicacy, and you can take the amount of salt to taste - after all, most often store-bought fish is too salty. And most importantly, salting allows you to disguise stale fish, which is what some manufacturers use.

How to quickly salt red fish

Many housewives buy salted fish for only one reason - for some reason they are sure that it is too difficult and troublesome. In fact, you can salt the fish literally in 10-15 minutes if you bought a ready-made fillet. If you need to cut fish, you will have to spend a little more time, but you will save money - after all, red fish is not the cheapest pleasure.

So, let's talk about how to salt red fish fillets and enjoy a delicious homemade delicacy. Buy salmon, trout, sockeye salmon, pink salmon, chum salmon or coho salmon for pickling. After removing the skin (or cutting), lightly blot the fillets with a tissue to keep the flesh dry. Next, put the fish in portions in a deep container, sprinkle with coarse salt at the rate of 1 tsp. per pound of fish and a little sugar. You can add soy sauce, bay leaves, ground coriander, allspice, herbs, and other spices. Next, put the fish under oppression, cover with foil, leave for a couple of hours at room temperature, then remove excess salt and send it to the refrigerator for a day. You can do without oppression, but then the fish should be kept in the cold for one and a half to two days. If you don't want to wait, then make a marinade from vegetable oil, salt, sugar, onion and spices and pour the pieces of fish in a jar with it - after 8 hours the slightly salted tender fish, melting in your mouth, will be ready to eat!

An important point: if you want to stop the salting process, it is enough to drain the liquid that the fish gave, clean the fillet from the remaining salt and dry it with a napkin - only after that you can taste the resulting delicacy!

Secrets and rules for salting red fish at home

• When salted, pink salmon and chum salmon turn out to be a little dry, therefore, to make the fillets soft, olive oil should be added to the salt.
• Do not use metal utensils for salting, otherwise the fish will taste like iron.
• Some housewives, sprinkling the fish with salt and spices, “swaddle” the fish with a towel to make a spicy dry salted fish.
• Do not be afraid to overdo it with salt - the fish will only absorb as much of it as needed.
• When salting, dill and garlic can be added to the fish - they will give it a fragrant and spicy taste.
• Serve sliced ​​red fish with lemon, herbs, olives, fresh vegetables, and white wine.

Having learned correctly, you will give up fish in factory packaging, even if imported. Salted red fish can be used to prepare salads, sushi, rolls, sandwiches, snacks, stuffed pancakes and many other yummy. Get used to the sophistication and join the ranks of the passionate fans of home-salted red fish!

Unlike other types of red fish, only frozen fish is used for salting sockeye salmon. More precisely, thawed. Deep and complete, preferably shock freezing is recommended for safety reasons. I will not spoil my appetite and write specifically about what, just believe me and take note!

For pickling, only salt is enough, but sugar, peppers and even alcohol can be added in addition. Take sea food or coarse salt.

For salting sockeye salting at home, thaw it at room temperature or transfer it from the freezer to the refrigerator.

Rinse defrosted steaks, fillets or other pieces of sockeye salmon in cold water, wipe with napkins and pat dry.

Sprinkle salt and sugar on all sides of the sockeye salmon. Add spices as desired and to taste, such as crushed allspice peas.

Place the fish in containers, preferably airtight. it is convenient to turn the fish in them during cooking. If salting in a different kind of dish, just turn the fish pieces over to the other side using a fork or spatula.

Within two days of salting, you need to turn the salmon at least once, and preferably 2-4 times at regular intervals.

Salting sockeye salting at home is complete. Scale the fish, remove the bones with tweezers and serve the salted sockeye salads in salads or snacks.

Bon Appetit!

Pacific red salmon is one of the most delicious of the salmon family. Thanks to its fatty meat, it is considered a real delicacy and is very well suited for smoking and salting, in contrast to pink salmon and chum salmon, which can be dryish.

How to salt salmon at home?

Salt salmon can be either fresh or frozen. Some people specifically choose the second option, because the meat is more tender. But this is a matter of taste.

Before proceeding to salting sockeye salting, like any other red fish, it is necessary to prepare a salting mixture. For this, rock salt and sugar are taken in equal proportions, and seasonings are added to your taste. The most popular are black pepper, bay leaves, thyme, and any other spice for fish. For 1 kg of sockeye salmon, 4 tbsp is taken. l of the mixture and 2 tsp of spices.

The fish must be washed before salting, remove the head, tail, fins and cut into fillets. As a result, only two pieces of meat should remain on the skin. They can be cut into several smaller pieces to fit into a pickling container. Fill the bottom of the bowl with a thin layer of a mixture of salt, sugar and spices, put a ball of fish, add bay leaves and allspice peas to the top, if desired, add the mixture again. So we alternate all the layers. Cover the container and put it in the refrigerator.

How much salmon to salt?

Sockeye salmon, like any other fatty fish, cannot be oversalted. More than necessary, she will not take salt. After 2 days the sockeye salmon will be completely salted. Lovers of lightly salted fish can taste the delicacy every other day. In the process of salting, juice is released so that the salmon is salted evenly, it is recommended to periodically shift the pieces from bottom to top.

How to salt salmon quickly?

You can enjoy a great snack on the same day if you salted sockeye salmon in small pieces. For 1 kg of portioned fillet, 2 tbsp is taken. l salt and 1 tbsp. l sugar, spices at your discretion. Cover the pieces with the mixture, mix and put under oppression in the refrigerator. The fish can be served on the table after 3-4 hours.

How to salt salmon in brine?

It is preferable to salt sockeye salmon or steaks from it in brine. For 1 liter of water we take 3 tbsp. l with a slide of salt, 1 tbsp. l sugar, 1 tbsp. l vinegar. To get spicy salted fish, spices are added to the brine: bay leaf, allspice, cloves, coriander seeds.

Boil water, add all the necessary components, stand for a couple of minutes, remove from heat, cool. Place the fish in a deep bowl and pour it over with cold brine, leave in the refrigerator for 2 days. You can take a sample after 24 hours.

There are many types of red fish that have won the attention and love of many gourmets: salmon, trout, red salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, chinook salmon, nelma, white fish - and these are only its most popular varieties. The benefits of red fish are preserved better, of course, raw, but if we talk about processing methods, then most of all vitamins, trace elements, fatty acids it will give to the human body in a cold smoked form or after salting at home.

Do-it-yourself salting of red fish at home will always have undeniable advantages compared to buying salted fish:

Firstly, there is no doubt that a certain amount of preservatives is added to the store-bought fish for its longer storage, so that it does not have time to deteriorate until someone buys this product;
- secondly, the issue of price - ready-made salted red fish costs almost twice as much as fresh;
- thirdly, you yourself salt the fish to your taste - add as much salt and spices as your own taste tells you, and not as it is on the production conveyor. Thanks to this, your red fish turns out to be tender, fragrant, fresh, cooked with a soul, and therefore many times healthier and tastier.

Therefore, every gourmet lover of red fish needs to know a couple of recipes to their taste in order to delight themselves and their households from time to time. We will try to highlight every aspect of this not time-consuming, but requiring some knowledge of the process.

The first step is to choose a red fish

In the process of salting red fish at home, a lot depends on the reddest fish that you have to choose in a store or in the market. It is most correct to buy an uncut whole carcass, it can be chilled, which would be ideal in our case, or frozen. The softest and most tender meat is salmon, trout and sockeye salmon. Pink salmon and chum salmon are not such fatty varieties of fish, therefore, when salting, sunflower or olive oil is added to them for juiciness. In terms of aesthetics, salmon and trout will look the most impressive on the table as they are the largest red fish of all.

The second step - preparing the workplace

Now you need to equip a comfortable workplace. You will need a kitchen carving knife, a container for salting fish, oppression (something heavy to press down on the fish in the container), a mixture of salt and spices, and cooking scissors. It is best to choose a container for salting from glass, in extreme cases, enamel or plastic food dishes are suitable - take into account its size so that all the fish that you will salt will fit. As oppression, you can take a three-liter glass jar of water, a plastic bottle also filled with water, or something similar. You can do without oppression - it promotes better penetration of salt and spices into fish meat.
If the purchased red fish is frozen, leave it to defrost at room temperature - in no case put it in a microwave oven, under water and do not speed up the process in any other way, everything should happen naturally.

The third step - we cut the fish

First, cut off the head of the fish with a carving knife, and all the fins with culinary scissors. Then we cut the abdomen, take out the fish entrails. If you find caviar in the abdomen, carefully remove it without damaging it, peel it from a thin film and put it in a small container with salted warm water (for half a liter of water - two tablespoons of salt), leave it there for 10 minutes. If there are milk in the abdomen, feel free to salt them along with the main carcass.
To free the carcass from the bones, you need to cut it in half along the spine and remove the bones by hand.
The remaining unused fins, head, tail can be frozen and further used for cooking aromatic and rich fish soup.

A mixture for salting red fish is always prepared from two components - salt and sugar. If you decide to use any spices, it can be any fresh and dried herbs and herbs, bay leaves, chopped coriander, allspice, mustard - they are added last.
For 1 kilogram of fish meat, 3 tablespoons of the mixture are taken (you can vary the proportion to your taste). Salt is best taken coarsely ground, without additives - it will well contribute to the release of fish juice, which makes the taste of already salted fish more natural and natural.
How oppression is used - you coat the fish with the mixture you have prepared, then put it in a bowl, put a plate or flat lid on top so that it directly touches the fish, and press everything down with oppression on top. It will speed up the salting process and help the fish release more of its own juice.

The fifth step - recipes for salting red fish

1. Red fish, salted under yoke

1 kilogram of red fish
2 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix salt and granulated sugar. Rub the carcass with this mixture, carefully put it in a bowl, press down with oppression. Leave at room temperature for 2-3 hours, then remove the fish from the dishes, remove the excess salt and sugar mixture from it and put it in the refrigerator for one day.

2. Dry salted red fish

1 kilogram of red fish
2 tablespoons of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon allspice peas
bay leaf (4-5 leaves)
a piece of cotton fabric the size of the fish
paper towels

Grate the fish carcass with a mixture of salt and sugar, put bay leaves on the inner barrel, sprinkle the carcass with spices. After that, swaddle the fish tightly in a cotton cloth, skin to linen, then wrap it in paper towels. Put in a bowl and refrigerate for 2-3 days. Every morning and evening, you need to change paper towels for new ones and turn the fish one side or the other.

3. Red fish in soy sauce

1 kilogram of red fish
4 tablespoons of salt
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
juice of one lemon

Mix salt and sugar, add soy sauce and lemon juice. Grate the fish carcass thoroughly with this mixture, put in a bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate for a day. If you will eat fish for a long time, for better preservation, you can put it in a glass jar and fill it with vegetable oil.
When using this recipe for salting red fish, keep in mind that any soy sauce is a product of genetically modified soy processing that does not provide any benefit to the body.

4. Red fish with dill

1 kilogram of red fish
2 tablespoons of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
a large bunch (about 200 grams) of fresh dill

Wash and dry the dill greens on a towel in advance. Mix salt and sugar and rub the fish with it. Take a third of a bunch of dill and cover the bottom of the pickling bowl with it, put half of the fish carcass from top with the skin down, cover it with the second third of the greens. The next layer will be the second half of the fish, laid with the skin up, and finally the last layer - the remaining third of the dill twigs. Cover everything with a plate and leave under yoke for 7-8 hours at room temperature, then put the bowl of fish in the refrigerator - after two days the fish will be ready.

5. Red fish marinated (pink salmon, chum salmon)

1 kilogram of red fish
2 tablespoons of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
100 ml vegetable oil
onion, cut into half rings
bay leaf (5-6 leaves)
black peppercorns

This recipe is especially good for low-fat varieties, such as pink salmon and chum salmon: the fish turns out to be slightly salted, tender, juicy and soft, very appetizing.
Mix oil with salt and sugar, add black pepper, laurel and onion. Cut the red fish into pieces 3-4 cm thick (so that it is easier to cut, the carcass can be frozen a little), mix well in a large bowl with brine and put in a glass jar. After 8-10 hours in the refrigerator, the fish is ready.
Let's make a reservation about vegetable oil: if you care about your health, it is better to use unrefined sunflower or olive oil, because it retains vitamins and other useful substances, does not contain artificial chemical additives and gives a special flavor to any dish.

We examined the most delicious recipes for salting red fish with our own hands at home.

Finally, here are some useful tips for aesthetes. It is not worth rinsing fish under water after salting, it will lose half of its taste, and chlorine and other chemicals contained in city tap water are useless. The carcass can be cleaned of spices and brine with a soft brush and napkins or paper towels, and soak the fish with them. On the festive table, the fish will look beautiful and aesthetically pleasing if you cut it into pieces, put it on a large dish, place a lemon cut into circles next to it, and sprinkle it with fresh finely chopped herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro, celery) on top.

Bon appetit and lots of healthy homemade food on your table!