Chef's life hacks, or is it possible to salt frozen fish after defrosting?

Salted homemade fish is superior in taste to store-bought fish. At the same time, the owner can be 100% sure of its quality.

However, it is not always possible to find a chilled specimen suitable for salting on the shelves, so frozen fish has to be processed.

Read the article about whether it is possible to salt frozen fish after defrosting and how to do it correctly.

Is frozen product allowed?

For salting, you can use not only chilled, but also frozen fish. Exposure of fillets to cold has a slight effect on the final properties of the product, but only if it was stored correctly.

To get a tasty and healthy dish, you need to pay attention to the following points:

1. Date of catch and date of freezing of fish. The fresher it is, the more tender and healthy the meat will be.
2. Appearance of the fish. There should be no yellow or moldy areas on it.
3. The product should have a characteristic fishy smell. Extraneous aromas signal its deterioration.

How to pickle correctly?

Salting rules defrosted fish:

1. The fish must be completely thawed before salting. It should be defrosted in the refrigerator. Do not use hot water or a microwave oven under any circumstances.

   It should not be kept at room temperature to prevent the release of excess intramuscular juice and dryness of the fillet.

2. If you plan to salt the fish in pieces, then it is more convenient to cut it in a frozen state.
3. A fillet cut into pieces is salted faster than a whole carcass. Small fish are salted without cutting.
4. The product is covered with salt only after complete defrosting. Otherwise, the meat will absorb too much of it and will be less juicy.
5. Before salting, the fish is cleaned of its entrails and the head is cut off. If the fillet is soft, then it is salted with the skin, for example, like salmon or trout. Hake, horse mackerel and similar varieties can be skinned.
6. After cleaning, the fish is rinsed under running cool water and dried with a napkin.
7. As a container for pickling, you can choose glass or plastic containers, or enamel pans. The main thing is to be able to cover them with a lid.
8. There are 2 salting methods. The first is dry, in which the fish is simply rubbed with salt. The second is in the marinade, when the product is placed in a prepared solution for some time.
9. It is recommended to use coarse salt. The remaining ingredients are taken to taste. This could be sugar, spices, oils, etc.

Recipes

There are many recipes for salting red and white fish. If the product is being prepared for the first time, then it is better to stick to the classic version, and you can experiment after you have gotten the hang of it.

Red

Red fish is large in size, so it is most often salted cut into pieces. Remove the head, fins, tail, entrails, cut along the ridge if you want to remove the fillet.

For classic salting you need the following ingredients:

• fish (for the indicated proportions of sugar and salt, take 1 kg of boneless fillet);
• sugar - 1 tbsp. l.;
• salt 2 tbsp. l.

Mix salt and sugar, then sprinkle each piece with them. Place the fish in the prepared container, cover with a lid and put it in the refrigerator.

The juice will appear within 12 hours. If the pieces are 2-3 cm thick, then the lightly salted product will be ready in 24-36 hours.

Salting red fish with onions, garlic and olive oil:

1. One kilogram of red fish fillet is coated with olive oil. Leave for 10 minutes to saturate.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of coarse salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
3. Place the fish in a bowl and cover it with the prepared mixture.
4. Add chopped garlic and onion cut into half rings.
5. Cover with a smaller plate and place a weight on top.
6. Place the container in the refrigerator and leave for a day.
7. After 24 hours the fish will be ready.

Salting salmon, video recipe:

Trout

Before salting trout, its fins, head and tail are cut off. The insides are removed, washed under running clean water and dried with a paper towel. Then the fillet is cut with a sharp knife along the ridge, and the bones are removed.

Delicious recipe for salted trout:

• mix 150 g of sea salt with the same amount of powdered sugar;
• finely chop a bunch of dill and add to the prepared mixture;
• cover the bottom of the container in which the fish will be salted;
• lay out the fillet in an amount of 200-300 g, sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top;
• cover with a lid and put in the refrigerator.

After 8 hours you can start tasting.

Three ways to salt trout - in the video:

White

White fish can be salted in brine. To do this you will need:

• water in the amount of 1 liter;
• salt – 5 tbsp. l.;
• 5 peppercorns;
• sugar – 1 tbsp. l.;
• cloves, bay leaf (other spices are added to taste).

The fish is cleaned of its entrails, or salted with them, for example, herring. After dissolving the salt and sugar, it is poured with brine so that it completely covers the carcass. Leave at room temperature for 3 hours, then put in the refrigerator. After 2 days the fish will be ready.

This video will show you how to quickly salt white fish:

Conclusion

Salting fish at home is not difficult. If you follow the recipe and prepare the product correctly, within a day you will be able to enjoy a tasty and healthy dish.