Lightly Salted Red Fish

⏳ Time

1 hour

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

The fish can be stored for about a week as is. Slice it into thin pieces with a sharp knife directly from the skin. When serving, drizzle it with lemon juice and garnish with herbs.

Ingredients

Trout - 1 piece
Coarse Salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste
Spices - to taste

Step by Step guide

Step 1

To begin salting the red fish, wash the fish, pat it dry with a towel until almost dry, and partially fillet it. Cut off the fins, head, and tail. If you accidentally cut a bit of the fish body with the tail, it makes a great base for fish soup (zero waste!). You can also include the belly, which is usually very fatty and quite an acquired taste. Using a sharp knife, cut the fish along the backbone to open it up into two symmetrical halves. Remove the spine and try to take out as many bones as possible. However, if you enjoy beer with your fish, you can leave the bones in — there will be something to nibble on later with a pint.

Step 2

The resulting two halves of the fish are generously sprinkled with a salting mixture made of coarse salt and sugar in equal proportions (a slight bias towards salt is acceptable), and ground allspice and/or other spices are added (one of my friends likes to add tarragon — it’s also quite good). Mix everything together. I repeat, the proportions are arbitrary; the fish will absorb as much as it needs, so there’s no danger of over-salting. There is a risk of under-salting. For 1 kg of fish, you will need about 3 tablespoons of salt, the same amount of sugar, and spices to taste.

Step 3

In a large dish, sprinkle a little of the mixture on the bottom and place one half of the fish skin-side down. Then sprinkle it with the salting mixture, drizzle with lemon juice or diluted citric acid, add a few bay leaves, and optionally some dill, parsley, or other aromatic herbs. Next, place the second half on top, skin-side up, and sprinkle it with the mixture as well. The flesh of the second half should also be sprinkled with the mixture beforehand. In other words, the fish is reassembled, but with a layer of salting mixture and spices in between. Cover the container and place it in a cool place, but not in the freezer. A refrigerator, for example.

Step 4

The salting process lasts about 1-2 days — the larger the fish, the longer it takes. However, you can taste the product as early as the next day — it will still be lightly salted and reminiscent of sushi. After the salting is complete, remove the pieces of fish from the brine (the fish will release it abundantly), brush off any remaining mixture with a soft brush, and pat dry with a towel. Do not rinse the fish!