Dried fish (ram). Taranka (ram). Description and recipes for ramming Fish storage conditions

Today I want to share with you the recipes for cooking one of my favorite dishes, namely - ram (ram).

Taranka (ram) - the common name for dried dried fish.

For the preparation of a ram, various fish of the carp family are mainly used: roach, ram (from the name of which the concept of "ram" arose), vobla. But in fact, you can make a ram from a larger list of fish: goby, bream, pike, perch, crucian carp, sabrefish, silver bream ...

Taranka is considered a Russian national beer snack. The preparation of rams (drying in salted form) lasts from several days to several weeks, and depends on the size of the fish and the recipe, as well as the expected result, because. someone wants a dried ram, and someone very dried. The fish is salted in brine (brine) and aged for 3-4 days. Live-salted fish turns out to have a better taste, since, having swallowed brine, it salts more evenly. After that, the fish is hung out in the open air and dried. Large fish are sometimes cut so that it dries well.

Training. We take enameled dishes (or stainless steel), sprinkle the bottom with 0.5 cm of salt. Wash the fish thoroughly. If the fish is not large up to 0.8 kg of the inside, we do not release it, if more, we release it.

Salting. We rub the fish with salt, and pour salt over the gills. If the fish is more than 1.5 kg - in addition to the released intestines, we also make a longitudinal incision on the back, and also fill it with salt. Salt is better to use large, because. fine salt makes a crust on the fish, through which the brine will not salt its body. We put the fish in a container, and when the first layer of fish is laid, sprinkle it on top with another 1 cm of salt, then lay the 2nd layer, and again sprinkle it on top with salt. When the salting is over, put some kind of lid on the fish, but so that it does not press close to the walls of the dishes, and there is access a small amount air. Put something heavy on the lid to crush the fish. We put a container with salted fish at the very bottom of the refrigerator. If winter - on the balcony, but in no case in the sun. Periodically drain the juice from the container with the fish.

Salting time: small fish (up to 0.1 kg) - a day or two. Medium fish (up to 0.8 kg) 3-4 days. Large fish from 1 kg and above - 5 days to 2 weeks, depending on the size and ambient temperature. An indicator of a good salting of the fish is the cessation of the abundant release of juice by the fish.

Preparing for a sign. When the salt has done its job, take the fish out of the brine and rinse it thoroughly in clean water. After we collect again in a container of clean water, and soak the fish for 2-3 hours. Then we rinse again and, for example, I added 25 ml of vinegar to 3 liters of water during the second rinse. This prevents the possibility of getting into the fish when drying unnecessary living organisms (let's not talk about the bad).

Some designs of boxes for drying rams

Hanging. For hanging, we take some kind of box, you can rivet from several boards. The box must be well weathered on all sides. We cover it with gauze or mosquito net so that flies cannot sit on the ram. Which can lay their eggs there, which in turn can turn into worms. Before hanging the ram, break its gills so that they dry faster. If the fish is large, then place spacers from matches on the cut belly. We do hanging. It is better to hang the fish head up so that the brine and internal liquid do not flow out of the fish. So it will be fatter and tastier. Hanging out is best done in the evening so that the ram can become weathered and dry overnight. We completely cover the box with a hanging ram with a net, and put it in the shade, in a well-ventilated place, for example, on an open-frame balcony. If possible, do not place the box on the south side so that the temperature is not too high.

When to shoot the fish is up to you.

Another method of cooking ram

Required inventory. For salting the caught fish, it is necessary to have a special container, in which salted fish can be laid in rows. In a private house, in a country house in the yard, you can use boxes made of wood or thick plywood with drilled holes in the bottom to drain the fish juice into the ground. You can also use plastic and metal containers (the latter must be covered with a layer of enamel). Good and durable is a rectangular container made of thin stainless steel. Usually such capacious and deep containers are made to order and are rarely found on sale. In plastic, enameled and stainless containers for draining fish juice, a special stand is additionally made, which is used for dry salting. Such containers with a stand are especially relevant in cases where fish is salted at home, for example, on a balcony.

For homemade salting the author uses a monolithic plastic container, which has the following dimensions: length - 45 cm, width - 35 cm and height - 25 cm. At the bottom of the container, according to its size, a plywood sheet 1-1.5 cm thick is cut. Along the entire contour of the sheet at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other, we drill holes with a diameter of 10 mm, as well as several holes in the center of the canvas to drain the fish juice. Two or three wooden blocks about 30 mm thick are cut out under the bottom of the canvas. Between the canvas lying on the bars and the bottom of the container, a gap is formed for the thickness of the bars. For convenience, the bars are fixed to the canvas with screws with an anti-corrosion coating. But still, it is more reliable to fix the bars with a nylon cord, tying their ends through the drilled holes, and melt with a match (the fact is that the screw heads, in contact with salt, will darken over time and rust will form on them). After a special pallet is made of durable plywood on blocks, it is necessary to cut out of plywood (or knock down from a planed flat board) several more canvases without blocks (in the amount of three or four, depending on the height of the container) to the size of the container. Additional sheets of plywood serve to cover the rows of fish laid for salting. The first row of fish is laid on a pallet with blocks, which is first sprinkled with coarse salt, and salted fish is already placed on top. (More on this will be discussed below). The stacked row of fish is covered with a plywood sheet (in this sequence, the rest of the fish is laid to the very top of the container). Each intermediate sheet must have several drilled holes, both along the contour and in the center, to drain the fish juice to the bottom of the container. The canvases are adjusted exactly to size with a small gap of 4-5 cm from the walls of the container. The ends and edges of the cut canvases are processed with sandpaper.

For quality cooking rams need to have loads of different weights. So, for dry salting, the author uses discs of collapsible dumbbells with an anti-corrosion coating and a small bag made of durable dense fabric, filled with dry river sand. The weight of a bag of sand is 15 kilograms. It is also necessary to have a piece of porous material or an air-permeable blanket, which is used to cover the container with fish and cargo. At the time of salting the fish, the cover is pulled together with a linen elastic in order to completely exclude the penetration of wasps and flies into the freshly laid fish.

Equipment for drying fish. In order for the drying process to proceed normally, it is necessary to equip a special place. In the yard, they can serve as a place located under a wide roof canopy, which protects well from rain and sun. After salting and soaking, the fish is placed in specially knocked down boxes of planks, covered with a fine nylon mesh. The box has a door, rigid rods are fixed inside it, on which fish are hung with hooks made of metal wire. Another option for drying fish is also possible, which involves the use of several identical rings of thick copper wire. The diameter of the rings is 40-70 cm. The number of rings is from 5 to 7 pieces, depending on the thickness of the wire. In the upper part of the rings, a rigid rod passes, fixed to each ring with a dense winding of copper wire. The rings are equally spaced from each other. On the rod are metal hooks for hanging fish. General view - a cylinder, covered on all sides with a mesh or a double gauze canopy, fastened with buttons. A strong nylon cord is threaded along the entire length, with which the device is easily fixed at the desired height.

In apartments of multi-storey buildings, where the area is limited, you can use part of the balcony or loggia facing the street. For this purpose, it is necessary to carry out simple construction work that does not take much time. We will need some tools and the ability to handle them. (What the equipped balcony looks like can be seen in the photo brought to your attention). Necessary tools: a hacksaw, a drill, drills, a hammer, a punch, a screw, nails, as well as: a nylon cord, two wooden planks, a piece of gauze (with a margin - for double wrapping). In the extreme frame, which rarely opens and is securely fastened on metal hinges, besides it is additionally fixed with bolts, a wooden plank 2 cm thick and 5 cm wide across the frame at a height of 40 cm from the box itself is attached above and below. It is important that the bar is not less than the specified thickness and width. The bar is attached to the frame with four screws (two on each side). At the ends of the plank cut to size, points for drilling are marked with a pencil, in place of which holes are drilled with a drill. Then the bar is applied horizontally to the frame and the drilled holes are marked with dots, which will serve as screws. The diameter of the drill should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw. The marked points on the frame are carefully drilled to a depth of 2.5 - 2.8 cm into the body of the frame and away from the glass. Opposite the wooden plank on the wall, in the same sequence, the place of attachment of the second plank is marked. Holes in the wall are punched with a punch or puncher to a depth of 4-5 cm, the punched holes are smeared with PVA glue and wooden plugs made of durable wood - oak, acacia, birch - are tightly hammered into them. Holes for screws are also drilled in wooden plugs. The second plank on the wall is also fastened with four screws. One more important point: before attaching the planks to each of them, nails are hammered into the rib at the same distance from each other and to a depth at which an incompletely driven nail will peek out one and a half centimeters above the plank. Nylon cords are stretched between the wooden planks fixed on the frame and the wall. The cord should be under slight tension. If the cord sags, it is shortened by tying a single knot on it from the edge.

Preservation and transportation of caught fish. Caught fish must be preserved and brought home unspoiled. If you fish in early spring or late autumn, then in this cool season the fish is well preserved. And if in the warm season, then you need to know the basic requirements for the preservation of the caught fish. Fish should not be in closed and airtight bags, plastic bags, etc. Fish quickly deteriorates if kept in a container of water - the water heats up quickly. Since the fish is a rather delicate product, when playing it, you need to learn how to hold it with your hands so that it is not injured. The hook should be removed carefully with tweezers or small pliers. During transportation, a wicker basket made of wicker can serve as a reliable container, in which the caught fish is necessarily shifted with nettles or reed leaves. Allow the fish to dry before laying, but in no case rinse it with water. Caught fish can be easily preserved for quite a long time if it is shifted with oak, cherry, nettle, currant leaves, walnut. During transportation, the fish must be provided with air access, otherwise its shelf life will be reduced. To keep the fish for a long time, for example, two or three days, it is necessary immediately after the catch to remove the entrails, gills, wash the meat from the blood, rub it with vinegar and lower it for 10-15 minutes in salted water. Then take dry chopped wormwood or thyme, nettle or White bread, pre-soaked in vodka and put in the peribranch space of the fish. After long-term storage in the described way, the fish is suitable for eating, but it cannot be made into a ram. It should be remembered that only freshly caught fish is suitable for making a ram, which was stored for no more than a few hours after the end of fishing. The faster the caught fish is delivered home, the better it will be preserved and the better the ram you have prepared will be.

Salting. The oldest and easiest way to preserve fish is salting. Salted fish releases water from itself, and water dissolves salt, forming a saline solution - brine. For salting, as mentioned earlier, only fresh and intact fish is used. Salt for salting should be clean, without any impurities and coarse grinding. When salting fish for drying, two main methods are used: dry and wet (brine). With the dry method of salting, cooked fish, preferably of the same size for each layer of salting, must be washed with running cold water and put into a spare container, from which it will be convenient to get it for salting. Next to this container there should be salt and the main container in which the salting will be carried out. At the bottom of this main container for salting, we put a pre-made pallet made of plywood on blocks and sprinkle thickly with salt the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe pallet (the thickness of the salt layer is up to one centimeter). We rub large and medium-sized fish with salt under the scales (from tail to head), be sure to stuff salt into the gills and put them on the pallet in dense rows - head to tail, back to stomach (With this folding of the fish, oppression will work better) Sprinkle the laid fish a layer of salt in such an amount that a flat surface of poured salt forms on top of the fish. Then we cover it with a canvas cut out of plywood and make sure that it lies strictly horizontally and is stable, if necessary, we level the surface by adding salt.

So, the first row of fish is laid and salted. The remaining fish is laid in the same sequence, which is covered with the last upper canvas. We put a load on this canvas. A few words should be said about the use of cargo. You should not put the entire load on the fish laid for salting at once. In the first 6-7 hours of salting, it is worth using a load weighing a little more than half of the weight of the total load, and then report the rest of the load. So the process of salting fish goes more evenly. The weight of the load depends on the size and quantity of the packed fish. The larger the fish, the heavier the load should be. For example, when salting large bream weighing 1-2 kg, the author uses a weight of 17-20 kg. For medium-sized fish (250-500 grams), the weight of the load is 12-15 kg. The top row of the laid fish is sprinkled with a thick layer of salt so that it covers the whole fish, and when all the fish are laid, the container with the load is covered with a double layer of gauze or a porous fabric that passes air well, and wrapped with a linen elastic so that the cover is tightly pressed to the walls of the container to prevent the penetration of wasps and flies to the laid fish.

With home salting, fish, depending on the size, can be under load from 2 to 7 days. Small fish are aged for two days. Not gutted fish of medium size (250-500 g) - 3-4 days. Fish exceeding the average size (600-800 g) is aged up to 5 days. Please note that in the latter case, the insides of the fish must be removed. The entrails and blood clots are removed before salting and in large-sized fish (weighing 1 kg or more). In this case, a shallow incision is carefully made along the ridge from the inside with a knife towards the dorsal fin without damaging the skin. Salt is also poured inside the abdominal cavity of the fish, then the fish is pressed down with a load from above and aged for up to 7 days.

With the brine (wet) method of salting in an enameled or stainless steel container, such an amount of salt is dissolved in water (with thorough stirring), at which it floats on the surface of the brine a raw egg. Fresh fish is dipped in salt brine so that the brine covers it completely. A wire mesh is placed on top (mesh wire - with an anti-corrosion coating), and a load is placed on it. For brine salting, medium-sized fish (300 - 500 g) are selected and kept in salt brine under oppression for 3 days in a cool place.

Soaking. Soaking is used to reduce the salt content in fish and to avoid the formation of salt crystals on its surface. Salted fish is washed with cold running water. The gills and belly of the gutted fish are especially thoroughly washed. Small fish are soaked in fresh water for half an hour, larger ones should be soaked for several hours (for example, the fish was salted for 5 days, which means that the process of soaking in fresh water should last 4-5 hours, and the water must be drained twice and the container filled (the author uses a plastic bath) with fresh fresh water.Note that during the soaking process, after the first water has been drained, it is useful to leave the fish for 1-2 hours without water so that salt redistribution occurs in the fish meat, and also, to reduce the salinity of the inner layers of the fish.If the fish begins to float during soaking, this indicates that the salting becomes tender.In this case, if you look at the fish "in the light", its back will be amber-transparent.After drying, the meat becomes slightly reddish color.

Drying. Before you hang the fish for drying, you need to lay it out on paper so that it dries a little, or wipe it dry with a clean rag. The author hangs the fish on specially made stainless wire hooks, after piercing a hole for the hook with an awl. Usually such fish as blue bream, silver bream, roach, white-eye are hung upside down. Large, gutted fish - bream, ide - head up. In general, if the fish is dried gutted, it is hung upside down so that the fish oil does not flow down, but remains in the fish meat. During drying, a wooden cross strut is necessarily inserted into the belly of the gutted fish. This is done for better drying of the fish. Drying time can be different, it depends on the air temperature and the size of the fish. The drying process usually lasts from 1 to 4 weeks. If the fish is strung through the eye sockets (using a needle and a strong cord), then it is necessary that the fish be located with its backs in one direction; and so that she does not crawl towards each other, the overlap on the head is done twice. And, of course, careful control over the fish hung out for drying is necessary. The fish must be securely protected with a net or gauze from flies and wasps. At night, there are no flies, and at this time the fish can not be protected with a net or gauze so that it dries to a dry crust. Flies lay their eggs only on the wet surface of the fish. In the early morning, after drying overnight, the fish can be lightly sprinkled with a solution of table vinegar: its pungent smell repels flies. But it is better to immediately hang the fish in a specially equipped and protected from flies place. To do this, a gauze canopy is widely used, the ends of which must be slightly wrapped and fastened with ordinary clothespins or fastened with buttons that are previously sewn on.

Storage. It is best to store ready, well-dried (but not overdried) fish in tin cans By corking the jars with lids, large fish can be stored wrapped in parchment, but not in cellophane bags, because in this case there will be no air access to the fish. In this form, a ram, for example, blue bream, sabrefish, silver bream, can be stored for quite a long time - up to 4 months. Dried fish is also well stored in a cotton bag in a cool, dry place. If the fish is dry, you can restore the elasticity of freshly dried fish. To do this, the fish must be soaked in water and wrapped in damp paper (keep the paper moist for two days, wetting it with water as it dries).

Conclusion. To get a delicious back of dried fish of gentle salting and amber color, you need, of course, a certain experience of drying at home. But experience, as they say, is acquired, and over time, you can learn how to make a ram not only from small white fish, but also from large fish that weigh more than one kilogram. The author was preparing a ram of bream, the weight of each of which exceeded two kilograms. Dried large spring or autumn bream is something special! You can't buy these in the store!

I would like to say a few words about salt waste from dry and brine salting. If salting takes place in the yard, then it is necessary to dig a small depression under the container so that the fish juice flows into the ground through the holes drilled in the container. The salt remaining after dry salting is folded into a bag and thrown away with it into the garbage container. If there is very little salt, then it can be thrown into the toilet, but in no case should you try to drain the salt waste into the sink - the entire drain system located under it may become clogged. If the drying of fish is carried out in a specially equipped place on the balcony, then in the balcony frames of the glazed balcony there should be a window covered with nylon mesh. No matter what floor of a multi-storey building you live on, flies will still fly to the smell of fish. And ventilation is necessary in order for the fish to “ripen” well. The author got out of the situation by making a plug-in frame covered with mesh, which he uses when the doors of balcony frames open.

In a plywood sheet to overlap the rows of fish during salting, you should not drill many holes, as the strength of the sheet itself is violated. So that during the drying of fish, metal hooks do not cling to the gauze canopy, a newspaper folded several times is placed on top of the hooks.

That's how everything is. If you have an interesting recipe for drying rams, send it, and maybe it will fall into this article.

Discuss this article on the Good Forum

Tags: ram, ram, dried fish, dried fish, how to cook ram, ram how to dry, ram for beer, ram recipes

Once upon a time, the name of the ram - or, as it is called with a soft pronunciation of the southerners - the ram - really took its name from small representatives of the Tarani species. But since then, the name has long been applied to any fish - crucian carp, scavenger or roach prepared in this way. How to properly salt a ram so that at the end you get not damp and not overdried, but the very one - your favorite snack for any kind of beer?

To obtain the same ram at the exit, various cooking technologies are used - dry salting, where nothing is used except fish and salt, wet salting, where salt brine is needed, and salting under oppression, where the fish is pressed down by some kind of weight. Any of these methods of salting rams will end with hanging fish drying - on twine or twigs.

How to salt a ram at home with dry salting - a recipe

1. For dry salting of the ram, take salt - always large, stone, and in no case iodized. Wash the fish, no need to gut or clean (the fish should be no larger than 30 cm). Let the moisture dry - spread the fish for a few minutes on a cotton cloth that absorbs water.
2. We rub the carcasses with salt - based on 10 kg, about 1.5 kg of salt - very carefully, “rubbing” under the scales, stuffing them into the mouth, under the gill covers. We put a ram on the wire (scourge, twigs) - pulling the selected base through the fish eyes.
3. To dry the ram not in the sun, and in a good breeze - the attic is ideal for this. Drying takes from 2 to 7 days, check the fish for bending: a poorly dried ram easily bends, an overdried one breaks. When the fish barely bends at a small angle - shoot and try.

How to pickle a ram with wet salting at home - a recipe

1. Prepare a brine - enough 0.5 cups of salt per 1 liter of water. It is not necessary to boil the brine, heat it up so that the salt dissolves, and fill the fish with cold water.
2. We lay the ram on the bottom of enameled or other non-oxidizing dishes (but plastic is not welcome). The ram is placed on top of each other "tail to head". When all the fish is laid, fill it with ready-made brine for 3-4 days.
3. Similarly to dry salting, we hang the fish to dry.
4. Do not forget - not only you love salted ram, but also flies, wasps. By wrapping the ram with two layers of gauze, you will avoid damaging the fish.

Taranka - delicious fish. It is especially good in dried form. But first, the product must be properly salted. How to do it? Of course, there are some nuances, but everything is incredibly simple. Let's take a look at the options available.

How to prepare a ram for salting?

It is best to salt freshly caught fish. However, this is not always possible, so you can also use a frozen product that has been thawed at room temperature beforehand. This completes all preparatory work. No need to wash, clean and gut anything.

How to salt a ram?

There are several ways to salt a ram. Let's get into the details.

Dry salting method for rams

In this case, there are two options. Both are simple. So choose which one you like best. So:

Option number 1

Take the prepared fish and rub it with salt from the tail to the head. Try to keep the husk rising. Fill the mouth and gills of the ram with salt. After that, string the carcasses on a thick thread or wire and hang them in the shade in a draft. So we salt and dry at the same time. The fish should hang in this state for at least 2 days.

Option number 2

Prepare a deep enamelled or glassware. Wash and dry the container. Now pour a little (25 g) of salt on the bottom. Lay out the ram in one layer. Next is salt. Next is the fish. And so on until the end of the main product. As for the ratio of fish and salt: from 1:0.1 to 1:1. It all depends on the season and conditions. If you can send the prepared semi-finished product to the refrigerator, then put less salt. And if it’s summer outside and you don’t have a cool place, then pour 1: 1. After that, put oppression on top and after 1-2 days get the fish. Then rinse off the salt. You can soak the ram a little. And again, hang in the shade in a draft.

Wet method of salting ram

There is nothing complicated in this method of salting fish either. Just dilute water with salt in a ratio of 1: 0.1. Now fill the prepared fish so that it is completely covered. Press something on top so that the carcasses do not float. Soak the ram in brine for 2-3 days. Then take it out (you can soak for 20-30 minutes in cold water) and hang it out in the same way as in other cases.

Of course, a variety of spices can be added to salt. For every kilogram of fish, take about 1 tablespoon of chopped spices. Pour whatever you like.