Not a single holiday table is complete without salted pink salmon. You will not find well-salted and high-quality sea fish in stores. Try pickling it yourself - dry pickling or in brine. Follow all the rules presented in our article, and there will always be a delicious treat on your table.
Preparing pink salmon for salting
Fresh pink salmon will make a delicious delicacy, but try to find it in stores. We use frozen fish if no one caught and brought fresh fish. Let it thaw before salting, but do not put it in the microwave or hot water. Place the fish on a plate on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Next, your actions are as follows:
- wash the fish under running water;
- clean the scales, remove the fins, tail and cut off the head;
- Remove the insides from the pink salmon and rinse well again. Remove the entrails from slightly frozen fish. There will be less dirt in the kitchen, and it will be easier to do;
- remove the backbone and bones. Get the fillet and start salting.
If the recipe calls for removing the skin from the fish, remove it. To fuss less, buy headless and gutted fish, but their price is more expensive.
Salting pink salmon - dry salting
The simplest method, spend no more than 20 minutes on preparation. Prepare fish about 1 kg and 3 tbsp. spoons of salt and sugar. Dry salting process:
- After preparing the fish, you will be left with two fillets with skin. Do not trim the skin from the fish. Cut the fish fillet in half, into pieces, or leave whole;
- in a separate bowl, stir salt and sugar;
- sprinkle the resulting mixture onto the pieces of pink salmon from the meat side, not from the skin;
- Place skin side down in prepared container or tray. Pour the remaining salt and sugar onto the fish. You can wrap the salted fish pieces in a napkin and place them in a glass bowl or saucepan;
- Put the fish in the refrigerator for exactly one day. For juiciness, brush the finished fish with vegetable oil.
Salt pink salmon in brine
When salting using this method, you will get a more flavorful fish. Prepare:
- medium-sized pink salmon;
- 1 liter of water;
- 3 tbsp. spoons of salt;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dry mustard;
- 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar;
- 10 black peppercorns and bay leaf.
Cut the prepared pink salmon into fillets. Remove the skin from the fish. Cut each fillet into pieces. To prepare the brine, mix salt, mustard, and sugar in water. Throw peas and bay leaves into the water. Place the brine in a saucepan on the stove, let it boil and cool to room temperature.
Pour the cooled brine over the fish in a bowl, cover with a lid and place in the refrigerator to marinate. It is advisable to use a small weight; it will help the fish to completely immerse in the brine and salt more evenly. After 8-12 hours, try what you got. Do not keep fish in brine for more than three days. Transfer the pink salmon to a clean bowl and cover with vegetable oil. Wipe fish pieces with a paper towel before eating.
Salting pink salmon - original recipe with oranges
Salted pink salmon with oranges or tangerines will come out tender and juicy, tasting like salmon. Use it for sandwiches. Prepare 2 large oranges or 4 medium tangerines, 2 fish fillets and salt. You can salt pink salmon without skin or with it. Recipe:
- rinse the fish fillet and dry with napkins;
- peel the citrus fruits, divide them into slices and cut each slice crosswise into 5 mm pieces;
- Place a piece of fish on the bottom of the selected dish, sprinkle salt on top, and place half of the sliced oranges on it. Place another piece of pink salmon on top of the oranges, sprinkle generously with salt, and lay out the remaining citrus fruits.
Close the vessel with the fish tightly with a lid and place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Under the influence of salt, the oranges will release juice, and the fish will turn out aromatic and tasty.
If your pink salmon comes out over-salted, don’t worry. Soak the pieces in fresh milk for a couple of hours, wipe dry, brush with oil and serve for lunch. In any case, you will get better salted fish than store-bought fish. It can be eaten as a separate dish or made into sandwiches.
Can. And it turns out great!
After the recipe, we will talk about the intricacies of pickling and the correct choice of ingredients. But even without secrets from the chefs, together with us you will be able to deliciously pickle pink salmon from the first try. Let's get started!
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Salt the fish in the marinade
The ingredients are simple:
- Pink salmon (fresh or frozen) - 1-2 kg
- Onions - 2 pcs. medium size
- Olive oil - 1 glass
For the marinade:
- Regular drinking water - 4 glasses
- Coarse salt - 1 cup
- Sugar - ½ cup
- Coriander (seeds) - 1 tbsp. spoon
- Black pepper (peas) - 1 tbsp. spoon
- Bay leaf - 5-7 pcs.
Bring the water to a boil and remove from heat. Add all the ingredients for the pickling marinade to the water. Stir with a spoon until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved and set aside to cool to room temperature.
If we use fresh pink salmon, we clean the fish from scales, gut it, remove the heads and tails and rinse thoroughly under running water.
If you decide to salt frozen fish, the work is simpler: usually it is sold already cleaned and free of giblets. Simply take the pink salmon out of the freezer the night before and defrost it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Cut the fish into small pieces - 2.5-3 cm thick.
We will pickle pink salmon in a large glass bowl. Let's save the metal dishes for another occasion: when salting the fish in it, the fish will have an iron taste.
Place the pieces in a container and pour in the cooled marinade. Cover with a plate slightly smaller in diameter than the bowl. This way we will fix all the pieces in the water under the weight of the plate. Let marinate in the refrigerator.
Salting time is 12-14 hours.
When the pink salmon has been salted, take the pieces out of the marinade and transfer them to a glass jar - mixed with onions, which have been cut into half rings.
Fill the delicious fish with oil. By closing the jar with a lid, we can store lightly salted pink salmon in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days.
Isn't it simple? How delicious it is to pickle pink salmon at home using our recipe with marinade. Look at the photo of the beautiful fish: the oil keeps it tender and juicy!
We had ready-made and everyone’s favorite pieces of lightly salted pink salmon on hand for a few days in advance. This fish goes well with potatoes, rice and a sandwich. You can also use it to make a snack pasta with cream or melted cheese (you will have to remove the bones from each piece and put it in a blender or chop the fish pulp into small cubes).
Secrets and nuances
Pink salmon is a medium-sized red fish (1.2-1.5 kg per carcass). It perfectly saturates the body with essential fatty acids with a low risk of getting excess mercury in the menu. Omega-3 fatty acids inhibit systemic age-related inflammation and give us active longevity.
This time we use wet pickling. It works especially well with pink salmon and chum salmon, red fish species that are considered a bit dry.
The bonus of this recipe is the versatility of salting fish in a marinade. It will make even simple herring, especially trout and salmon, piquant and very tasty.
- You can add soy sauce, garlic and other spices to the marinade, and use grape seed oil instead of olive oil. All this adds variety to the result - aromatic fish pieces that melt in your mouth!
- Serve lightly salted pink salmon with fresh vegetables, olives or potato dishes (mashed, boiled, baked). An occasional glass of white wine won't hurt.
And, of course, you should choose high-quality fish so that you can salt it perfectly from the first go.
Supermarkets always have red fish, salted and dried - salmon, trout, pink salmon. This pleasure is expensive, but if you buy raw fish and salt it deliciously at home, it will be much cheaper.
Salting pink salmon at home is not difficult, you just need to have salting recipes. Cooked fish can be stored in the refrigerator for several days when salted, and can be used for sandwiches, salads and appetizers.
If you have guests, you can make a quick appetizer roll, stuffed pancakes or canapés with red fish - your guests will be pleasantly surprised.
Preparing red fish for proper salting
It is best to buy fresh pink salmon, but frozen salmon can also be safely salted. Only it must first be thawed naturally, preferably in the refrigerator, on the bottom shelf. A microwave is not suitable, nor is hot water, as the structure will be lost and the fish will become unsuitable for salting.
When buying fresh pink salmon, you need to make sure that it is of satisfactory quality, namely:
It smells like fish, the smell is quite pleasant;
It has a dense consistency; after pressing with a finger on the pulp, the hole quickly recovers;
The skin is also dense, elastic and smooth.
If the fish was purchased raw, then we process it as usual:
We wash, clean from scales, remove the head, tail and fins;
If necessary, gut it and wash the internal cavity;
We cut the fish and remove the bones;
Rinse for the last time under running water and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels.
After this, you can either pickle it as is or divide it into portions. It’s the same with the skin - you can remove it, or you can salt it on the skin.
A convenient option for quick pickling: cut into very thin slices and pickle like that. There is no need to cut the finished fish for sandwiches; you can put one layer entirely on the bread.
If you use such fish for salads or appetizers, then the cutting process is also greatly simplified.
How to properly, quickly and tasty salt pink salmon at home
There are two types of salting fish - dry and in brine, or in marinade. When dry, the main element is salt; spices, herbs, etc. are added to it. With the wet method, a marinade is prepared, in which the fish is immersed for a certain time.
1. Dry method of salting pink salmon
The classic method is salt mixed with sugar in a 2:1 ratio, that is, 2 parts salt and 1 part sugar. For 1 kg of pink salmon, 2 tablespoons of salt is enough.
To enrich the taste of the finished fish, herbs and spices are used, such as bay leaf, black pepper, mustard seeds, coriander, ground rosemary. Traditional greens are also used - fresh dill and parsley.
The fish is rubbed with a mixture of salt and sugar, placed in a container, sprinkled with spices and herbs. In a sealed container, glass or enamel, place the fish in the refrigerator for a specified amount of time. On average this is one day.
2. Wet method of salting pink salmon
To salt fish using the wet method, you need to prepare it as described above, and at the same time prepare the brine.
The brine must also contain salt as the main element, spices, etc. Pieces of fish, large or small, are placed in glass, enamel or plastic dishes, filled with brine and closed. The fish in brine must also be kept in the refrigerator for about a day, and then removed and transferred to another container, without the brine.
Fish salted in this way is safe in the refrigerator for four days. If you haven’t eaten it during this time, you’ll have to put it in the freezer.
If you are afraid to add salt, then do not be afraid: pink salmon, like any natural fish, takes as much salt as it needs. Therefore, the risk of spoiling expensive fish is minimal, and you can safely try to salt it yourself. Just do not take metal utensils, because the fish can take on the smell of the metal and may develop a metallic taste.
Below are several recipes for salting pink salmon at home. You will see for yourself that they are simple to perform, do not require any special ingredients, and there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. The main thing is to choose good quality pink salmon, this is a necessary condition.
Dry salting of pink salmon
This method is faster than the wet method and does not require preparing brine.
1 recipe - the simplest
Ingredients
1 kg pink salmon
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1. Prepare pink salmon for salting, get two fillets.
2. Mix sugar and salt in a bowl and, after mixing, rub the fish evenly over the entire surface of the pieces.
3. We put the halves together, wrap them tightly in plastic film, and place them in the refrigerator for one day.
4. After this time, the fish can be served. Those who love it pour vegetable oil on it.
Recipe 2 - with dill
Ingredients
1 kg pink salmon
3 tbsp coarse salt
3 tbsp sugar
200 g fresh dill
1. Prepare pink salmon for salting, remove the skin, get two fillets, whole.
2. Wash the dill thoroughly and dry thoroughly.
3. Mix sugar and salt in a bowl and, after mixing, rub the fish evenly over the entire surface of the pieces.
4. Select a vessel in which the fish will be salted and line the bottom with dill, taking one third of the prepared amount.
5. Place the first fillet on the dill layer, and the second third of the dill on it, evenly distributing it over the surface of the fish. Then place the second fillet on the dill and cover it with the remaining dill.
6. Cover the dish with fish so that the lid is recessed inside. We press it down with pressure, for example, put a jar of water (3 l) on top.
7. We keep the fish under pressure in the room for 8 hours, after that we remove the load, close the dish with its own lid and put it in the refrigerator for two days.
8. When the allotted time has passed, open the dish, throw away the dill, cut the fish into slices and serve.
Recipe 3 - lightly salted pink salmon
Ingredients
1½ kg pink salmon, or whole fish
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar
100 ml vegetable oil
Coriander
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Prepare pink salmon for salting, cut into small pieces.
3. In a bowl, mix sugar and salt and stir.
4. Select the container in which the fish will be salted and place the first layer of fish pieces on the bottom. Lightly grease it with oil, sprinkle with a mixture of salt and sugar, ground pepper and coriander. Place the next layer, grease and sprinkle - and continue this way until all the fish is in the dish.
5. Close the container and put it in the refrigerator. This time not for a day, but for 5 hours - this is the minimum.
Salting pink salmon using the wet method
This is how they salt pink salmon if they are not lazy prepare the marinade. The water must be boiled for it.
1 recipe in marinade with spices
Ingredients
5 ready-made pink salmon steaks
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
3-4 bay leaves
5 black peppercorns
- ½ liter of water
1. Prepare the marinade: boil water, completely dissolve salt and sugar in it, cool.
2. Place the steaks in a salting dish and add all the spices there.
3. Pour the marinade over the pink salmon steaks until they are completely covered with liquid.
4. Having closed the container with fish in the marinade, we put it in the refrigerator for a day.
5. After 24 hours, remove the fish from the marinade, lightly grease it with oil and transfer it to a clean, dry container.
Recipe 2: quick pickling, weak
Ingredients
1 kg pink salmon
2-3 tbsp salt
1 onion
50 ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp vinegar
Black pepper, 6-8 peas
Bay leaf
- ½ l water + 1 tbsp
1. Prepare pink salmon for salting, cut the fillets into small pieces. Immediately place it in a container in which the fish will be salted.
2. Prepare a brine from ½ liter of water and salt, pour in the fish and put under pressure.
3. We keep the fish under pressure in the room for 1½ - 2 hours, after which we remove the load and drain the brine.
4. Prepare a new brine from 1 tbsp water and vinegar. We pour it into the fish and note the time. After 5 minutes, drain this brine too.
5. Cut the onion into rings, place pieces of fish in them, at the same time sprinkle with pepper and add a bay leaf. Pour oil over it all and mix.
6. After waiting 15-20 minutes, we bring the fish to the table - it is completely ready.
From these recipes it is clear that you can pickle pink salmon with whole fillets, steaks, and small pieces. Salting can be classic or lightly salted, regardless of which method, dry or wet, you use.
There are different options for salting pink salmon; you can salt it in brine, oil, carcass or pieces. I cook according to the most delicious and simple recipe.
I’ll tell you now how to deliciously pickle pink salmon at home. I buy frozen fish, since it’s hard to find fresh here. I fillet the carcass myself and remove the skin, then the fish will be salted quickly and evenly. Our salting is dry, rock salt, sugar and a little ground rosemary. No other spices are needed, as the real taste of the fish is lost. By the way, home-salted pink salmon is tastier and healthier than store-bought fish. It even looks like salmon. You need to store fish in a plastic or glass container; it will not give off any foreign odors to the fish, such as aluminum pots or containers. Salting lasts 1 day. And then you can eat the fish.
Taste Info From fish and seafood
Ingredients
- Pink salmon carcass (frozen) – 1 piece (about a kilogram)
- Coarse rock salt – 2 tablespoons
- Regular white sugar (powdered sugar is better) – 1 tablespoon
- Ground rosemary – a pinch
To prepare homemade salted pink salmon we will need 1 day, number of servings – 8.
How to cook salted pink salmon at home
I buy pink salmon carcass at the market, it is frozen. You need to defrost it first, that’s logical. It is better to defrost fish on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, so it will gradually defrost and not lose its taste.
Rinse pink salmon thoroughly and dry with paper towels. 
We fillet the fish. We make a cut along the ridge with a sharp knife and carefully separate half of the fish from the bone. Also helping the other half with a knife. The ridge was left on the ear. 
We cut off the fins and take out the remaining bones. Now we remove the skin. Starting from the head, place a sharp knife, wide, at an angle of 45 degrees, hold the skin and remove the fillet. 
Now you can cut the resulting fillets into pieces of any size. But big ones are better. 
Now we prepare the mixture for pickling. Place coarse rock salt in a bowl. 
Add sugar and dried rosemary there. 
Mix and rub our fish with this mixture. 
Place pink salmon pieces on top of each other in a plastic container. Place in the refrigerator for 1 day. 
After half a day, you can turn the fish over so that it is evenly salted. 
Time has passed, delicious home-salted pink salmon is ready! It cuts perfectly, does not soften, like after salting in brine or oil. Canapés, sandwiches are prepared from it, added to salads or any other snacks. Red fish is healthy, especially without any chemical additives, like in the store. Salted pink salmon at home is a great appetizer on your holiday table! 
