How to salt smelt with spicy salting and for drying

For residents of St. Petersburg, smelt has a special meaning. At one time, it was she who saved many residents from hunger in the besieged city. Now the city annually hosts a smelt festival, where chefs present more and more new dishes from this fish. There were no such delicacies back then, and smelt was simply salted.

Ingredients: smelt, sugar, salt, spices
Time to bookmark: Whole year

Freshwater smelt grows on average up to 10 cm. Some subspecies do not have scales, and in some they fall off so quickly that fishermen bring the already cleaned smelt home. Basically, smelt is fried, salted, or dried. The bones in this fish are so small and soft that the smelt can be eaten whole, removing only the head and entrails.

Let's look at how easy it is to salt smelt. This is a great appetizer for boiled potatoes, or you can simply diversify sandwiches.

Wash the smelt and place it in a deep bowl. In a separate container, ingredients for salting smelt. For 1 kg of smelt you need:

100 grams of salt;
30 gr. Sahara;
Half a teaspoon each of cloves, black pepper, coriander, dill seeds.

Grind the spices in a mortar (or coffee grinder) and mix them with sugar and salt.

Pour the mixture over the washed smelt and stir. There is no need to fill the smelt with water; the smelt will already release enough juice.

Flatten the smelt and cover it with an inverted plate. Place a not very heavy pressure on top, and leave it to salt at room temperature for 10-12 hours.During this time, the small fish will be sufficiently salted, and now it can be transferred to a jar and filled with vegetable oil. You can store salted smelt in a jar for about two weeks, and during this time it is advisable to eat it.

If smelt is salted for drying, it is recommended to use only salt for salting. Sugar and spices are not needed for this type of salting. The time for salting smelt for drying ranges from one hour to three hours. There is no point in salting it longer, because it is a very small fish, and if it is salted for too long, it will turn out to be too dry.