A tasty addition to bread and butter. Let's learn how to make red caviar. Home-salted red caviar Imitation of red caviar at home

Due to the fact that I live in a region where in the summer the rivers boil with red fish coming to spawn, I decided to tell you how we prepare it after catching it. Maybe it will be useful for someone. :)

So, red caviar. It's not difficult to prepare. In this case, you can even cook the caviar eggs from a frozen fish carcass.

The only difference in preparing caviar at home from frozen compared to freshly caught is that you still need to defrost the caviar at home... Moreover, it is advisable to do this in the refrigerator - so that the process progresses gradually. That's it, there are no more differences.

1) The initial product is caviar in eggs.

So, we take the red caviar out of the fish. Place carefully in a bowl. The caviar is located in the so-called yastikas - a protective film (of biological origin). First of all, you need to get rid of it. This is done using a special tool - a screen. But it's okay if you don't have it on hand. A regular tennis or badminton racket will do just fine.

And all because the screen is simply a lattice made of thick fishing line stretched over a frame. As in the photo below.

The process of rattling eggs is primitive. We take the yoke and, holding it with our fingers, move it along the surface of the screen. Until it all falls into the bowl in the form of caviar. Film to the side. We take the next yashtik - and the same thing. It's simple.

3) They rattled.

4) This is the amount of caviar obtained from one ketina. There will be less of pink salmon and more of coho salmon.

The next stage is salting. In order to pickle, you need brine. Brine is just a solution of sodium chloride. :) That is, a salt solution. To prepare it, you need to boil water and add salt to it. There should be a lot of salt so that the raw egg floats. An important point - to salt caviar, the brine must be cold. Under no circumstances should you pour hot water into the caviar. If you do this, it will be boiled caviar. It's good for baiting fish - but I wouldn't eat it.

So - take cold water with salt and pour in the grated caviar.
We note the time - 5 minutes. While the caviar is salting, you can stir it a couple of times.

5) Salt the caviar.

6) The salting process is in full swing

And yet - before pouring brine into the water - you need to prepare gauze. It is needed at the next stage of preparation.

As soon as five minutes have passed, cover the bowl with gauze and turn it over. As a result, the water drains and the caviar remains in the gauze. We take this gauze bag by the edges and begin to alternately lift one edge and then the other, forcing the caviar in the gauze to roll over the bag. By this we achieve one very important property of caviar - purity. The fact is that during the screening process, part of the film - in which the caviar in the fish is located - still leaks through the screen. And if you roll this thing on gauze, the caviar will be cleared.

You don't need to ride for long - about five minutes.

7) Caviar on gauze.

After rolling, you can hang the bag of caviar for another 10 minutes so that the water drains. If you want especially clean caviar, it is advisable to roll it again in a different, clean gauze rag. But in nature, we don’t really bother with this - we rolled once and that’s fine.

In the photo below you can see that the gauze contains all sorts of crushed eggs, a little film.

8) Caviar is poured into a bowl.

Actually, that's all. You can eat. In nature - just with bread and butter. At home I prefer it with pancakes (unsweetened).

Bon appetit! :)

Such a bowl of caviar was prepared on one of the rafting boats for tourists. In his hand is a liter jar. There are another 7 liters of caviar in the basin.

Helpful advice: to keep caviar in a jar for a long time, before closing, pour a thin layer of vegetable oil on it. After you fill the jar. Just fill the jar tightly so that the oil remains on the surface and does not flow down. Something like this.

Have you prepared red caviar yourself? Was it delicious? Do you generally eat red caviar?

No matter what dieters and fans of asceticism say, caviar on the table is a sign of good taste, especially when the table is festive. But if black caviar is a symbol of a luxurious Russian feast, then red caviar is a sign of economic prosperity in the family. Meanwhile, even on prosperity, you can save a lot if you do some things yourself. For example, salt the same red caviar at home. Let's study.

How to choose red fish for pickling caviar

Red caviar at home begins with choosing the right fish in the store. For our purposes, we will need fish with red meat, such as salmon, such as trout, salmon or pink salmon. You need an ungutted carcass of a female of any size, which will definitely contain caviar (and it will be in any, because such fish are caught only when they go to spawn).

Distinguishing a female from a male is not a problem. The fact is that the female salmon is... “more feminine”: she has rounder outlines, a more delicate and softer color and a short, rounded head. No points or predatory appearance (like the male). If you are choosing for the first time, following these instructions, try to do it yourself, and then consult with the seller. You will find that your opinions are likely to coincide.

How to pickle red caviar at home correctly

Since you bought frozen fish, defrost it. It is recommended to do this in natural mode, that is, first transfer it from the icebox (freezer) to the refrigerator, and then let it thaw at room temperature.

The process of salting caviar itself consists of two stages of action. First, you need to clean the caviar from the film in which it is located, and then place it in a salt marinade, that is, pickle it. Each stage has its own subtleties. Let's start with cleansing.

Cleaning eggs from caviar

The caviar is in two film bags (bags) - you need to get rid of them. The work is painstaking, but necessary. This must be done extremely carefully so as not to damage the caviar itself. (Unless there is another goal).

Using your hands, carefully separate the caviar from the film.

Next, place the caviar in a bowl and fill with cold water. Using a wooden stick, we begin to mix intensively in one direction. Periodically we take the stick out of the water and remove the remaining film, which wraps very well around a wooden skewer. In this way, we will sufficiently clean the red caviar from the film.

Now line the colander with gauze, folded in half, and place the caviar on it. And let the liquid drain.
Next, we will move the caviar in a colander over dry gauze. Small particles of film and crushed eggs will stick to the fabric.

Preparing salt marinade - brine

For brine we need water, salt and sugar. How much water should I take? I take enough so that it completely covers the caviar, that is, approximately twice the volume of the caviar.

How much salt and sugar? For a glass of water - 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar. This is “according to science”. A popular way to determine the correct salt concentration is also quite popular: place a fresh egg in the amount of water that will be used to prepare the solution. And start adding salt. As soon as the egg floats to the surface, stop - there is enough salt for red caviar.

So, let's prepare the marinade. Pour salt and sugar into the water and boil. Then we cool the water a little, because we don’t need boiling water, but so that it’s “enough for your finger.”

Salting red caviar

Pour brine over the caviar and leave... For how long? I leave it for about 20 minutes, because I need the caviar to stand in the refrigerator for 2-3 days (more is still not possible). If you plan to serve it to the table right away, 7 minutes is enough.

Place the caviar on cheesecloth and let dry. It can dry up to 2 hours. Then transfer to sterilized jars greased with olive oil. And put it in the refrigerator.
Caviar is ready to eat in 3 hours.

Recipe for salting red caviar yourself at home

If, when purchasing ungutted salmon, you received a caviar female, then this is a great opportunity to prepare red caviar yourself. In this case, you can get, in addition to the fish itself, a tasty, delicacy product.

To salt salmon caviar in small quantities, no special equipment is needed.

Home-salted red caviar will differ from the factory product only in the preparation procedure. At fish processing plants, salmon caviar is first punched directly in the eggs through special screens and then placed in brine. In addition, homemade red caviar contains only salt. It does not contain any preservatives, which are necessarily present in factory-salted caviar.

To salt salmon caviar yourself, you need:

• 2-3 spawned female salmon, such as pink salmon or chum salmon
• 500 ml water
• 80 g salt
• 1 tbsp. refined vegetable oil

How to prepare red caviar at home

If the fish was purchased frozen, then it must be given time to thaw. There is no need to wait for complete thawing; it is enough for the fish to melt by half.

Using a sharp knife, cut the belly of the fish. Carefully remove the eggs with caviar.

Yastyki- These are transparent film bags containing salmon caviar.

Heat water to boiling temperature. Put salt in it. It should completely dissolve in boiling water.

Pour this boiling solution over the caviar without removing the ovaries. Leave the caviar in the brine for 5 minutes. Gently mix the contents and leave for another 3 - 4 minutes.

Carefully place the eggs on a wooden cutting board, and use a teaspoon to remove the eggs from the film.

Imitated caviar is a high-quality fake of natural caviar. The product is harmless if it does not contain synthetic dyes. Artificial caviar is attractive not only in appearance, but also because of its low cost. There is still a myth that the product is made from petroleum. But this is absolutely not true.

Synthetic caviar: history of appearance

Even during the Soviet Union, real caviar was very expensive. As a result, dissatisfaction began to grow among people who were unable to purchase the delicacy. And scientists began to work on creating an imitation of caviar. The first batches were made from real protein. The ingredients included food additives, chicken eggs and vegetable oil.

But such artificial caviar was rather tasteless and looked very vaguely like the real thing. Over time, new manufacturing technologies appeared. The method of creating caviar using gelatin began to be used. In addition to this, such recipes contain milk, algae extracts, protein supplements, etc. This technology is called “protein technology” and is currently considered outdated.

There are other manufacturing methods that do not contain protein substances or only in small quantities. In any case, the final product came to be called imitated by copying the appearance of the natural one.

What is artificial caviar made from?

What is imitation red caviar made from? Formulations in which the protein component was used have long since become a thing of the past. Thanks to her, the eggs acquired the necessary density. Modern product compositions contain gelling agents. Extracts of brown and red algae and agar are used as thickeners. They not only allow you to achieve a consistency similar to real caviar, but also reduce the calorie content of the product.

Red and black caviar gets its color from natural dyes. These are paprika and vegetable charcoal. But sometimes artificial colors are used. The constant ingredients in imitation caviar are fish meat, broth and fat. Thanks to them, the necessary taste and aroma appear.

How is artificial caviar made?

Imitated red and black caviar is produced using different technologies:

1. Protein method. First, a special mixture was prepared, which included egg white, culinary dressing and dye. Then a drop of such a mass fell into a heated water-oil emulsion or vegetable oil. The protein coagulated and a ball was formed that looked like an egg. It had a dense structure. The product could be given any color and taste. To increase shelf life, such simulated caviar was pasteurized.
2. Gelatin method. This method allows you to obtain simulated caviar from various protein fillers: milk, soy, etc. They are mixed with gelatin, and the resulting mixture is heated. Then it is injected into vegetable oil at a temperature of 5 to 15 degrees. Caviar is produced in special column-shaped installations. The taste of the product is imparted by chopped herring.
3. Method using seaweed. This method differs from the two protein methods described above. Until recently, it was considered the most promising, but more convenient and modern technologies have already appeared.

Types and appearance

Imitated caviar is available for sale in many types. They differ in the raw materials used, recipes and manufacturing method.

Protein caviar is obtained on the basis of gelatin and is a ball containing homogeneous contents. This is a white or beige kernel with a dark colored shell. It is fragile and allows moisture to pass into the core and back. Because of this, the eggs do not have a stable structure.

This product differs from other types in its good taste, color and composition and is most suitable for sturgeon caviar. The plastic structure allows you to imitate lopanetz and crushed balls, producing an effect that bursts in your mouth.

Artificial caviar, which is produced using modern technologies, is very similar to natural caviar from fish of different breeds. The appearance and taste of the product are as close to natural as possible.

Benefits and harms

Imitated caviar has long been in great demand. The benefits and harms of this product are as follows:

1. Gelling agents reduce the calorie content of the product, but at the same time increase its satiety due to swelling granules. For those who are on a diet, this is a good option. However, there is also the opposite side. Imitated caviar contains a lot of salt, so the body can be disrupted. This leads to swelling and difficulties in removing waste and toxins.
2. Fatty acid and Omega-3 are beneficial. These components help maintain the body's youth, strengthen the immune system and force cells to fight cancer. This increases the beneficial properties of the product.
3. The controversial components of artificial caviar are lactic and citric acids. Most often they do not cause allergies, but itching, irritation and rashes may still occur in some consumers. The most active of the acids is lactic. Its excess can lead to disruption of the nervous system and deterioration of muscle activity.

How to distinguish between real and artificial caviar?

How to distinguish natural caviar from artificial? There are several ways. The simplest one is in terms of taste. The imitation one is always saltier and gives off flavors. When natural caviar granules burst, they leave moisture and a salty taste on the tongue. There will also be a faint fishy smell.

You can distinguish natural caviar from simulated caviar using boiling water. Hot liquid is poured into a glass. Several eggs drop into it. Real caviar will not dissolve, but will only turn pale.

High-quality analogues of real caviar

Imitated sturgeon caviar is produced using new technology. As a result, the finished product has improved taste. The color has become closer to natural sturgeon caviar. The structure of the simulated product has acquired plasticity. This allows you to feel the eggs bursting in your mouth. Only a natural product has this effect.

New types of caviar are produced in pressed or granular form. This was impossible to do using previous technologies. The composition of the new type of simulated caviar partially includes hydrobionts, real caviar and sturgeon meat. The product is manufactured on special equipment. As a result, artificial caviar acquires many shades that are characteristic only of natural sturgeon.

Choice

Imitated red caviar can be colored not with natural dyes, but with synthetic ones. The composition must be indicated on each product package. It notes which baptisms were used in production.

Caviar with butter cream is in great demand. But all supplements are made from chemicals. The “buttercream” in caviar is made from water, flavorings, fats and flavor enhancers. All these components are harmful to the body. When choosing caviar, it is best to purchase homogeneous caviar.

When purchasing, consumers often try to take the product in a glass container. But caviar is also perfectly stored in polyethylene. Therefore, there is simply an overpayment for packaging. But you need to pay attention that there are no voids or liquid under the film. Artificial caviar should not be hard, but simply dense.

Storage

The product should only be stored in the refrigerator. Expiration dates are always written on the packages. But artificial caviar in an open container can be stored even in the refrigerator for no more than twelve hours.

Is it possible to make caviar yourself?

Imitated caviar can be prepared even at home. To do this you will need:

• gelatin (it can be replaced with semolina in the amount of 200 g);
• 500 g salted herring (can be replaced with other fish);
• 200 ml tomato juice;
• 200 ml sunflower oil;
• 4 onions.

Cooking method

Mix tomato juice and oil in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then semolina is added there. To avoid the appearance of lumps, the cereal is constantly stirred. The mixture is boiled for 7 minutes, then removed from the heat and cooled. At this time, the fish is cleaned and ground through a meat grinder (without bones). The peel is removed from the onion. Then the heads are also passed through a meat grinder.

The result is minced fish, which is thoroughly mixed. The mass is added to the cooled semolina mixture. Everything is thoroughly mixed and infused for 15 minutes. The mass is then passed through a granulator. The result is a lot of small eggs, which are painted in the desired color using natural dyes.

Every true fisherman must be able not only to catch fish, dry it and dry it, but and salt the caviar yourself. After all, properly salted fish roe is a real delicacy. In addition, homemade caviar is very healthy due to its naturalness and high nutrient content.

In this article we will talk about the technology for salting fish roe at home and provide several detailed recipes that will help you prepare an amazingly tasty appetizer.

How to properly remove caviar from fish

You can use caviar for salting only if the fish is sufficiently fresh. To remove the caviar, you need to act very carefully and accurately. First we cut the belly of the fish. Then, with our fingers, we pick up the elongated shell bags with caviar and slowly separate them from the cavity of the fish.

It is very important to remove the caviar in one piece, since if handled carelessly, the caviar may get bitter bile. Oysters are separate egg parts covered with a thin film, the internal filling of which plays a binding role for the eggs.

Preparing caviar for salting

Caviar, rudd, etc. are ideal for salting. To prepare a snack we need at least 150 grams of caviar.

The main preparatory stage is the release of eggs from film. This procedure is called "punching". Since we are working with a small amount of caviar, for these purposes you can use a colander, a sieve or a vegetable grater with non-sharp hole edges.

The larger the eggs, the larger the holes in the dish should be so that the eggs can pass through them freely. But the process of caviar cleansing is much faster if we use a colander.

Having selected the necessary utensils, we begin slowly and carefully wipe the caviar, having previously cut the film with a knife. If the total weight of the caviar is more than 2 kg, then it is better to peel it on a kitchen board using a knife (the back of it).

Recipes for salting caviar - preface

Recipe No. 1

First we need to prepare the brine. Rapa is a special salt solution for washing fish eggs.

• The proportions of standard brine are 100 g of salt per 1 liter of water. Bring the solution to a boil and pour the caviar into it while hot.
• Stir the caviar with a fork for about 3 minutes so that the hot solution covers all the eggs. Then we drain the brine and prepare a new one to repeat the procedure.
• A total of 3 fills are required. The first two times the water turns out cloudy, but the third time it should be more transparent and clean.

Then you need to free the caviar from excess moisture. To do this, put it on a sieve and wait 10-15 minutes until all the water has drained.

If there is no sieve, the caviar can be spread on a flat surface in an even layer of 3-4 cm and placed for a while at a slight slope. This method will help the water drain no worse than through a sieve.

After this, take a glass jar with a volume of approximately 1 liter and pour 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil into its bottom. Pour caviar on top, but not to the top, but approximately 75% banks.

Add a full teaspoon of salt and mix well with a fork. Then fill the rest of the jar with caviar and pour sunflower oil on top - about 5 mm layer. We close it all with a plastic lid and let it stand in the refrigerator for several hours, but it’s better to leave all night.

In the morning you can already enjoy sandwiches with delicious crumbly caviar of light amber color. The appetizer tastes lightly salted and does not smell of fish at all.

Total cooking time is only about 30 minutes. If, when preparing caviar in this way, you sterilize all utensils (jars, sieve, lid, fork, spoon), then unopened caviar can be stored in the refrigerator for a very long time - more than 1 month.

Recipe No. 2

To pickle caviar according to this recipe we will need enamel pan. Pour water into it - the volume is approximately three times greater than the volume of existing caviar. Add salt to the water (as for boiling eggs) and bring the saline solution to a boil. Add various spices and herbs to boiling water to taste: bay leaf, ground black pepper, black peppercorns.

Then remove the water from the heat and pour the prepared caviar into it. Cover the pan tightly with a lid and leave to steep for 15 minutes, no more. Strain the caviar through cheesecloth, allowing the water to drain completely. After the caviar has cooled, it is ready to eat. Storage in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0 -5 C is possible within a month.

Recipe No. 3

This method of salting caviar is significantly different from others. This kind of caviar is usually called “ pressed caviar». For salting, caviar is stored in presses, that is, in the bags in which it was originally located. Even torn and damaged bags will do. You can also salt a mixture of caviar from different river fish in one bowl.

Salting is done by placing the caviar in a bowl in layers and covering them with a large amount of salt. Each layer must be separated by a spacer made of hard material. After salting, the caviar is washed and dried. The result should be oblong rectangles of a dark color. Even if we see a recipe for making pressed caviar for the first time, we are already familiar with it and tried it more than once. After all, such caviar can be in any dried fish.

Recipe No. 4

This recipe features a special method of cleaning and washing the caviar. For 2 kg. you will need caviar:

• water;
• salt;
• colander;
• several deep cups;
• gauze;
• large saucepan.

Bring 5-8 liters of water to a boil and pour it over the caviar, previously placed in a deep cup. Try to get boiling water onto all the bags of caviar. Under the influence of hot water, the film moves away from the caviar and curls up. In this way, we will be able to quickly and efficiently release the eggs from the shell.

It is important to pour the caviar quickly so that the water does not cool down. You can also clean the caviar from the film using a meat grinder– when scrolling, the entire film remains on the knife.

Next, we get rid of small film residues. Pour plenty of cold water over the caviar and mix it thoroughly so that each caviar is thoroughly washed. We carry out the washing procedure 10-15 times, changing the water all the time until it becomes transparent.

Particular attention should be paid to the color of the caviar - it should be brick or bright orange. If it is dirty yellowish, it means that steaming was not enough and additional heat treatment is necessary. In this case, pour boiling water over the caviar again.

After thorough washing, making sure that the caviar is clean enough, transfer it to dry gauze and tie it in a knot. To ensure complete drainage of water and easy drying, the unit can be hung.

Next, your actions depend on how long you want to store the caviar. If you eat it for 1-2 weeks, then in 400-500 g of caviar it is enough to add a large pinch of salt and mix well. After it has stood in the refrigerator for 1 day, it can be eaten.

For longer storage, the caviar bundle is soaked in brine. The brine is prepared from cold boiled water to which salt is added (5-6 liters of water are enough for 1.5 kg of caviar and 7-8 tbsp. spoons of salt).

A gauze knot with caviar is dipped into this brine and kept there within 15 minutes. Then, to prevent the formation of salt, the caviar is washed once in a colander with cold water. After all the water has drained, the caviar is transferred to glass jars, closed with a lid and put in a cold place for storage. Caviar salted in this way can be stored for 1-2 months.

In preparation for this issue, I made a video recipe with caviar and at home, received by inheritance. It is interesting to note that this recipe combines the features of several of the above-mentioned recipes and has its own individual secrets. I highly recommend watching it.

• The fattier the fish, the tastier and healthier its caviar.
• It is better to use fine salt for pickling " Extra».
• Mostly for pickling spring caviar is coming. It is larger, tastier and can be stored for a very long time.
• Do not use metal utensils. The utensils for preparing caviar should be glass, porcelain, wood or clay.
• It is possible to salt even frozen caviar. For example, trout caviar, which is sold frozen.
• To determine the readiness of the salt brine, you can use raw peeled potatoes. Place the potatoes in the water and gradually add salt, stirring. As soon as the potatoes float to the surface, the brine is ready.

Conclusion

So, now you can salt the caviar of any river fish yourself, making it the main dish of your table. All that remains is to stock up on 2-3 loaves of fresh bread and butter, since such a tasty snack is eaten very quickly. Both adults and children love her. Especially if the caviar is seasoned with finely chopped onions, spices and vegetable oil.