How to smoke balyk at home. How to smoke balyk yourself, traditional recipes. Classic recipe for fish

Hello dear colleagues in the disease!
I want to share the recipe and technology for making raw smoked balyk and at the same time try out the experimental format for presenting the recipe proposed by Zeus to test interest in microblogs. Let's salt, ripen and smoke together! But for a long time, a whole month

As a result, the product will look something like this:

The first and very important thing is the choice of meat. In my city there are several fairly large markets, supermarkets and small butcher shops. The market disappears because the quality is extremely unstable, resellers buy pigs in villages from different owners, certificates have been purchased, this is dangerous for the cheese producer. In supermarkets, the quality is stable but poor, the meat is pumped up like bodybuilders. Thank God we have a small chain of grocery stores, boutiques as they say, that sell their own pigs, the quality and freshness are quite acceptable. The cutting is a little lame, but oh well, the best available.
I take two pieces. Please note - there are pieces on the side of the neck, they are much more interesting and varied in cross-section than the usual one, the second one on the other side is the same. Usually sellers try not to show them and are surprised at my choice.

I don’t touch the films, fat and side parts. I'm just trimming the edges.

We weigh it - 2860 grams.
For salting you will need per kg.
Nitrite salt 28 grams (to my taste, it will be slightly salty)
Crystallut sugar mixture - 10 grams.
Peeled garlic, chopped with a knife, Bay leaf, juniper 1-2 pieces, ground ginger on the tip of a knife.

Antioxidant - sodium isoascorbate - 0.5 grams per kg.
Someone will say the bastard is using chemicals, poisoning himself and his family. But I will say - no, this additive helps preserve the color of the meat, prevents the formation of carcinogens, objectively the meat is more beautiful and tastier. The additive is allowed in our countries and even in the EU and the USA. Sooner or later it will appear in Pavel’s assortment and will be like with phosphates.

Further worse is the preservative - potassium sorbate - 1 gram per kg. This is half the application rate. Well, I don’t like growing mushrooms and unknown animals on the products that I will eat. On my scales there is an unproven harm of this preservative and the risks of eating some mycotoxins or something even more interesting. Sock smells, bacterial mucus...get rid of them! The meat should smell like meat and spices. Moreover, the appearance of mold on this product is unacceptable. In my opinion, the additive will not hurt in the assortment of sausages. The choice is yours, I’m not imposing it, I just ask you not to ask how and how to wash off the mold.

Mix all the ingredients and sprinkle the meat in any suitable container (not aluminum) or in a bag.

Now you need to wait a couple of hours until the meat releases juice and dissolves the salt and the rest of the disgrace. Stir and salt according to the usual scheme. I keep the night room temperature and then I put it in the refrigerator for 10 days, no less. I turn it over from time to time as I remember.

I'll continue to pickle

I'll continue
Five days of salting have passed. The meat released its juice and slowly began to soften.

I don’t drain the juice, it’s a concentrate of flavor, and later almost all of it is absorbed into the meat.
The smell is amazing! Garlic, bay leaf and juniper are an excellent bouquet!
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That's it! Salting is complete!
Let's move on to maturation
After refrigeration, the meat was a little slimy and became much softer. Almost all the liquid was absorbed along with the extractives.
The aroma is great!

I rinse off all the spices under cool water, since most coarsely ground spices are not difficult to do.

After salting, a pattern began to appear. I really like this breed of pig; it has veins of lard in this longissimus muscle; meat from the supermarket does not have this; for me this is a sign of a more or less normal growth rate of the pig.

I prepare the nets and dress the meat in them.

After this, you need to roll it and lightly beat it with your fist, so it will take on the correct shape and soften further.

I wipe it with napkins and send it to the cell.

It is not ready for smoking, not tomorrow or the next day. Even when the crust dries, it’s still too early to smoke. It must ripen, this will take at least two weeks, the meat will become dense, the humidity will drop, and the surface will become dry. If you hurry with smoking, you are guaranteed to end up with a product of mediocre quality, where instead of the aroma of smoke in a bouquet with the taste of meat and spices, you will have to savor the sourness, which is mild at best. It's not only not tasty, but also unhealthy. No drying in the smokehouse during the process! At most, this is a very short-term sanitary and then in a week not earlier.
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Time flies!
Tomorrow I'm going to the village to visit the smokehouse.
This is how the balyki are now ironed.

They have become noticeably denser, the color pleases. No hardening crust appears, ripened perfectly.

The preservative worked great, there is not even a hint of mold. Smells like spices and a little whey.
I'm satisfied, I can start smoking.
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Got to the smokehouse!
I have it homemade, nothing special, but it works well. Since this smokehouse is not entirely intended for cold smoking, it is necessary to make adjustments to literary ideas. Everywhere they write cold smoking for up to 7 hours, I, like many others, did this for the first time, it was unrealistic to eat the finished product. For such long smoking periods it is necessary to have special equipment, there the product is fumigated with weak, low-concentration smoke. In my smokehouse, like many others, the smoke is highly concentrated and does not leave the chamber so quickly, which means that the time must be reduced and the product must be carefully prepared before smoking.

The essence of the smoking process is the deposition of smoking substances on the surface of the product. Scientists have counted more than three hundred compounds in smoke; it is not possible to understand them; you just need to create conditions for the deposition of the necessary substances. The product must be dry, otherwise the acids will settle and that same sourness will appear, which I consider a defect. I place the balyk in the smokehouse, turn on the convector and heating element at the lowest power of 20C, for three hours during this time the crust becomes completely dry and the temperature of the meat rises, moving away from the dew point. Since most of the necessary smoke components are perfectly deposited on the fat, I lightly lubricate the surface of the meat with refined sunflower oil, this will create additional protection against acid, improve the color and aroma of the product, the oil will then be absorbed or dry out as never before.

Scientists and doctors unanimously speak about the presence of carcinogenic substances in smoke, I don’t argue with them, but I can’t refuse it, so I try to reduce the harm by controlling the burning temperature of the wood chips and reducing the smoking time - the aroma is obtained and that’s all. I’ve been regulating the combustion temperature for a long time, now I know approximately what the inflation should be for a wood chip combustion temperature of no more than 300C
I won’t tell you how long to smoke, I don’t know, it depends on many factors. I don’t even understand why they write about this in the recipes, for some people it will be smoked in an hour and for others it won’t even take five, it all depends on the equipment, I only burned two glasses of wood chips. One rule - IT'S BETTER TO UNDERSMOKE THAN OVERSMOKE. My balyk doesn’t look smoked yet, it’s a deceptive feeling, the color will appear later and you won’t be able to get excess smoke out of it.

But it is not ready yet, now you need to wait until the smoking substances penetrate into the thickness of the meat, some kind of reaction occurs, the moisture content of the product drops and the smell from a sharp smoky one becomes the aroma of smoking. This will take at least two weeks, at least a day to ventilate and eat. We need a delicacy, we will wait, wait again...otherwise good product I don’t get it, I send it back to the cell.
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It's only been four days, see how the color appears.

On the left as it was and on the right as it is now, the process will continue.
The smell changes and becomes pleasant, delicately smoked.

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OK it's all over Now! The wait is over!

I'll take a knife, I'll kill you now

Well, what can I say? It was worth it!
The smell completely transformed from smoky into a real smoked aroma, the light smoke mixed together with the smell of ripened dried meat and spices, wonderful! Three quarters of the sensations have already been received, now the taste is slightly salty, full-bodied, rich, multifaceted. When chewed, the center melts in the mouth and the fat and veins prolong the pleasure; they are soft and chew very easily. There is not a hint of sourness, everything turned out great for my taste! You could keep it in the chamber for a while longer, then it would become drier, but I like it this way

Thank you for your patience! I hope it was interesting and useful, I tried to show everything in as much detail as possible. This technology and principles are quite suitable for other products.
Photos from previous episodes.

Alexei.

Smoked pork balyk has long been considered a festive dish. Tasty, aromatic meat with a golden brown crust has a lot of fans. You can prepare this delicacy yourself. The meat will turn out no worse than on supermarket shelves. Moreover, in home cooking you will use only natural products. Therefore, in addition to taste qualities, it will also work healthy dish. Below is a recipe for smoked balyk in a hot smokehouse.

Composition and calorie content of smoked balyk

The composition of pork balyk is rich in many useful substances. Vitamins E and group B are found in meat in large quantities. Mineral composition of the product: iron, zinc, iodine, fluorine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and other vital components.

Pork balyk is very nutritious, filling, high in protein and fat. In cooking it is used as a snack, for making salads, canapés and sandwiches. The dish is high in calories, so it is not recommended for overweight people.

100 g of smoked balyk contains:

• Protein – 15.4 g.
• Fat – 24.9 g.

• Carbohydrates – 0.0 g.
• Calorie content -286 kcal.

Like all smoked products, balyk should not be consumed in large portions.

Preparing and marinating pork

In many ways, the taste of the future delicacy depends on the right choice meat. To prevent hot smoked balyk from becoming tough, you need to buy a cut from the back. The meat should be fresh, not weathered, and free of foreign odors.

The pork needs to be washed, the veins cut off (if any), and dried with a towel. Cut into small pieces for easy smoking. Then marinate. You can use two methods of marinating.

Dry method. For this salting, carefully rub the tenderloin with coarse salt on all sides. Place in a container, cover, and place pressure on top. Marinate for 5 days in the cold. During the curing process, juice will be released from the meat. It must be drained every day.

Wet salting. Prepare the marinade: 1 liter of water, 10 g of granulated sugar, 100 g of salt. Boil all ingredients, cool. Place the meat in brine, put it under pressure, and salt it for 5 days in a cool place. Turn the meat periodically.

After salting by any method, the tenderloin should be rinsed well with water. Then wrap the pieces with twine and hang them in a draft to dry. In the warm season, the product should be wrapped in gauze to protect it from insects. The meat should dry for 2 days.

How to hot smoke

The hot cooking procedure will take two hours. In order for the meat not to burn, not to be raw and to turn out tasty, you need to know how to make the process consistent:

• Light a fire in the grill.
• Place 3 handfuls of alder chips on the bottom of the smokehouse.
• Place a tray over the wood chips and place the pork on the grill.
• Close the smokehouse tightly with a lid and set on fire.
• Smoke over low heat for 1 hour.
• Then remove the smokehouse, take out the meat, pour out the burnt wood chips, and remove carbon deposits from the lid.
• Pour in new wood chips and place the meat back into the smokehouse.
• Repeat the smoking process for another 1 hour.

Cool the finished balyk in the fresh air for 2-3 hours. Then enjoy the taste. It is recommended to serve this dish with fresh or stewed vegetables, herbs and various sauces. Hot smoked balyk should be stored for no more than 4 days at a temperature of about +2⁰. Wrapping the meat in foil can extend the shelf life to up to a week. Bon appetit!

• 1 kg pork tenderloin;
• coarse (rock) salt – 3 tbsp. spoons with top;
• granulated sugar – 0.5 tbsp;
• freshly ground black pepper – 1 teaspoon;
• spices - to taste.

• Preparation time: 96:30
• Cooking time: 96:00
• Number of servings: 8
• Complexity: light

Preparation

We will prepare dry-cured pork balyk at home in two stages: salting the pork tenderloin and drying it.

1. Place a mixture of salt, sugar and pepper in a deep bowl, roll a piece of meat in it, then rub its surface with this mixture. Cover with a white napkin and put pressure on top to release the juice from the meat. Place in the refrigerator for 4 days. The meat needs to be turned every day. On the fifth day, remove from the refrigerator and dry thoroughly with a napkin or paper towel.
2. The prepared meat is put into the refrigerator in a container with a closed lid. On the second day, the secreted juice is drained, and the container is placed with a slight tilt to collect excess liquid. For this purpose, you can place a plastic jar lid under the bottom of the container. The accumulated liquid is removed every day by turning the piece of meat over. Remove from the refrigerator on the sixth day.
3. Next, to make pork balyk at home, you need to dry it. Rub a well-dried, salted piece of meat with a mixture of spices. Which one to choose depends on your taste, this is a completely creative stage of preparation.
   

   You can make it from ready-made “khmeli-suneli” by adding mustard seeds. Second composition: ground nutmeg, coriander seeds, paprika powder. Cumin and juniper berries, dried and crushed, are also used.

4. After the pork is well rubbed, it is wrapped tightly in several layers of gauze, tied tightly and hung in a dry, warm place. Preferably where there is air movement. After 4–5 days, the surface of the meat will harden and a small crust will form. The pork balyk is ready and can be served. Store it in the refrigerator without removing it from the gauze packaging until it is completely ripe. See how it looks cut up in the photo. The cut is evenly colored.

The most reliable and ancient way of preserving meat products is balyk, the name is inspired by the analogy with dried red fish. Pork balyk, at home, is a tasty, spicy product and an excellent cold appetizer for festive table.
The decisive point is the choice of meat cut: pork neck, sirloin or loin - the flesh of the pork from the back. There must be a small layer of fat so that the dried delicacy is not too dry. The tenderloin piece can be large in size, but not too thick. You can even cut it lengthwise and remove the veins (if any). After all, it should salt evenly.

This type of balyk can be prepared with your own hands if you have a home smokehouse or a factory-made smoke generator for cold smoking. Some craftsmen make smokehouses from metal barrels. You can replace them with the most ordinary barbecue.

This recipe for pork balyk at home also requires salting the meat first. The salting method, unlike the one described above (dry), also has a “wet” version. The brine is prepared at the rate of: per 1 liter of water, 10 g of granulated sugar and 100 g of salt. In boiled brine, the meat is kept under pressure for 5 days in a cool place, also turning every day. It is believed that wet salting will make balyk more juicy and tender. After salting, no matter how it was carried out, the meat is dried, that is, hung in a draft for 2 days. Before doing this, it must be thoroughly washed in clean water, dry, pack in gauze.

Now you can begin the smoking process, which will take no more than 2 hours. Let us describe the sequence of actions:

• light a fire in the grill;
• pour alder chips or sawdust onto the bottom of the smokehouse, 3 handfuls will be enough;
• place the meat on the grill, cover the wood chips with a tray;
• Close the smokehouse tightly with a lid and put on fire;
• after 1 hour, remove the smokehouse from the heat, replace the burnt wood chips with fresh ones, clean off the carbon deposits from the lid and put them back on the fire;
• smoke for another 1 hour;
• The product will be finally ready after 2 - 3 hours of cooling in air. It is also recommended to keep it in the refrigerator for several hours before use.

It is sometimes believed that smoked pork balyk, juicy, aromatic, with a golden brown crust, is preferable to dry-cured pork. Yes, and it cooks faster. This, as they say, is a matter of taste. But the smoked product should be stored, wrapped in foil, for no more than 4 days at a temperature no higher than +2 degrees. While the shelf life of dry-cured is much longer.

We offer you a visual understanding of how to cook pork balyk at home. The video will teach you how to prepare hot smoked balyk in a country house.
Video:

The cost of smoked products that can be found in the store depends on the type of meat: fish, chicken or pork, each with its own price range. Both sturgeon and sturgeon can be on the table as a cold appetizer. Another important parameter is the part of the cut carcass. This is especially true for pork.

Traditionally, it is believed that the most expensive type of meat is balyk. In our understanding, as in the understanding of many sellers or suppliers, balyk is a meat cut in which there are no bones, greasy streaks, or elements of fat. However, if you take a strict approach to this issue, you will find that balyk is related only to fish.

The word “balyk” comes from the Turkic language and is reliably translated as “fish”. In modern vocabulary, balyk is the name given to the dorsal part of valuable fish species. The meat, removed along the ridge, is salted and then dried. It is understood that pink salmon or chum salmon meat can be used as balyk. Prominent representatives of salmon are sockeye salmon and trout. They all have meat similar in consistency and taste. Often, an inexperienced consumer cannot even distinguish what type of fish is presented to him.

Varieties of balyk

A more inexpensive alternative available for purchase is balyk made from silver carp or catfish. Their meat has a slightly different structure, but if you cook it correctly, you will get a product that tastes and useful qualities not inferior to red fish.

Lovers fishing also have the opportunity to pamper themselves and their family with balyk prepared at home. Pike is considered a popular trophy among them. Its meat is quite dry and fibrous, but if you follow the tips given in the recipes with pre-marination step by step, then after hot smoking the fibers will be saturated with the necessary moisture, as a result of which the meat will become tender and juicy.

It cannot be emphasized enough that sturgeon crowns our unique seafood catalogue. Due to its high cost, it is not always on sale. It is difficult to find sturgeon balyk in a provincial town. But in large cities there will always be specialized stores or hypermarkets, so residents here are a little more fortunate. However, you will have to pay a decent amount for the delicacy.

Gradually, the term “balyk” migrated from sea to land, and now even on the price tags it is written that the buyer is provided with pork balyk, although it simply cannot exist in nature. We will not focus on these subtleties and will present popular recipes for preparing balyk from various meats.

If everything is quite clear with fish, then it is still unknown which part of the pork carcass is cut from the balyk. Here again there is a difference of opinion. Initially, balyk was the name for two cuts of muscle formations that were located along the spine in the back of the carcass from the inside of the abdominal cavity. Today there is no such principled approach. The role of the balyk can be played by the loin or neck. The most important condition is the absence of layers.

Classic recipe for fish

By definition, it becomes clear that small fish will not be suitable for cooking balyk. At a minimum, it is necessary to remove the fillet from it, and this will be possible only if the carcasses have impressive dimensions. The technology for preparing smoked balyk for all types of fish remains the same. The reason for this is the similar consistency of the meat. For drier, more fibrous meats, marinating is recommended, but simple salting is considered the most natural way to prepare balyk.

• The first step is to separate the fillet. It is convenient to cut it with a sharp knife along the ridge on both sides, and then remove the rib bones.
• A mixture is prepared to which salt, red and black pepper, thyme and dill are added. The tenderloin is sprinkled with the mixture and placed in a flat container.
• If the fillet pieces turn out to be large, then oppression is placed on top.
• After a day, the balyk can be smoked, but before that you should remove the remaining salt by wiping the pieces with a napkin. Some people prefer to soak the fish. This method of removing salt is also effective, only after the procedure you will have to dry the balyk for several hours.

Spiced marinade

Most quick way salting is associated with marinating, this is soaking meat in a liquid solution of salt with the addition of spices. This solution can be made using water, white wine or vegetable oil as a base.

At home, the easiest way to prepare a marinade is with water. All additives are added to boiling water. The recipe requires maintaining the proportions of water and salt. The rest of the seasonings are taken to taste. For fish, the marinade is prepared according to the following proportions: per liter of water, take 70 grams of salt for cold smoking or 40 grams of salt for hot smoking.

After the water with spices has boiled for 5 minutes, it must be cooled. Balyk is placed in the finished marinade, and after 6 hours it will be ready. Excess moisture will have to be removed. It is enough to hang the tenderloin in a draft. After an hour, the surface of the meat will be covered with a thin film, which indicates that it is time to smoke the fish.

Cold smoking

To smoke balyk, you need to have a smokehouse on hand, in which smoke cooled to a temperature of 25°C degrees processes the product in a special box. This processing method is called cold smoking. At the same time, the structure of the meat fibers does not change significantly. The balyk turns out elastic, slightly moist with a pronounced smell of smoke and taste of fish. The product retains its calorie content and all useful elements.

Wood chips are used as material fruit trees. The process itself lasts more than a day. The exact duration cannot be given, since it depends on the size of the pieces. The finished product should not only have a golden crust. The meat will be uniform in color when cut, and moisture will no longer be released.

Raw fish has different shades of fibers, but they all resemble a glassy mass. Smoked meat acquires an opaque color, by which one can judge the degree of readiness of the balyk.

Salting meat with dry marinade

Pork balyk is prepared using a similar technology, only each stage takes much longer. This is due to the specific structure of the fibers. The salt must penetrate throughout the entire depth, otherwise the cold smoked balyk will be tough.

• First of all, you need to cut the meat so that you get layers no more than 4 cm thick. Then salt and pepper are poured onto the cutting board. The meat is not only dipped into the mixture, but also pressed into it, as if preparing dough. This will allow the salt to penetrate the fibers more effectively. The finished pieces are placed under pressure. They must be completely salted, and for this you will have to wait 3 days.
• After salting, the meat is soaked in cold water about an hour. Wet meat should not be sent to the smokehouse. It is pre-dried in a well-ventilated area. As with fish, the real preparation of balyk is determined only by the cold method. In the absence of heat treatment, the meat does not lose its structure, which means it will remain elastic. But if you salt it incorrectly, it will become tough. Many people try to avoid such troubles by hot smoking the balyk. Indeed, the effect of this will be amazing, but the taste of real freshly smoked meat will change.

Salting with liquid marinade

Choosing a recipe with a liquid marinade allows you to smoke balyk both cold and hot. In addition, a small change in the algorithm will make it possible to smoke boiled meat to obtain a boiled-smoked product. The preparation of marinade is based on dissolving salt and spices in water or oil.

Vegetable oil will be used only if it was decided to abandon the cooking procedure. For 1 kg of meat, 200 g of butter is required, a tablespoon of salt, pepper, and garlic are added to it. You can use lemon juice or vinegar, these components will break down the fibers, making the meat softer. However, they are not suitable for cold smoking, because the sour taste will remain. When hot smoking, the smell and taste of vinegar disappear.

Pieces of meat are dipped in oil and then placed in a container in the refrigerator. The meat should be turned over every 3 hours. It will be ready after a day of marinating.

The traditional way to prepare the marinade is divided into steps.

• 60 g of salt dissolves in one liter of water.
• The water is brought to a boil.
• Ingredients are added: garlic, basil, peppercorns, bay leaf.
• 20 g of sugar is added.
• Boil for 10 minutes.

The cooled marinade is poured over the meat and soaked for 2 days. Then, using napkins, excess moisture is removed, and the smoking process begins. To cook meat, you just need to lower it into boiling water. Then the boiling time will increase by 40 minutes. During this time, the meat will become soft, so you just need to smoke it, and a great-tasting dish will be ready.

Smokehouse for pork balyk

The question arises again about the true method of preparing real balyk. But since we have long moved away from strict limits, we note that both hot and cold smoking are used. Hot smoking is recommended for those who are just starting their business. It is believed that the algorithm for cooking dishes with high-temperature smoke is simpler. Wood chips are poured into the smokehouse and a container for fat is placed on top. The product itself is located on the sieves in the upper part. Meat, unlike fish, will take a little longer to smoke. Full cooking will occur after 1.5 hours from the moment the sawdust smoldered.

Cold-smoked balyk has absorbed all the delights of natural smoking, fresh meat and a harmoniously selected set of spices. However, this will require sacrificing time. To prepare balyk, you will have to smoke the meat for 7 days. Although this calculation is given with break conditions. If it is possible not to interrupt the process, the dish will be ready after 5 days of hard work.

Smoked balyk should be stored in the refrigerator. If long-term storage is planned, it is advisable to freeze the product. When refrigerated, the meat will only be suitable for consumption for the first few weeks. Subsequently, the quality of the delicacy will begin to decline sharply.