Salted dried fish

Salted dried fish made from Chinese herring has a unique flavor and is very popular among the people. In today's era of strong freezing capacity, some coastal areas still process salted products. The methods of processing salted dried fish vary from place to place. Zhejiang's Sanbao xiang, Fujian's enzyme-flavored xiang, and Shandong's salted dried xiang all enjoy high reputations. Their processing methods are introduced separately as follows:

1. Sanbao xiang: Chinese herring xiang that has been salted three times is called Sanbao xiang in the Zhoushan area. This is a relatively traditional processing method.

(1) Raw material handling: Select Chinese herring with good freshness, and use a thin bamboo stick about 40 cm long to pierce one by one from the gill opening into the abdominal cavity all the way to the anus, so that salt can easily penetrate into the body during salting.

(2) First salting: First mix and salt the fresh fish with 10% salt and pile them on the floor. Prevent direct sunlight and rain. After salting for about 20 hours, the blood water in the fish body is basically discharged. At this time, the Chinese herring is called first-salted Chinese herring xiang.

(3) Second salting: After the first salting, sprinkle salt on the Chinese herring xiang and stuff the belly. When sprinkling salt, not only must the entire surface of the fish body be covered with salt, but salt must also be stuffed along the hole pierced through the abdominal cavity with a bamboo stick. After filling it full of salt with the bamboo stick, place the fish belly slanting upward and stack them layer by layer in order in a barrel (vat). For each layer stacked, sprinkle a layer of separating salt. The total amount of salt used is about 22%. After the fish bodies are put into the barrel, pressure stones should be added immediately. The weight of the pressure stones is about 40% of the fish weight. After 3-4 days of salting, it becomes second-salted Chinese herring xiang.

(4) Third salting: After the second salting, take the Chinese herring out of the barrel and carry out the third salting, with a salt amount of 23%. Salt them into the barrel layer of fish, layer of salt, with slight pressure added on the upper layer, about 15% of the fish weight. After about 4 months of salting, a fragrant smell will be released, and a layer of oil droplets will float on the upper layer of the brine. At this point it has become third-salted Chinese herring xiang. After being taken out of the barrel, it can be packaged in fixed quantities.