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In an effort to take you on a trip down memory lane, I present to you; selyodka. Don’t laugh. I feel brave posting this. Are you a selyodka lover??
My husband went fishing with my parents this week and brought home the limit of large, beautiful trout. We baked some, smoked a bunch, made silodka, gave some away, and froze the rest. If you’ve never tried this, you’re missing out. I guess you could compare it to Italian anchovies.
If this is new to you, just be aware that your family might look at you like you’re crazy. Politely tell them “it is colturrol egsperrience”(in your best Russian accent; rolling your r’s of course), and calmly continue eating your fish. I can just see you now. Ha ha.
I do like silodka particularly with some fresh homemade bread. It’s strangely good and really easy to make.
Ingredients for selyodka:
2-4 lbs trout, herring, or salmon (we used trout here), gutted, washed (no need to de-scale)
2 medium onions, sliced
1 cup grape seed oil or canola oil
For the Marinade:
4 cups water
1 cup salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp coriander
1 Tbsp pepper corns
5-7 bay leaves
How to Make Selyodka:
1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil, then remove from heat. Add the rest of the marinade ingredients (1 cup salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp coriander, 1 Tbsp pepper corns and 5-7 bay leaves). Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar, then cool to room temp (set it outside if it’s cold).
2. Slice trout into 1-inch steaks, you can cut your steaks in half if you wish. Discard heads and tails. Place fish in a large bowl.
Pour marinade over the fish steaks, weigh it down with a plate to make sure fish is submerged in the brine, then cover and refrigerate (or put in the garage if it’s very cold out) for 12-14 hours. (We let it marinate in the fridge for 12 hours).
3. Remove fish steaks from the marinade and place them in a jar, stacking them tightly with layers of onion in between. Pour in enough oil to fill the spaces and cover the fish. The oil will keep it moist and presentable. Keep refrigerated.
So, do you eat selyodka?
Selyodka Recipe (European Pickled Fish)
Ingredients
- 2-4 lbs trout, herring or salmon (we used trout this time) gutted, washed (no need to de-scale)
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 1 cup grape seed oil or canola oil
- For the Marinade:
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp coriander
- 1 Tbsp pepper corns
- 5-7 bay leaves
Instructions
- Bring 4 cups water to a boil, then remove from heat. Add the rest of the marinade ingredients (1 cup salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp coriander, 1 Tbsp pepper corns and 5-7 bay leaves). Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar, then cool to room temp (set it outside if it's cold).
- Slice fish into 1-inch steaks (discard heads and tails) you can cut your steaks in half if you wish. Place fish in a large bowl. Pour marinade over the fish steaks, weigh it down with a plate to make sure fish is submerged in the brine, then cover and refrigerate (or put in the garage if it's very cold out) for 12-14 hours. (We let it marinate in the fridge for 12 hours).
- Remove fish steaks from the marinade and place them in a jar, stacking them tightly with layers of onion in between. Pour in enough oil to fill the spaces and cover the fish. The oil will keep it moist and presentable. Keep refrigerated.
This is a long awaited recipe for me.I have lived in Kharkov Ukraine for 7 years and haven’t tasted it in 5 years.Really miss those zafkousky.Going to the market to buy fresh fish….i am in pondicherry so going to try it with mackerel.Thanks a lot,really appreciate.
I hope you love it! Let me know how it goes with the mackerel! I’m curious. I wish we could get fresher fish in the market in Idaho. You have to catch your own here for it to be truly fresh 🙂
🙂 good recipe!
Actually I was looking if you have a recipe of salted or cured salmon in your blog and found this one. I might give it a try!
Have you ever made cured salmon? It is so addictive. Can I share my recipe? I take a very fresh salmon filet with no skin. Make a mix of sea salt and sugar 1:1, plus some black pepper. In a container, cover the filet with the dry mix from all sides, put the lid on and refrigerate. Usually in 10 hours my fish is perfectly salted and ready to eat. Wipe the salt, or rinse it. Dry the fish very well, wrap it in a plastic film and keep it refrigerated. Smaller pieces will need less than 10 hours. There will be some juice from fish in the container, it is ok. It doesn’t matter how much salmon I make this way, it is always gone in 24 hours.
Thank you so much for sharing! I actually don’t have a recipe for that! Do you skin the salmon before you start the process?
Yes. Or just buy with no skin. You should try this recipe! And if you like fresh dill, you can add it to the mixture too.
Thank you so much! Where have you found the best/freshest salmon? Or do you catch yours; that’s definitely something I miss about living in Seattle 🙂
Whole foods. Or any other grocery store. I ask for the freshest and trust them :-). You can use frozen salmon too, but it has to be defrost the right way.
I insist you should try this recipe! 🙂
Thank you! We recently got a Whole Foods in Boise!
Hi Natasha, thank you for your wonderful and helpful recipes, I’m your biggest fan! I just a have a question about this particular recipe, can’t wait to try it but my concern is that it will to be sweet due to the fact that I have to put 1/2 cup sugar. Please let me know if it will be sweet and if yes can I exclude the sugar from the recipe. Thank you!
I didn’t think it was sweet at all. The salt counter balances it really well. 🙂
Hi Natasha, I love your site and to see a recipe for selyodka, just takes me back… You mentioned that you guys make smoked fish. Do you care sharing the recipe with us? Thanks.
My parents smoke fish all the time but I hesitate to post a smoked fish recipe because it requires a smoker and not many people have one, or maybe that’s the wrong assumption? I dunno???
I think what matters is how you prepare the fish before you smoke it and then which wood is used to smoke the fish is important too.. But it is ok if you want to keep it a secret.. Thank you for your reply
Hi , Natasha , i think it’s to much salt -1cup! Is this a mistake ?
It really is 1 cup salt. It’s just right for the amount of water and this selyodka is not overly salty at all. It’s mildly salty. 🙂
To my knowledge most brine solutions for this fish are made with vinegar. Is there a reason why this brine solution has no vinegar?
You’re right, this recipe does not call for vinegar. The salt and sugar do the job 🙂 I haven’t tried adding vinegar to this particular recipe.
I have tried all these recipes and let me say as an Englishman they are all superb efforts.I love Russian food.
Your comment is music to my ears, thank you :).
Hello! Quick question: did you use grape seed oil or canola oil when you were filling the fish in the cans?
I used grape seed oil for this recipe, but my mom uses canola oil :).
Natasha- we make this with herring and call them oseledsty. I think this is the same thing, from western Ukraine immigrants.
Sound like the same thing but a different name 😉
Hi Natasha!
Just a quick question: would red onions be okay to use when stacking the fish? (I’m using salmon that my hubby caught a few days ago. It’s actually marinating as we speak:) ). Thanks for the response & for this recipe. Can’t wait to eat this fish with mashed potatoes!!!
Red onions should be fine. Traditionally it is made with yellow onion, but it shouldn’t make a difference 😉
Hi natasha! First of all I want to say I love your recipes! Thank you for sharing.. and I has wondering since I have never jard anything, so when I put this in the jar .fo I have to do anything special to it so it keeps safe for a couple weeks? I’m sure it will be gone way before that though..
Thanks
You do have to keep this refrigerated to keep it safe for a couple weeks. 🙂 enjoy!!
This looks fantastic! But did you know that селедка is an actual fish that you can pickle if you chose to:) Селедка is herring.
Yeah and funny enough I’ve never pickled herring myself, just the fresh trout or salmon that we’ve caught. 😉
Hi Natasha,
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I went to the store and they told me that they will get trout for me for this Tuesday. My husband has been bothering me to ask you for the smoked trout recipe ( the picture you posted). Can you please share it on your site so I could finally make it for him. As soon as he saw the picture of the smoked trout he wanted it.
You have to have a special smoker (my parents built theirs) and I’m not sure that a store-bought smoker will work well. Has anyone else tried to smoke fish in a store-bought smoker?
All together fish is my weakness but this made drooooool.. I wish we were neighbors 🙂
I’d give ya some!! 🙂
This looks yummy to me! Я американка…..but my 14-year-old Russian born son says it makes him want to puke! I think this makes him glad he was adopted! haha! Of course, he also hates cabbage and beets! 🙂
I forgot to say…..I hope to try this sometime. I came to your blog on the advice of a friend, looking for Russian foods to give my Russian-born children to try. My other Russian son is more adventuresome and wants to try Selyodka. Thanks for posting it.
Welcome to the blog and I hope you find new favorites (hopefully ones that all the children will love!) 🙂
ha ha (lol). He just doesn’t understand what he’s missing out on! 🙂 It’s not more unusual than sushi.
Natasha, first of all, the trout looks gorgeous! I know you always have lot of fishing stories, and I think I read on your site that your family like to fish – so, did you catch this beautiful trout yourself, too? I never actually thought of making seledka myself, but now, seeing how easy it is, I am tempted to try. 🙂
My husband caught these with my parents. They went again yesterday and caught the limit again. We’ll be all stocked up with smoked frozen salmon for winter 🙂
Can you freeze the type smoked salmon that you post in picture before?
You can freeze smoked fish. My parents freeze their smoked trout and it works really well. It tastes exactly the same when it’s thawed.
Seeing selyodka, reminds me of my grandma 🙁 she loved fish in any shape or form and would make it for us kids with mashed potatoes.
I just had selyodka with sweet onion and baked potatoes the other day, I think it is my most favorite comfort food.
Love the background color on the last picture 🙂 and I see you got a new favicon 😉 I like it 😀
Thank you! You’re the first person to notice! I didn’t have a favicon before. Can you believe it? I’m pretty excited about it too. Props to my husbands computer skills 🙂
This recipe is absolutely Russian to the core and I love it:). Selyodka is such a classic and especially delicious when it’s homemade.
It felt like a bold recipe to post, but how could I not? 😉
I love selyodka!!! Growing up, we always had selyodka in our family 🙂
My husband is going fishing again tomorrow… more selyodka :).
Oh my… I check this website religiously because you always have such gems! I can’t wait to try this recipe! You bring back Turkmenistan for me, in a good way!
Are the foods very similar? Russian/Ukrainian and Turkmenistan? Are there any awesome dishes that you’d recommend I try from the Turkmenistan cuisine?
Actually, the Turkmen adopted a lot of food from Russia and Ukraine. One of my host families was actually Tatar so their food was REALLY similar to what I see on your blog. Turkmen food is famous for manty and polow, but taze borek isn’t bad either. My favorite was a yogurt and rice soup that I ate a lot. There’s actually a really fantastic Turkmen food blog that you can find here: http://www.turkmenkitchen.com/en/meat-stuffed-flatbread/
You’ll notice that not a lot of spices are used. Turkmen like simple food! But a lot of it is simply good!
this recipe here though was my least favorite. Oh, I hated slaughter days because it meant we got all the organs at once cooked this way!
http://www.turkmenkitchen.com/en/gowurdak/
Slaughter days? ewe. That does sound unpleasant! lol
I haven’t seen that blog before, but yes it does look very similar to Russian/Ukrainian cuisine. I’m looking forward to exploring it more! Thank you!