What is the difference between flounder and ruff. Dried flounder-ruff (~200 g). Biology of flounder ruff

How much does flounder-ruff fish cost (average price per 1 kg.)?

Moscow and Moscow region

The flounder-ruff fish belongs to the bottom inhabitants of the seas of the flounder family of the bony detachment. Having a flat shape, which is a hallmark of representatives of this species, the body of the fish is elongated and oval, and the eyes are located on one side, most often the right. Ruff flounder fish can change its color from light sand to almost black. At the same time, her abdomen always remains white.

This fish is widespread in the northern seas of the Arctic and there are more than one species of it. So, for example, in the North Atlantic and the Barents Sea, there are two subspecies of flounder-ruff fish: European (relatively small) and North American (larger). The second is mainly found in the waters of Newfoundland, West Greenland and Nova Scotia.

In cooking, flounder-ruff fish is considered an excellent raw material for drying and cold smoking, and therefore it is recommended to use it as table fish in the manufacture of canned food and dried products. The white meat of flounder-ruff fish, which stands out for its delicate texture and excellent taste, has a high gastronomic value and is in demand not only among gourmets, but also simply seafood lovers.

In the Northwest Atlantic, flounder-ruff fish is sometimes found with a jelly-like, watery meat, which is most often frozen and then sent to the production of canned food and molded culinary products.

Along with the typical sea flounder, there is the bondage ruff, often referred to simply as the ruff. Both fish belong to the same family and, accordingly, have much in common. But at the same time, there are signs that make up the difference between the ruff flounder and the ordinary flounder. Let's talk about them.

general information

Flounder-ruff is a marine fish, widespread in northern waters. It has subspecies that differ in their size. Individuals of the European subspecies are relatively small, while those of the North American subspecies are larger. The ruff flounder inhabits the lower zone of the continental shelf. It lives mainly at a depth of 130-350 m. The flounder-ruff is a by-catch when fishing for fish of other species.

Flounder-ruff

sea ​​flounder also can have different sizes depending on the species. It belongs, like the rest of the flounder, to bottom fish. In the waters surrounding Russia, the sea flounder is quite common. The season for its extraction lasts from about mid-winter to mid-autumn.

Comparison

So, at first glance, the fish are very similar to each other. Each of them is characterized by asymmetry of the body. Individuals look flat, as if flattened. At the top they have both eyes, which have good mobility. The presence of such features is due to the lifestyle of the flounder.

Let us now consider what is the difference between flounder-ruff and ordinary flounder. Let's pay attention to the shape of the body of fish in general. Ruff, as a rule, is more elongated in length. However, there are also quite high-bodied individuals. The main characteristic feature that determined the name of the ruff flounder is that this fish is covered with scales. The body of the common flounder is smooth.

The color of these representatives of the world of fauna is also different. The body of the ruff flounder is brown (of different shades) with speckles in the upper part. The bottom is light. A characteristic element of the color of the sea flounder are spots contrasting with the main color. The light underside can also be mottled.

Knowing how ruff flounder differs from ordinary flounder is important, since the best ways to cook them differ. So, from the flounder-ruff, an excellent dried product is obtained, which is a recognized delicacy. This fish is also suitable for cold smoking and canning. Those who have tried to dry sea flounder note that the meat turns out to be too tough. But when fried, it is very tasty.

About three years ago, a little less, a friend approached me. A couple of years before that, he had sold his Moscow apartment and moved to live in his winter dacha in the Tver region. with a large plot: I wanted to escape from the bustle of Moscow into beautiful open spaces, fresh air and unhurried village life.
But after some time it turned out that the money received for the apartment was slowly living, and it was necessary to look for sources of income.
And he came up with the idea of ​​drying flounder for sale. Comparing retail prices, I found out that the most expensive flounder-ruff Hippoglossoides platessoides

and took aim at her. Their heads are cut off on board the vessel in the fishery - so I can’t give a photo of a specimen with a head: I didn’t hold it in my hands.
But in order to make sure that it is a ruff, it is enough to know the differences between the types of flounder in the pattern on the skin and fins, as well as in the shape of the body.

A friend read about the general principles of salting and drying fish, built a drying chamber with climate control, called wholesale fish depots, went, bought 25 kg for a sample, salted it, dried it - and was dissatisfied. Well, he didn’t throw it away, of course - he called his friends and knocked it out with beer - but it was clear that they wouldn’t buy such quality from him.
He simply threw out the second 25 kg: it was undersalted and rotten.
The fish from the third experimental batch, having dried up, became not dry - but for some reason sticky, the consistency of plasticine.

Well, then he gave up - he realized that there were some subtle nuances he did not understand that you did not write about on the Internet - and invited me as a technologist.
And so, now he, setting off from the Volga to buy flounder, called for me, we moved to one of the bases near Moscow, chose blocks with flounder-ruff - and went to his dacha.
It immediately became clear that the friend did not know what kind of salt was needed: he bought expensive sea salt in the ABC of Taste, did not know that the fish needed to be sorted by size, did not know how much salt to put and how long to salt - and then what to soak. In general, I didn’t know anything - even how long to dry and with what airflow.
So I won’t list the mistakes for a long time, but I’ll just try to describe how approximately it is necessary - all of a sudden it will come in handy someday.

Fish at the bases are sold in blocks packed in sewn bags. You cannot select unbroken and non-frozen blocks: the bags are opaque. But you can feel the bag and understand that the edges of the blocks are even and smooth. You also need to look for torn bags. Then the contents are visible: if the block inside is dry and whitish, then the rest in this batch will most likely be the same. So, fish from this batch is not worth taking.
Most likely, they will not let you into the freezer, they will take out the bags to the scales. But the bag, rejected with reason, will be changed.

The label is affixed directly to the bag. Look, two different labels - we went many times


Fish are not sorted by size (Size: Ungraded). FAO-27 - fishing area according to the FAO code.

The name of the vessel is indicated here: Chernihiv.
But surprisingly: the Latin name is given absolutely incorrectly - Anarhichas minor, spotted catfish. Actually a different family.
That is, the confusion with the names that we encounter on the counter does not always come from the illiteracy or scam of the seller: sometimes it starts right at sea.

Opening the bag



and extract blocks


The temperature of the block - even after the road from the Moscow region to the Tver region. - no higher than -20C: blocks in sewn bags, bags were riding on top of each other in the back of a pickup truck, nothing was defrosted. Hands immediately become cold to the point of pain, gloves do not help.

The fish are weighed, the results are recorded in the work log.
As a rule, the weight does not match what is indicated on the label, especially when exactly 30 kg is indicated: it never happens exactly.
By the way, it usually happens a little more: 30 kg is a guaranteed minimum.
Only after defrosting, the net weight of the fish will always be slightly less: in addition to fish, we paid for the weight of frozen water at the wholesale base.

We lay out the blocks in all free containers - troughs, basins, vats - for defrosting


we have about 20 of these different basins and troughs.

And let it thaw a little - so that the specimens do not defrost inside, but only separate themselves from each other


You can’t tear off the fish with your hands: you can damage the skin.

Instances that thaw from the blocks, set aside

The rest of the fish from the block, having thawed, remains right at the bottom of the trough

We sort the fish by size, we will have 3-4 weight categories

it can be seen that in this batch all the fish with caviar.
You need to sort in order to salt small fish separately from large ones: for small and salt you need less, and we salt it for 2 days, and large - all three.

large copy

The underside of which the flounder lies on the ground

We put fish of the same size in a vat (in a trough, etc.) - but reaching the edge of 10-15 cm: soon the brine will begin to stand out and rise - a brine, in which you can then salt new batches.
Then we take out the fish, weigh it - it is important to know how many fish are in each of the vats - then we throw a few handfuls of salt on the bottom of the vat and lay the fish in layers, pouring salt from a handful


We begin to salt as soon as the fish are sorted, inside it is still frozen. This is very important: if you salt a completely defrosted fish, then by the time the salt passes into the muscles through the thick skin, they will already begin to deteriorate there inside.
Therefore, fish often disappears from those who try to salt it in the summer right on a fishing trip.
Those who read from me about the capelin ambassador remember that I and its salt are still frozen - as soon as I manage to separate it from the block and put it in a container: it will thaw itself, allocate some water, and take the salt.

We lay the flounder at the bottom to the metal with a dark thick rough skin down, and then we put the layers so that the dark sides are turned to the dark ones, and the white ones to the white ones.


see some specimens with spots? This is a notorious future marriage - but we salt such fish along with good fish: because it loses only aesthetically, but it will be tasty like the rest. But we will try the quality precisely for such ugly ones: in order not to take anything for testing that will definitely be sold - such an increase in profitability.
Salt used Baskunchak grinding No. 2, there is no such salt in stores. They took bags of 50 kg on the basis of salt in Maryino.
The required weight of salt was determined by the residual: they took a sample of 2 kg, salted by eye, then weighed how much salt was left - and counted how much was left.
Knowing how much the fish weighs in each of the vats, we calculated the ratio of salt to fish. A large sample allowed in the end to determine the optimal amount: 4.7% of the weight of the fish.
And according to reference books and textbooks - from 7% to 15%. I think I know why. The main task of the Soviet food industry technologist was not to create delicacies - but to guarantee the preservation of products, save them from spoilage by oversalting and not poison the population. Well, don't sit down.
And I need a person to try - and say "ah!".

It is better to put vats one into the other, using the upper one as oppression for the lower one.


The fish in the upper container was covered with a pair of boards wrapped in plastic bags, stones wrapped in bags were placed on them.
Every 12 hours, the vats were changed in places: the top one was placed down.

Fish larger than 20 cm were salted for three days, small fish for 48 hours.
After that, they were washed from salt and soaked in water - 3 hours, the one that was salted for 72 hours, and 2 hours that was salted for 48 hours.
The large one was hung out for 5 days in a chamber 16 sq.m, lined with galvanized sheet, at T=15C and weak air circulation.
Small - 4 days.
They were hung on frames, piercing the tail stems with pieces of aluminum wire. What is good about the drying chamber - there are guaranteed no flies or other insects.
In industrial production, fish is dried under powerful hot fans for 2-4 hours, and it goes on sale - but fish that has dried, like ours, gradually over several days, is much tastier.

The finished product was collected in cardboard boxes: for tasting and for pre-sale packaging

Exposure 5 days.
Dark side

Bright side

He took off the skin - it is torn off immediately entirely

You can clearly see the fat in the area of ​​the fins, and the anatomy of the muscle plates - myomers. This structure of muscle tissue helps the fish to bend the body to move through the water column.
And understanding of such geometry allows us to eat fish without choking on small bones. Now I’m not talking about dried fish, but about boiled, baked in the oven or fried.
Do you see a thin white stripe running along the entire body from the head of the carcass to the tail? This is a lateral line with nerve endings located in it that perceive the change in water pressure from the wave movement of water that occurs when reflected from other fish or stones: this helps the fish navigate in space, especially in conditions of limited visibility.
Muddlers and clumsies, starting to eat fish, irrationally rip open its side or back with a fork, destroy architecture - and then choke on the scattered bones. And we will draw the side of the fork along the side line, separate the upper part of the carcass from the lower one along it, and then we will begin to peel off the myomers with the tips of the teeth - and small bones will begin to be released from the myomers and become visible, after which they can be easily removed from the fish right on the plate, not sending their mouth.

The flesh from the spine is also removed almost in one piece, this is an indicator of quality

Somehow there were interruptions in the supply of flounder-ruff from Murmansk, they took a sample of the sea flounder Pleuronectes platessa

she is pretty, but she lost in taste compared to the ruff

The business itself, of course, is not easy.
Flounder-ruff at the beginning of 2012 cost - if taken in small bulk, up to 1 ton - 145 rubles / kg.
He gave dried 650 rubles / kg. We seemed to have a margin.
But only fish during drying loses from 30 to 60% of the mass - so consider the profit. Moreover, transportation costs, work, depreciation of the drying chamber, in which he initially invested money.
And his flounder, bought at 650 rubles, he followed up, they gave 850 rubles / kg to the saunas (that link had a job - only to transport the batch from place to place and get a delta of 200 rubles per kilogram), where it was sold customers for 1200 rubles / piece.
A friend tried to sell directly to the sauna for 850 rubles, but he was so shuged that they discouraged such bargains.

So a friend abandoned this business about a year ago. Firstly, when he made fish without me, the quality was worse, and sometimes the marriage went: the flesh was not dry, but sticky, then it did not separate from the bones at all - we broke our heads, looking for reasons. We did the timing of my work, and video filming, and carefully weighing, and controlling the temperature, and measured the speed of the draft in the chamber with an anemometer, but we didn’t figure it out: he said that working without me, he repeated everything one to one.
But I have a hunch that he did not have time to pick and salt 100-200 kg of fish without me - and it overheated and began to deteriorate.
And it was unprofitable for him to call me every time, although I then took a little: 10 thousand rubles. for departure, $100 per day.
Now, if anything, more expensive.

Well, I told all this so that you know and remember: all this dried fish in the markets and shops is done in much the same way: as a rule, in the garage and on your knee. Only, unlike us, manufacturers usually do not have drying chambers and climate control. And even these cameras are not there: they are dried in the attics.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of salt crystals then, larger than black peppercorns - and it was one of the most delicious that I have tried in my life - only the platform of this warehouse in Maryino


In such 1-ton bags, salt is brought from Baskunchak and repackaged in the hangar that can be seen from behind into 50-kilogram bags. I recently asked my friends for the address of the base, but he doesn’t remember at all.
It's a pity.

Northern flounder ruff (Hippoglossoides platessoides) belongs to the flounder family.

The fish lives in the cold waters of the Barents Sea at a depth of up to 400 meters.

Until recently, ruff flounder was not of particular nutritional value, but recently it has become highly valued precisely in dried form. The popularity of dried flounder ruff is constantly growing. And what's more, the ruff flounder becomes the hallmark of Murmansk, from where it is often asked to be brought through acquaintances, relatives, friends or business colleagues who visit the glorious polar city of Murmansk.

A little-known and interesting fact about flounder ruff:

Few people know that at birth, the flounder ruff looks like an ordinary fish, swimming not horizontally, but vertically and has a body familiar to most fish with eyes on both sides, and only after some time metamorphosis occurs with the flounder. The eyes "crawl" to one side and the blind side of the fish lies on the bottom.

Where to buy dried flounder ruff in Moscow?

Recently, dried flounder ruff is sold in the online store of northern fish Grayling House. You can come and buy it in a store near Akademicheskaya metro station on the street. Dmitry Ulyanov 33k10 or order flounder ruff with delivery to your home or work.

The flounder ruff that I managed to find is produced in Murmansk. All fish are 100% with caviar, you can see for yourself by looking at the photo. I also managed to find a rather large ruff flounder up to 300 grams in size. Its meat is very tasty, fatty, not oversalted and not overdried.

All fish will be packed in paper, which does not allow smell and fat to pass through. This is especially handy when you want to while away an evening with foam. All cleanings from flounder ruff are then conveniently wrapped in paper.

Add. description In one package ~ 500 gr, 2-3 pcs. in a package, 1 piece ~ 200 gr. All kamabala ruff 100% with caviar, paper packaging. Made in Murmansk.

Along with the typical sea flounder, there is the bondage ruff, often referred to simply as the ruff. We are pleased to offer you a real Murmansk delicacy - dried flounder-ruff from the Barents Sea. The fish has a pleasant taste and smell, has practically no bones and is easy to clean. Produced by the method of natural drying, right after the catch, exclusively from fresh fish.

Where is it caught?

Ruff belongs to the flounder family, is fat and excellent in dried form. It is considered a valuable commercial fish in the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic. Its extraction takes place mainly in the Barents, Norwegian and White Seas.

How to cook?

When serving, no additional processing is required. Excellent tasting fish can be a great accompaniment to beer or spirits. Dried large ruff cut into pieces can be used as a savory addition to fried or boiled potatoes.