Garlic in milk. How to improve the flavor of fish and meat dishes

Why do you need to soak fish?

The soaking process is dictated by two factors: firstly, to preserve a pleasant and delicate taste, and secondly, for reasons of maintaining health. Fish with a low percentage of salt is much tastier, which is why it is present in many haute cuisine dishes, and is also the basis of most cold appetizers. For example, many salads are prepared on the basis of lightly salted, mainly red fish, along with the following ingredients:

• Tomatoes, carrots and quail eggs.
• Grapefruit, eggs and spinach.
• There is a recipe for Olivier based on lightly salted fish.
• With vegetables and herbs, as in the “Tsar’s” salad.

There are many other options for using lightly salted fish, and not necessarily red fish. If salads included salted fish, not only the taste of the fish would be spoiled, but also the taste of the salad as a whole.

In addition, consuming a lot of salt is very harmful to human health. It is enough for a person to eat about 10 grams of salt per day to feel normal. With an increase in the dose of salt in the human body, the body tries to get rid of its excess, and at the same time, it requires frequent consumption of water. In ancient times, the Chinese killed themselves by eating about half a kilo of salt at a time.

With excessive salt intake, it is possible:

• Due to the fact that salt is not absorbed and digested by the body, it does not contain vitamins and minerals, it negatively affects internal organs.
• Salt increases the sensitivity of the central nervous system and provokes problems with the cardiovascular system.
• Salt negatively affects the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines.
• Salt binds calcium and removes it from the body.
• Salt can accumulate in joints, causing various diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

Stewed, fried or boiled fish

• One option is to serve the fish with an unsalted side dish. Non-salted mashed potatoes, vegetables, and rice are perfect;
• If you have ready-made, but already over-salted fish, you can make another dish, for example, a delicious fish pie. You can also add rice to it. At the same time, there is no need to salt the dough and rice;
• Fish stewed in flour, sour cream, sour sauce will also help get rid of over-salting;
• You can also stew the fish with unsalted ready-made mashed potatoes or plain potatoes;
• Rice has an excellent ability to absorb salt. Therefore, a small amount of rice can be cooked together with over-salted fish for 30 minutes. This method is also suitable for over-salted soup; rice (tied in cheesecloth) needs to be cooked in the finished soup or even added as an ingredient.

Salt is one of the most indispensable seasonings in the kitchen. Its moderate amount improves and emphasizes the taste of the dish. But sometimes it happens that the amount of an ingredient is exceeded, and it seems that the dish is hopelessly spoiled. There is a solution to the problem. Experienced chefs know how to correct the situation by soaking

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Lightly salted fish is used to create some traditional Russian dishes. But before using such a specimen, it is necessary to carefully gut it, remove unnecessary gills and head, and rinse thoroughly with fresh water.

Excess salt is removed by soaking. The fish is placed in cold water to swell, cleaned of scales, the head and fins are cut off and stripped. When fish is soaked, some of the mineral salts, soluble proteins, and flavoring substances pass into the water, which reduces the nutritional value of salted fish dishes. You can soak the fish in replaceable and running water.

The soaking process is dictated by two factors: firstly, to preserve a pleasant and delicate taste, and secondly, for reasons of maintaining health. The soaking time for salted fish is from 8 to 12 hours. Soaked fish is used for boiling, frying, preparing cutlet mass and stewing.

The technology for soaking salted fish may vary depending on the type and degree of salting. If desired, the taste can be changed using spices. It all depends on preference. The degree of salting for cooking is 5%, for frying - only 2%. Large and heavily salted ones will have to be soaked for a day or more.

Methods for soaking salted fish

There are several techniques for soaking fish. The technology depends on the quantity of fish, the type of fish and the taste, as well as the taste preferences of the housewife.

You can soak fish as follows:

1. The simplest and most affordable way is soaking in plain water.
2. In milk.
3. In tea.
4. In marinades prepared according to special recipes.
5. Industrially, when the fish is soaked under running water.

Delicious recipe!
Salad with chicken breast, corn and croutons When soaking fish, you should always remember that additional operations worsen the taste of the product. Therefore, the process must be deliberate and moderate.

red fish

Salmon are the types of fish that are desired on the holiday table. Due to their unmatched taste and nutritional content, they are very popular among housewives. And since this fish is not cheap, the soaking methods are not simple. The main task is not to spoil the dish.

A variant of this preparation:

1. Red fish is cut, sometimes into fillets, and cut into pieces.
2. A marinade is prepared with the addition of spices, cherry syrup, vinegar, etc. The marinade needs to be boiled.
3. The fish is placed in the hot marinade.
4. After everything has cooled, the fish is washed and again filled with marinade, strained through a sieve.
5. Fish can remain in the marinade for up to several days. At the same time, it should be in a cool place (in the refrigerator).

There are recipes in which fish is soaked in tea, sometimes with sugar, with the addition of vodka and cherry syrup.

No less common is the method of soaking fish in milk. As a result, the fish meat becomes tender and pleasant to the taste. To do this you need:

• Buy fresh milk at the store.
• Place it in the refrigerator for a while.
• Place the fish in a container.
• Pour cold milk completely over the fish.
• Place the fish in the refrigerator for a certain time.

The fish is soaked for a certain time, depending on the degree of salinity. For example:

• A large carcass, which was cooked in a high concentration of salt, can be soaked from one to five days.
• It is enough to keep medium-salted fish in the solution for several hours.
• If you need to quickly rid the fish of excess salt, it is better to place it in hot water or marinade.

Spicy salted fish

Spiced salted fish is fish when spices are also used during the salting process. Using this technology, ordinary herring, mackerel, and pink salmon are salted. Such fish is soaked either in water or in milk.

Soaking technique:

1. It is necessary to take a container in which the fish fits completely.
2. Water is poured into the container with vinegar added in a ratio of 10:1. The solution should not be very sharp and not fresh.
3. The fish is placed in a container.
4. After this, it is placed in the refrigerator for several hours.

You can soak fish in strong tea:

• The fish is cut into pieces of the required size.
• A container of the required size is prepared.
• Strong tea is poured into it, with the addition of sugar or syrup.
• The fish is placed in tea and placed in the refrigerator for several hours.

The method of soaking in tea has its advantages. Due to the presence of tannins in it, the fish does not lose its beneficial qualities.

Dry fish

Dry salted fish is considered an excellent cold appetizer, although sometimes, due to its saltiness, it simply cannot be eaten. Such fish should be placed in water and then soaked in milk.

When soaking fish, you should always remember that in this form it can no longer be stored as much as the original product. The soaking time is determined, as a rule, experimentally, therefore, it is unlikely that it will be possible to prepare fish that would satisfy all taste criteria the first time. In this regard, it should be noted that it is better to spend some time experimenting than to give preference to low-quality store-bought products of questionable taste and aroma.

How to soak salted fish? Why is this necessary? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. Many dishes are prepared from fish or seafood. Very often, fish reaches our table frozen or chilled. You can also prepare different dishes from a lightly salted product, but only if it is truly lightly salted. We will find out how to soak salted fish below.

Soaking highly salted fish in tea

Even in ancient times, housewives used a large amount of salt in the process of salting fish, because this allowed the product to be stored much longer. And this is not fiction, it has long been proven that the more salt was used when processing fish, the longer it remains fresh in the refrigerator. That is why in the old days a method was invented that allows you to quickly and effectively make fish less salty immediately before consumption. All you need is regular black tea. You may ask why this particular drink? The fact is that the infusion of strong black tea contains a large amount of tannins, which help soften the cloying taste of salt. In addition, if you soak fish such as herring in cold water, then its meat becomes watery and loses some of its taste, while black tea prevents its flesh from softening. To soak fish, you need to prepare fresh black tea, with added sugar, and leave the infusion until it cools. If the fish was not very salty, but you still thought there was too much salt, cut the fish in half along the spine and leave it to soak for about an hour. If clearly a lot of salt was used to process the fish, and the taste of the product is too cloying, then it is better to prepare an infusion of black tea with the addition of a few tablespoons of vodka and cherry syrup; in this case, the fish will have to be soaked for at least two hours.

Salt content

People often ask how to soak salted fish. Many, seeing a beautiful-looking fish in a package with the inscription “SS Fish” in a store, purchase the coveted piece. And when they open it at home, they are completely disappointed: the food turns out to be so salty that it can only be eaten with water.

If the fish contains more than 14% salt, it is called strongly salted; if it contains from 9 to 14%, then it is called medium salted. Lightly salted fish contains from 5 to 9% salt.

Process

How to soak salted fish correctly? It is generally accepted that this procedure should last as many hours as the number of days the fish was salted. It is usually soaked in cool water in the refrigerator. The water needs to be changed every two hours.

When the fish begins to float, it means that it has lost enough salt. In summer, it is best to soak it in the refrigerator, but if you do not have this opportunity, change the water promptly, otherwise the food will quickly deteriorate.

It is not recommended to store soaked fish for more than 24 hours. Use it directly as food or cook fish dishes using heat treatment.

What to do if the herring is too salty, what should you soak it in?

Not a single feast in our country is complete without salted herring. After all, each of us loves low-fat, appetizing herring for its incredible, memorable taste. But what to do if the herring turns out to be very salty after purchase? Listen to our useful recommendations.

Before choosing a method for soaking salted herring, first rinse it under running cool water. This is necessary so that excess salt is washed off the skin of the fish. As a rule, herring is cut into separate pieces of equal sizes. If you wash it in small pieces, it will wash out much faster. But if the fish is small, you can rinse it whole before soaking.

If you bought ungutted fish, then before soaking, clean it, remove all the insides, cut off the head, cut off the fins, remove scales. Divide the fish into layers, remove the skin. To remove the skin faster, make a small cut in the head area, between the skin and the cape. Remove the skin along the fat layer in one direction, while holding the meat with your hand. Remove the rib bones too, and in the end you will get herring fillets.

As soon as you clean the herring, cut it into equal pieces so that their thickness is no more than 1 cm. Only then rinse the prepared pieces thoroughly in cool water. Follow these steps:

• Place the fish pieces in a colander and place it in the sink.

Turn on only cool water, not warm

• The fish should remain in this state for approximately 1 hour.

If, after all the methods used, you were unable to soak the herring, then you can use the express method. It is as follows:

• Place the salted herring in a pan filled with hot water
• Keep the fish in the water for 2 minutes. Do not boil the water
• Then soak the fish in cool water for about 10 minutes.

Please note that if you use one of the methods, do not keep it longer than the allotted time indicated in the recipe. For example, if you leave herring in milk or cool water for a day or more, then it may spoil. After soaking, do not store the fish for too long. Try to eat it immediately after soaking.

Remember an important point - soaking over-salted herring means that it will lose a lot of salt, and with it useful substances, for example, protein. Consequently, the nutritional quality of the product will be greatly reduced. If you do not need to make the herring less salty, then eat it as you bought it in the store.

Nuances

Many people wonder if salted fish can be soaked. Yes, of course you can. When reducing the amount of salt using this procedure, it is necessary to remember that here there is not only a loss of this substance, but also mineral salts, proteins, and nitrogenous substances, which leads to a deterioration in the taste properties of the fish. The food absorbs water, and its mass can increase by about 25%.

To soak the fish faster, add vinegar to the water in a ratio of 10:1 (one part vinegar to ten parts water).

Soaking herring

There is an old method that significantly speeds up the procedure and improves the properties of the resulting food:

• Cut the herring into two halves along the spine, without removing the skin.
• Soak the fish in sweet strong tea or fresh milk.

Tea contains a huge number of tanning substances that prevent the fish flesh from softening. Milk acts the opposite: it actively softens the herring pulp, making it very delicate in taste.

Supplements

When creating salted fish dishes, experienced chefs advise using ingredients that add a juicy, rich taste to the dish: vegetable oil, various sauces, cream. This must be done because it is drier than fresh. For example, dressing herring with vegetable oil not only significantly increases the taste of the fish, but also its nutritional value. Snacks made from salted fish with vegetable oil are perfectly balanced in terms of fatty acids.

By the way, when stored in the tissues of salted fish, irreversible transformations of food substances take place, reducing its quality. That is why its share in nutrition is small.

Soaking at the enterprise

How long does it take to soak salted fish at the factory? It is known that when this food goes into production, it contains from 6 to 17% salt. Fish intended for boiling should contain no more than 5% salt, and for frying – no more than 2%.

First, the food is placed in cold water to swell, then it is cleared of scales, the fins are removed and the head is layered. The product can be soaked in production in running and replaceable water. In the second case, the fish is filled with water in a ratio of 1:2. Since the difference in salt concentration in water and fish at the beginning of the process is large, diffusion occurs rapidly. After an hour it ends, as saturation equilibrium sets in.

Diffusion slows down as the salt content of the fish decreases, so water can be changed less frequently (at 1, 2, 3 and 6 hours). The salt concentration is reduced to 5% usually after 12 hours.

Next, the cooks perform a test cooking and, if necessary, continue soaking, changing the water after three hours. What is the disadvantage of this method? Between individual water changes, the soaking process slows down as salt accumulates in the liquid. In addition, by the end of the procedure, due to a decrease in the density of salt in the pulp, the fish may begin to deteriorate.

If the fish is soaked in running water, then it is placed in a bath with a grate, under which pipes supplying water are placed. The liquid is removed through a pipe located in the upper zone of the bath. The process lasts 8-12 hours, after which a test brew is performed.

Spicy dry salting of sprat

Take per kilogram of sprat:

• Salt – 2-2.5 tablespoons.
• Sugar - a teaspoon.
• Ground red pepper - a pinch.
• Dill seeds (white mustard seeds) – a little bit.

How to pickle spicy sprat:

1. Remove the entrails from the fish, rinse, and dry the carcasses a little.
2. Mix all the seasonings listed in the recipe.
3. Place the spices in a bowl. Use your hand to mix the fish, distributing them evenly.
4. Press down with pressure and place in a cool place overnight.
5. After 10-12 hours, the sprat is ready to eat.

Why do you need to soak fish?

The fish is soaked in order to preserve its delicate and pleasant taste and its health. Lightly salted fish is present not only in many haute cuisine dishes, but also in various cold appetizers. For example, salads containing the following components are prepared on its basis:

If the salads contained salted fish, not only its taste would be spoiled, but also the taste of the dish as a whole. In addition, it is harmful for a person to consume large amounts of salt. To feel normal, it is enough to eat only 10 g of this substance per day. As the dose increases, the body will try to get rid of excess salt and the person will have to drink water frequently. In ancient times, the Chinese killed themselves by eating half a kilo of salt at a time. When this substance is consumed excessively, this is what happens:

• salt has a negative effect on the mucous membranes of the intestines and stomach;
• increases the sensitivity of the central nervous system and provokes problems with blood vessels and the heart;
• binds calcium and removes it from the body;
• accumulates in the joints, causing various ailments of the musculoskeletal system.

Delicious recipe! Herring in vinegar sauce with onions

Methods

There are the following techniques for soaking salted fish:

• in milk;
• in water;
• in tea;
• in marinades made according to special recipes;
• under running water (industrial method).

The technology depends on the weight of the fish, its type and taste, as well as the preferences of the housewife. When soaking fish, remember that additional operations worsen its taste. So think about the process ahead of time.

Salmon family

How to soak salted red fish? Salmon is always welcome on the holiday table. Due to the presence of nutritional substances and unsurpassed taste, they are very popular among housewives. And since this fish is expensive, intricate soaking methods are used here.

It is important not to spoil the food. Production option:

• Cut the red fish (you can fillet it) and cut into pieces.
• Make a marinade with the addition of spices, vinegar, cherry syrup, and so on. The marinade must be boiled.
• Place the fish in the hot marinade.
• Cool everything, then rinse the fish and pour the marinade again, strained through a sieve.

How long to soak red salted fish? It can be marinated in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Often red fish is also soaked in tea with the addition of cherry syrup, vodka or sugar.

Garlic in milk. How to improve the flavor of fish and meat dishes

Aroma is a very important quality, food should smell good, stimulate the appetite, then the pleasure from it will be complete. In addition, the skill of the housewife largely determines the aroma of food. The smell is the first thing we feel before we even see the dish. So it's very important that your food smells good.

But what to do if the aroma of the dish does not always suit you? What if you just don’t like the way, for example, liver or fish smell? We asked professionals how to improve the smell of specific products such as lamb, offal, and fish.

Maxim Tarusin, chef of the Voskhod restaurant:

— It’s better to buy lamb with minimal odor, take either a castrated ram or a lamb. But if you, in principle, do not perceive the smell of lamb, then it is better not to buy it at all, because the specific aroma can be muted, but it cannot be completely removed. If you want to smooth it out, I would advise using marinades, adding your favorite spices to them, cumin goes well with lamb, add more onions, but it’s better not to use vinegar. If you are preparing barbecue, then it is better not to add soy sauce to the marinade, it changes the structure of the meat, but if you have cutlets, baked or stewed lamb, then you can use soy sauce. You can add oyster sauce, garlic, and ginger to the marinade. In general, Asian-style sauces and spices go very well with lamb.

Question answer

How to choose good odorless lamb?

It's more difficult with the liver. Its specific aroma cannot be removed. There are myths that it needs to be soaked in milk, but it all depends on the quality of the liver and what the animal ate. Not every liver will be affected by milk.

If you are making liver pancakes, I would recommend adding fried onions, it will make the aroma softer, more noble, and smooth it out. But it’s better if you don’t like liver, not to cook it.

Soak the heart and other offal well in saline solution. Per liter of water - 10 g of salt. It will remove unpleasant odors and tastes. Before making jellied meat, thoroughly soak all the tails and hooves you use in this solution.

By the way, you can also soak vegetables in a saline solution, this will improve their aroma and taste. For example, beets have an earthy aroma and can be kept in this solution and washed with a brush. Water will remove all excess and protect you from bacteria.

Dinner with lamb. Hearty meal options for the start of winter Read more

Mark Shah Akbari, chef of the Sybarite restaurant:

— If we want to get rid of the unpleasant fishy smell, then a bright sauce will help. And in general, a good sauce will decorate the fish; it often has a marine smell, but the taste is quite neutral. That's why I combine this fish with Asian sauces based on chili peppers and coconut milk. It’s good to add garlic and lime zest to them. The basis of such a sauce can be vegetable milk, teriyaki, or butter with herbs.

Parmesan and truffle work very well. If you add them to the sauce, they will greatly improve the flavor.

You can also use lemon juice, but beat it with vegetable oil, then you will get an emulsion, a thick sauce that will not drain from the fish.

Article on the topic

No worse than salmon, but much cheaper. How to cook pink salmon correctly

The second option for getting rid of an unpleasant odor is an open fire, grill or barbecue. It kills everything unnecessary and improves the aroma.

It’s more difficult with by-products; here you really need a very high-quality product, since it’s very difficult to improve a product with a bitter taste. You can soak the liver in milk, it will improve the situation. You can use regular milk, or vegetable milk, coconut milk, for example. You can add herbs and bay leaves to the milk, bring it all to a boil, then cool (you cannot pour hot milk into meat and offal). Immerse the product in milk and hold for several hours, and then cook.

Look into the eyes. How to choose the right fish? More details

Nikita Poderyagin, chef of the BJORN restaurant:

— To avoid unpleasant odors, you need to buy everything fresh. Even a slight unpleasant odor indicates the beginning of decay, that enzymes have begun to work to help the decay process. Fish is a creature that is not intended for the air at all, plus it is cold-blooded, which means that the temperature, which does not seem elevated to us, will greatly affect the fish. Therefore, in the case of fish, it is important to take the freshest possible product. The fish that is caught today will not smell even tomorrow. But then the smell will intensify.

Of course, in cities far from the sea, it is difficult to buy such fish. Marinades will help a little; you can soak them in a saline solution of milk.

I take milk and water in half and add 50 g of salt and about 20 g of sugar per liter of this mixture. I completely dilute it, but in no case do I boil it. And in this pickle I soak, for example, cod for 3-4 hours. Then I remove it and fry it as usual.

Please note that after soaking the product cannot be stored, it must be cooked immediately.

You can also use various marinades: herbs, spices, different types of pepper, aromatic vinegars. Citrus zest is a good refresher (just don’t take grapefruit, it has a too aggressive aroma), horseradish shavings, and any freshly ground spices.

How long can fish be stored in the refrigerator? More details

Vitaly Baranov, chef of the Shagal restaurant:

— Marinades with the addition of lemon, citric acid, and vinegar will effectively remove unpleasant flavors and act as preservatives. Lemon generally absorbs odors very well; if you put half a lemon next to a strong-smelling product, it will become saturated with the smell.

Garlic boiled in milk is suitable for offal. When I make pate, I add a couple of slices. You just need to pour milk over the peeled garlic, bring to a boil and cook for a couple of minutes, it will become whiter, there will not be such a bright garlic aroma, it will be muted. And this kind of garlic removes the smell of offal well, and since it is boiled, it does not give harshness.

In milk

No less popular is the method of soaking fish in milk. As a result, it becomes tender and pleasant to the taste. To do this you need:

The procedure time depends on the degree of salinity of the fish. Eg:

• A large and very salty carcass needs to be soaked for 1 to 5 days.
• Medium salted fish can be kept in the solution for a couple of hours.
• If you want to quickly rid the fish of excess salt, place it in a marinade or hot water.

When fish combines with milk, real flavor magic happens. The fact is that milk can maximize the taste of fish, you just have to learn how to use it in cooking. In addition, the fish turns out to be extremely juicy and tender. The method of cooking in milk was invented by French chefs, and they have real talents for extracting the maximum flavor from any product.

Why milk

Due to its high fat content, whole milk absorbs the flavors of added foods better than wine or water. Milk well emphasizes the aroma of herbs, garlic and other aromatic substances that are part of the dish. Their base notes come to the fore, making the taste of the dish more intense.

What kind of fish to poach?

Poaching will never become as common a method of heat treatment as frying or stewing if you use the wrong fish for cooking. When the time comes to transfer it to a plate, it will be overcooked and will actually fall apart, which will completely spoil the impression of the dish and discourage any desire to experiment with poached meat. Therefore, varieties with soft meat and thin scales, or even without them at all, such as stingray, flounder, sea bass, are better prepared in some other, more suitable way. For poaching, preference should be given to fish with dense flesh such as salmon, halibut, tuna and some other species.

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More fat, more flavor

Milk is far from the only liquid that can best reveal the taste of a fish dish. As we have already said, the fat content is important here, plus the creamy and delicate taste of what the fish will be stewed in. This flavor effect can be significantly enhanced by adding cream to the milk. The taste of all ingredients will appear even brighter if you simmer the fish in a mixture of milk and cream mixed in equal proportions.

Way

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed with a knife
• 720 ml. whole milk (or a mixture of cream and milk)
• 4 cod fillets without skin, weighing 170 g each. each
• Freshly ground black pepper, coarse salt

Preparation:

Combine leeks, thyme, garlic and milk in a medium, wide saucepan. Season generously with salt and bring the liquid to almost a boil over medium heat. Cook until leeks just begin to soften, 6 to 8 minutes. Gently plunge cod into milk and cook until tender, 7 to 9 minutes.

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Increase or decrease heat as needed to maintain temperature below boiling point. Thick pieces of fish will take longer to cook.

Transfer the fish to plates and pour some of the liquid in which it simmered. Drizzle the fish with oil and season with pepper. Serve with vegetables or baked potatoes.

source

02.11.2019

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Spicy salted fish

This is the name given to fish that was also salted using spices. Mackerel, herring, and pink salmon are salted using this method. This fish is soaked either in milk or water.

Soaking technique in strong tea:

This method has its advantages: tea contains tannin substances, so the fish does not lose its beneficial properties.

How to soak salted herring quickly?

This next soaking option will look familiar, but it's a little different from the previous options. For it you will have to take these products:

• Vinegar
• Salted herring

• Immerse herring only in cool water.
• If you decide to do this in the summer, then keep the bowl filled with water in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. If you don’t have a refrigerator at hand, then try to change the water every 2 hours, maybe even more often. Otherwise, your fish will be lost.
• In order to speed up the soaking process, pour 70% vinegar into the water. The proportion of vinegar and water is as follows: the first product should be 10 parts, the second – 1 part.
• As soon as the herring floats to the surface, it means that it has lost excess salt. After this soaking, the fish tastes much better. When left in this solution for a long time, the herring will become a little larger, as it will be able to absorb water.