How to salt mackerel - three ways for beginners

Many of us like salted fish, and especially mackerel. The meat of mackerel is not at all like the meat of other sea fish, it is extraordinarily tender and has a very mild taste. But as it usually happens, everyone likes to eat, and only a few can prepare food. Of course, you can buy a mackerel in the store, but after all, a dish prepared with your own hands is much tastier and more useful. Therefore, in this article, we'll talk about how to salt mackerel yourself.

Salted mackerel is great for beer, for fried and boiled potatoes, and, of course, you can not miss the opportunity to try sandwiches with salted mackerel. Nothing is complicated in the process of salting mackerel. For this, you do not need phenomenal knowledge in the field of cooking. For salting you can use both frozen and fresh mackerel. Naturally, I do not need to remind you that the fish must be fresh. After all, you will do all this for yourself and your family members. Of course, it is better to choose a fish fatter, but this is uncritical, since not everyone likes fatty foods. Now let's look at three ways to properly salt mackerel.

The first way - how to salt mackerel

Of course, to begin with, you need to cut the belly from the fish and carefully clean out its internals. From this stage the final result largely depends, since if you have poorly cleaned the fish, the remnants of the entrails do not have the most positive effect on the taste qualities of the final product. From the belly you need to remove absolutely everything, even milk and caviar, if it is. After you have cleansed everything, rinse the empty abdomen with clean water and fill it with salt. For salting it is best to buy the most common salt of a coarse grind, not in any way iodized.

After all the fish are cleaned and filled with salt, you can proceed to the next stage. Take the dishes in which you were going to salt fish, of course, it would be nice if the dishes were made of stainless steel. But if you do not have one, then go any other, what you have in the kitchen. Pour a small layer of salt on the bottom of the dish and stack the fish so that all the carcasses are located belly up. In the process of laying, do not forget to sprinkle the mackerel with salt from the sides. Once all the fish have been laid, immediately fill it with salt from the top so that it can not be seen.

Now you need to place the dishes with the fish in a cool place. If your packaging is not very large, then the ideal shelf will be the bottom shelf in the refrigerator. In this form, the fish should be stored for about 4-7 days. As you probably already understood, the time of salting depends on the size of mackerel carcasses. The larger the fish, the longer it will be salted. During the salting process, do not forget to drain the brine from the tank. If this is not done, then it will necessarily start up various unwanted microorganisms and spoil your delicacy.

That's all, as you can see, there is nothing complicated, and now you know how to salt mackerel. But this is the simplest way of salting. There are lots of ways with the addition of various spices, but even if you add fish in this way, you will be in the seventh heaven of the final result. If you do not want to wait a whole week while the fish is salted, you can take advantage of the express method of ambassador to mackerel, so to speak.

The second way is for the impatient

Similarly to the first method, you need to gut and wash the fish. Next, you need to separate the tail and head from the carcass. Now, if you have never made a fish fillet, the most difficult stage is for you. It is necessary to cut the fish along the ridge and separate the tender meat from the bones. If you do everything right, you will get a very pretty fillet, which is cut into slices at once. Now cut two medium bulbs with rings and you can start cooking the most important thing - marinade.

Mix half a glass of vegetable oil with three tablespoons of 9% vinegar. In the resulting mixture, add 4-6 peppercorns, 2-3 bay leaves and two cloves. This completes the preparation of the marinade. Strain the mackerel fillets in a bowl, pour it with salt, mix and let it brew for 10 minutes. After this, if desired and to taste, you can pepper the fish, always sprinkle with onion and pour the marinade. Once again, stir the fish well and allow to infuse for 10-12 hours. Then put the container with the fish for a couple of hours in the fridge and you can enjoy a delicious fillet of mackerel.

The third way - how to salt mackerel in brine

The beginning is absolutely analogous - we cut off the tail, head, gutted and carefully mine. Now pick up the jar by the size of your fish and place the carcasses in the jar with their tails up. The fish is ready for salting, it remains to prepare marinade.

Pour into the water 4 tablespoons of tea leaves, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 4 tablespoons of salt. Bring the resulting mixture to a boil and allow to cool slightly. After that, strain the resulting marinade and add 4 tablespoons of liquid smoke to it. Now fill the fish with this marinade and hide it for three days in the refrigerator.

As you can see, everything is extremely simple and the ingredients for salting are available to everyone. Now you know the whole three ways how to salt mackerel. Bon Appetit!