Mackerel meat is famous for its selection of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. This fish is good in any form. It is stewed and fried, baked and stuffed, salted, smoked and cooked dried mackerel. By the way, you can cook hanging fish with your own hands. From hostesses only patience and a reserve of time is required. No complicated recipes, no expensive ingredients.
Cooked and eaten
The first recipe for dried mackerel at home suggests that the fish will be cooked and eaten almost immediately. Shelf life of mackerel in the cold is only 3-5 days.
Ingredients:
- Several carcasses of mackerel.
- Half a spoonful of sugar and a teaspoon of salt per fish.
Description of the cooking process
Fresh fish must be gutted and washed thoroughly. The insides should be removed through the gills. Then, with a sharp knife, the fish is gently cut along the spine and spreads out on a cutting board. The carcass is covered with salt and sugar. We put the fish on a clean paper (a sheet of plywood, a large flat plate) and put it on a wire in the cold. Mackerel matures for two days, then washed under cold water.
After that, the fish must be placed in the refrigerator for another two to three days to mature or hung on the balcony. If you choose the option with fresh air, we recommend putting the fish in the refrigerator for the night. The differences in temperature and humidity inherent in air at night will only harm the process of preparing dried mackerel.
You can also salt the fish for drying in another way, using a brine. It is prepared from a liter of water and 220 g of salt. The fish is gutted, cut, soaked in brine for 8-10 hours. Then it is dried and dried in the refrigerator.
For long storage
Home-dried mackerel can be stored for more than five days. We’ll cry out a whole fish. You can cut the carcass into portioned portions or into large halves. Experienced housewives are advised to use the first option, as it is convenient to put such fish in containers, it’s nice to eat, and you can serve them beautifully.
Required Products:
- Mackerel.
- Salt.
- Bay leaf.
- Sunflower oil.
How to keep dried mackerel for a long time
Firstly, the fish, as in the previous recipe, must be cleaned of scales, gutted and removed all unnecessary and inedible. Then the fish is salted. You can use any salting method. There is no need to flatten the fish, it can be dried immediately whole.
When the dried mackerel is ready, it is cut into pieces. We send the pieces to a glass jar (always dry!). Add a bay leaf and a few peas of pepper there. Now it remains to pour the sunflower oil almost to the very edge of the can. We close the container with a lid and send it for storage in a refrigerator, cellar or pantry. At any convenient time, you can open such a jar and treat yourself, home or guests to delicious home-made dried fish.
Tips
- If possible, only fish in the fresh air. Fishermen believe that such a fish is the most delicious. The ideal temperature for cooking is 18 degrees.
- Do not lay out or hang carcasses close to each other.
- No open and bright sun. The fish will be cooked before it even starts to dry.
- If you use a refrigerator or cellar for drying fish, then after the required time it is recommended to dry it for another day in a warm room or in the air.
- Draft also helps make stockfish tastier. And the process will be faster if you hang the fish on the balcony and create a draft, revealing all the windows of the glazed loggia.
- If there is no other way to dry the fish, then use a home oven. The temperature should not be more than 80 degrees. Drying time 5-7 hours. Periodically, you must open the oven door in order to ensure the flow of air.