Lightly salted mackerel at home

Super fast and incredibly simple recipe for salting fish! Usually mackerel is salted for two days. In this recipe, due to the fact that the fish is cut into pieces, the time for salting is significantly reduced - it can be eaten after 8 hours.
katushafinAuthor avatar
Recipe author
Winner of the contest Best Recipe of the Week June 15-21

Composition / ingredients

servings:
Translation table of volumetric measures
Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe
By weight of the composition:
Proteins 56 % 9 g
Fats 38 % 6 g
Carbohydrates 6 % 1 g
89 kcal
GI: 0 / 0 / 0

Step-by-step cooking

Cooking time: 8 h
  1. Step 1:

    Step 1.

    Prepare the products. For lightly salted fish, I take a minimum of spices - only pepper and bay leaf, but you can also add coriander, cloves, allspice. Pre-defrost the fish. It should also be done correctly. You can not lower the fish into warm water, as many people practice. And it's not worth defrosting it in the microwave. The most gentle type of defrosting is in the refrigerator compartment. Mackerel will thaw slowly and delicately.

  2. Step 2:

    Step 2.

    Gut the fish, to do this, cut the abdomen from the head to the last fin. Carefully remove the insides. Cut off the head and tail.

  3. Step 3:

    Step 3.

    Cut the fish into small pieces - about 2 cm thick. I advise you to cut the fish while it is still a little frozen - it will be easier to cut it this way. Put the pieces of mackerel in a jar or container. Note that plastic absorbs odors, let it be a special "fish" container.

  4. Step 4:

    Step 4.

    Boil the water for the brine. Add salt, sugar, peppercorns and bay leaf. Stir the brine with a spoon. In hot water, salt and sugar will dissolve very quickly. Cool the brine completely.

  5. Step 5:

    Step 5.

    Pour the cooled brine over the fish, cover with a lid. Put the container in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Since all my fish did not sink into the brine, I turned the pieces over after 4 hours so that they were salted evenly. After the prescribed time, the fish can be eaten. Store the remaining fish in brine.

Never defrost the fish to the end if you have to cut it up! It is best to put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and bring it to a slightly defrosted state. Then any manipulations, starting from cutting into steaks or large pieces and ending with cutting into fillets, will be successful. Completely unfrozen fish when butchered risks turning into a shapeless mass.

Mackerel is not only delicious, but also a healthy fish. We love it and often eat it. Thanks to such quick recipes, I stopped buying ready-made fish in the store, now I always salt it myself. I especially liked the speed of salting.

It is very important to choose a good fish for salting. The carcass should be dense and the skin shiny. The yellow color indicates that the fish was often defrosted. The gills should be clean, and the eyes should be transparent, not cloudy.

When salting, you can add chopped onions to the fish - it will give an additional flavor. Or you can pickle the onion separately - pour it with the same brine, but only add a little more vinegar.

Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish

  • Smoked mackerel - 221   kcal/100g
  • Boiled mackerel - 211   kcal/100g
  • Fresh mackerel - 181   kcal/100g
  • Bay leaf - 313   kcal/100g
  • Granulated sugar - 398   kcal/100g
  • Sugar - 398   kcal/100g
  • Black pepper peas - 255   kcal/100g
  • Salt - 0   kcal/100g
  • Water - 0   kcal/100g

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