Preserving Your Catch

[John E Ashford]

Preserving Your Catch.

 

Some days we are fortunate to catch enough so as to keep for another day.

 

The first and easiest is the freezer; in the past we mere mortals didn’t have such facilities. So other options were needed, smoking and pickling just to name a couple.

 

Today what are your methods of preservation, and after a period of time how do you prepare the preserved.

 

I’m looking for some mouth-watering ideas that would enhance any seafood loving diners tables.

[stavey]

Hello john

 

I thought this was anglers net? not recipe of the day net

[slackline]

Preserving Your Catch.

 

Some days we are fortunate to catch enough so as to keep for another day.

 

The first and easiest is the freezer; in the past we mere mortals didn’t have such facilities. So other options were needed, smoking and pickling just to name a couple.

 

Today what are your methods of preservation, and after a period of time how do you prepare the preserved.

 

I’m looking for some mouth-watering ideas that would enhance any seafood loving diners tables.

 

One of the best tips i can give is gut it bleed it and wash it asap then if your out on a boat as i am sure you are John keep it coverd with a wet cloth a proper hessian sack works well (and keep it wet)

It was heart breaking to see so much fish cooking in black bin liners in the past (the black bags absorb the heat from the sun and work like a slow cooker

[coddy]

I souse mackerel and keep them in kilner jars.

 

Just fillet the macky, pack the fillets in kilner jars and then cover with boiling, spiced cider vinegar. Stand the jars in boiling water for about 10 minutes then seal them. They're good for eating after about 4 weeks.

 

In the good old days, before monkfish became popular on posh restaurant menus, my family (all deep sea trawlermen), would bring home loads of monk because there was no real commercial market for them. My old fella & I started experimenting and discovered that the best way was as described above. I well remember the days before we got our first fridge and all we had was a marble slab in the pantry, even then, I can't remember a day when we didn't have fresh fish in the house.

 

But one of my all time favourites doesn't involve preserving or even cooking. Catch a mackerel, dispatch it, fillet it and wash it in the sea. Slice across the fillet and eat it with wasabi and soy sauce. Best sashimi you'll ever taste.

 

Oh and if you've ever seen the process of salting cod, you'll be grateful that most of it is exported to sunnier climes.

[maidstonemike]

Blimey John, havn't you heard? You are supposed to kiss the ruddy thing and put it back.

[Cranfield]

Just one word, "SMOKIN'".

[John E Ashford]

Blimey John, havn't you heard? You are supposed to kiss the ruddy thing and put it back.

 

PMSL @ maidstonemike.

 

I remember when I was likkle, a large fleet of Dutch trawlers, who were regular visitors, sheltering from the storms. In those days, the Dutch fishermen did wear Wooden Cloggs.

 

Anyhow we were allowed to help ourselves to cooked Shrimps n Prawns, but there was also barrels of Salted/Pickled Herring. What they were called I don't know, but the taste was fantstic, something I'd like to try again. Would these have been Soused, Salted or Pickled Herring

[Guest challenge]

John

Preserving your catch is (as far as I am concerned) one of the most important factors of sea angling, certainly in this part of the world where they don’t often practice catch and release.

I would certainly agree with what slackline says.

On chieftain I try to have all the fish caught gutted washed filleted and put in the on deck chiller no longer than an hour after it has come out the sea.

Some days we have had up too two hundred stone of fish. So it’s no easy feet. But it’s a must and if you are going to justify keeping fish one I believe is worth all the hard work.

Regards.

[seaside]

Preserving Your Catch.

 

Some days we are fortunate to catch enough so as to keep for another day.

 

The first and easiest is the freezer; in the past we mere mortals didn’t have such facilities. So other options were needed, smoking and pickling just to name a couple.

 

Today what are your methods of preservation, and after a period of time how do you prepare the preserved.

 

I’m looking for some mouth-watering ideas that would enhance any seafood loving diners tables.

 

Smoked, especially Arbroath smokies, but anything but that Norwegiah staple - dried, salted cod.

 

John E - those Herring were probably Rollmops - a pickled herring fillet rolled around a piece of pickled cucumber or an onion. The pickling is done using water, white vinegar, salt, some sugar, onion rings, peppercorns and mustard seeds.

 

Rollmops and fresh squeezed orange juice - probably the bast hangover cure going.

[Jim Roper]

When my dad and his siblings were growing up just after the Boer War, all through the winter they had salted mackerel and fresh-shot wigeon on alternate days.

 

The mackerel fillets were salted in layers in oak barrels.