Fish is a source of nutrients for humans. Among the available varieties, the leader is mackerel. It can be smoked, cooked on the grill, baked and even salt. Salting mackerel at home is a simple and affordable procedure for everyone.

How to choose mackerel for salting

The choice of mackerel for salting is the most important step on which the success of cooking depends.

Mackerel is perfect:

  • weighing 0.3-0.35 kg: in small fish there are a lot of bones and a little fat;
  • Fresh
  • light gray color;
  • with bright eyes;
  • without a yellow tint (he speaks of several defrosts - frosts or old fish);
  • with a slight smell of fish: harsh aromas may be a sign of spoilage of the product;
  • wet and firm to the touch.

In the absence of fresh mackerel, you can use frozen. In this case, it is better to give preference to the one that was caught in the fall, since they are more fat.

General principles of preparation: preparation of products and utensils

For salting mackerel, dishes are selected that are not oxidized: they can be made of enamel, plastic and glass. In the absence of one, you can use a wide bottle of plastic, having previously cut off her neck.

For the procedure, ordinary salt is suitable, preferably coarse: iodized salt does not change the taste of the finished product, but spoils its appearance.

Whole fish, meat or slices are salted - the cooking time depends on the size.

If the fish has an unpleasant odor, then you need to soak it for half an hour in cold water to get rid of it.

A whole mackerel is cooked for three days, and slices - 1 day.The procedure is carried out in cool conditions, since at high temperature the product may deteriorate. To fully reveal the taste of the product and aroma, various spices and seasonings are used.

After completing the salting, the mackerel is stored in the refrigerator, pre-filled with vegetable oil, a maximum of 5 days. Do not clean the freezer, as after thawing, the fish meat will be soft and watery.

Salt mackerel at home - recipes

Before proceeding with the salting of fish, you need to determine the method of salting. Correctness of action is what you need to pay attention to before deliciously salting mackerel at home. Indeed, not only taste, but also the external characteristics and aroma of the product depend on them.

Salted slices

For salting fish pieces, you need to cook the following products:

  • a pair of mackerels;
  • 0.3 l of water;
  • cloves - 3 buds;
  • 70 g of salt;
  • ground coriander a teaspoon;
  • Bay leaf;
  • 25 g of sugar;
  • a pinch of basil (optional).

The ambassador is made in 4 stages:

  1. Preparation of the marinade: add all seasonings to boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. Then remove from the stove, cover.
  2. Preparation of fish: peel, remove the tail, head, wash, dry and cut into slices about 4 cm wide.
  3. Ambassador: put the fish slices in jars, pour in the cooled marinade, cork and leave for a couple of hours in the room.
  4. Put in the refrigerator for salting out for at least a day.

Mackerel will completely salt out after two days. Before serving, the dish is sprinkled with onion rings and lightly watered with vegetable oil.

Slices of mackerel can be salted according to the classic recipe. For this, one mackerel will need 100 grams of salt, 50 g of sugar, 3 peas of black and allspice, 3 bay leaves, 2 tbsp. 9% vinegar and a liter of water.

It is prepared similarly to the previous recipe, only vinegar is first introduced into the cooled liquid, thoroughly mixed, and then the prepared slices are already poured. Fish meat is salted out during the day in a cool place.

More materials: delicious salted mackerel recipe

Whole salted mackerel

Without heat treatment, you can get smoked-looking fish. 3 mackerels need 90 g of salt, 40 g of granulated sugar, 1.3 l of water, 3 full handfuls of husks from onions and 2 tbsp. tea.

Step-by-step recipe for salting mackerel:

  1. Pour all the ingredients (except mackerel) into boiling water, cover and boil for 5 minutes over low heat, then remove from the stove, cool and filter.
  2. We clean the mackerel, remove the head and tail, wash it and dry it with paper napkins or towels.
  3. We put it in jars and pour the mixture to the top.
  4. Cover and leave for 12 hours.
  5. After that, we put it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, not forgetting to turn it over twice a day.

Mackerel in brine

 

For 2 medium-sized fish, you need a large onion, 2-4 cloves, 5 grains of allspice and black pepper, several bay leaves. For a half liter of brine, 70 g of salt, 40 g of granulated sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil are needed.

How to cook:

  1. Clean the fish from the insides, rinse, cut into slices.
  2. Cut the onion into rings or half rings.
  3. Put the fish slices in a container, alternating them with the onion layer, and sprinkling with spices.
  4. Pour in brine.
  5. Cover and put in the refrigerator.

The next day, the fish can be served on the table.

Salt without water

Mackerel can be salted even without water. To do this, prepare the prepared slices in a container, pouring salt. In this way, you can even salt a whole fish. The result is a very mouth-watering product, only before use it will need to be washed well.

To improve the taste will help the mixture, which is prepared as follows: chopped onion rings are mixed with seasonings, vegetable oil and the juice of one lemon. The resulting mixture was poured onto salted mackerel and left for 20 minutes.

Another recipe for cooking without liquid:

  1. In two fish, remove the entrails, wash and dry.
  2. Cut them into small slices.
  3. Stir 30 g of salt and 5 g of granulated sugar, add laurel, a little black pepper and vegetable seasoning (to taste).
  4. In the resulting assortment, roll the slices and put them tightly in a container.
  5. Cover and clean for a couple of days in the refrigerator.

When salting, you can add a couple of teaspoons of mustard to the spices to obtain a spicy aroma.

Without brine, you can also prepare filet for sandwiches. For half a kilogram of the main product you will need 2 pinches of salt, a little pepper. Fillet is well rubbed with seasonings, tightly folded into parchment paper and put in the refrigerator for three days.

Salty with liquid smoke

 

For those who like to experiment in the kitchen, you can make a "smoked" fish.

To create a culinary masterpiece you will need:

  • 3 fish;
  • 4 tbsp tea leaves, salt, liquid smoke (one of the main ingredients);
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar.

Gutted fish, clean their heads, wash and put tail up in the container.

After this, they begin to prepare the brine:

  1. Mix water with other products (except smoke), bring to a boil.
  2. Insist a third of an hour, filter.
  3. Smoke is added to the cooled broth.

A cold broth is poured into a jar, it is tightly closed and cleaned for three days in a refrigerator, occasionally shaking the cloudy mixture.

Salt mackerel without vinegar

For one fish you need 2 tbsp. special seasoning for salting fish, 5 bay leaves, 90g of salt.

How to cook:

  1. Clean fish, wash, dry, put in a container.
  2. Pour the rest of the ingredients in a liter of boiling water and cook for how many minutes.
  3. Pour the cooled solution into containers.
  4. Cork jars and keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

You can serve with light-salted cucumbers or Korean cabbage.

Spiced salting

 

This method can be used to salt any fish. The aromatic product is prepared within 12 hours.

For the ambassador you will need:

  • 2 fish;
  • 70 g of salt;
  • 50 ml of food grade 9% vinegar;
  • seasonings: allspice and black peppers, laurel, cloves - 2-3 pcs.
  • 2 onions;
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil.

What do we have to do:

  1. Mackerel: remove skin, remove bones. Cut the fillet into small slices, grate with salt and leave for 10 minutes.
  2. Onion: cut into rings.
  3. Marinade: mix oil, vinegar, seasonings.
  4. Salting: pepper the fish, put in a container and pour the marinade. Leave in the room for 10 hours, then put away for another couple of hours in the refrigerator.

According to this recipe, you can get aromatic and very tasty fish.

Onion peel with pickle

For the salting of three fish you will need 70g of salt, 2 tbsp. black tea, 1.5 liters of water, 40 g of sugar and 3 handfuls of husks from onions.

How to cook:

  1. Rinse onion peel thoroughly.
  2. Mix all ingredients except mackerel, boil, then cool and strain.
  3. Clean, rinse and put the fish in a container.
  4. Pour to the top with a cooled mixture.
  5. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for three days.
  6. In order for the mackerel to be equally colored on all sides and evenly salted, it must be turned over daily.

Before serving, cut and decorate with lemon slices and sprigs of greens.

Tea Pickled

 

For 2 mackerels, you need 4 tbsp each. black leaf tea, salt, sugar, a liter of water.

How to salt:

  1. Clean, wash and dry the carcass.
  2. Brew tea with boiling water when it cools down, add the remaining components of the recipe into it and mix thoroughly.
  3. Lower the mackerel into the liquid and put in the refrigerator for 4 days. Then remove the fish from the liquid and hang over the sink at night.

Two hour salted mackerel

Salted fish can be made in just a couple of hours.

To do this, you will need:

  • mackerel;
  • bulb;
  • a few grains of black pepper;
  • 45g salts;
  • 2 bay leaves;
  • glass of water.

First, prepare a pickle for salting mackerel:

  1. In boiling water, put onion, chopped into 4 parts, and seasonings.
  2. Cover and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.
  3. Turning off the gas and opening the lid, leave to cool completely.

Then they gut the fish, remove the tail, head, wash, dry and cut into small pieces.

Slices are put in jars, filled with a cooled mixture and cleaned in a cool place for a couple of hours.

Before serving, you can beautifully decorate with onion rings. The only drawback of such a dish is its short shelf life, therefore it is better not to harvest it for future use in this way.

Mackerel "in the morning"

 

You can salt the cabin in the evening, and in the morning already enjoy its delicate taste. For one fish, you need a tablespoon of salt and half a spoonful of sugar, as well as spices, vinegar and vegetable oil to taste.

How to cook:

  1. Pour small slices of mackerel into a mixture of spices and put them tightly in a jar.
  2. Place the filled containers in the refrigerator overnight.
  3. In the morning, wash off the remaining salt, dry, transfer to a clean container and pour oil-vinegar mixture.

After 2 hours, you can already try the fish.

Murmansk Fisherman's Recipe

For salting, it is advisable to use fresh mackerel, as it is more dense. In extreme cases, frozen fish caught in the fall (it is more oily than spring).

How to cook:

  1. Buy carcass of fish. Gut, remove the head, fins, tail. Make an incision along the back so as to remove the spine without damaging the abdomen. It turns out a whole piece of fillet, similar to a butterfly - it will be easier to put it this way, unlike divided in half. After removing the ribs and large bones, washed and removed the black film on the abdomen.
  2. Pickle. Coarse salt evenly sprinkle one inner half of the fillet, cover with the second part and rub the upper part. After that, lay in a container alternating with salted and fish layers. After 2-3 hours, everything is transferred to a colander and suspended in a cool place for 8-12 hours (the longer the fish hangs, the saltier it will be). After this, it is washed well, spices are poured inside (coriander grains, garlic cut into slices, ground white pepper or black grains (they can be removed later), a couple of bay leaves for one “butterfly” and cloves if desired). You can also stuff with dried herbs. The main thing is not to overdo it and not to overdo it with the quantity. After all, salted mackerel should have a recognizable taste of spices. After that, the halves are folded again and left for 2-3 hours.
  3. Freeze. Tightly twist and wrap parchment. It can be tied with string for strength. Then placed in a plastic bag and sent to the freezer.

Salted mackerel is stored for a long time, it can be eaten right after a day right in frozen form! Before serving, you need to cut into slices, remove the seasonings and the skin, which is removed very easily from frozen fish.

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