With the Mackerel run already here, we wanted to give everyone a few idea’s.
1 gallon water
1 cup salt
2 pounds Florida Spanish mackerel, butterfly fillets*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Combine water and salt; stir until salt is dissolved.
Marinate fish in brine for 30 minutes in refrigerator.
Remove fish from brine and pat dry.
1. This is the traditional way to preserve or dry salmon for the winter. The natives of Alaska still dry their salmon on large wooden racks for use during the winter.
2. We like to use King salmon or Sockeye but any salmon will work. Fillet your fish. Remove the belly on the salmon, it is too oily to make jerky.
3. Slice the fillets length wise into ½-inch wide strips. We have had salmon jerky made from whole fillets and it is good but it takes a couple of weeks to dry.
4. Make your brine. Water, Salt, brown sugar
5. Brine the strips for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from the brine and quickly rinse under cold running water.
7. If you use a rack, spray it with Pam to prevent sticking. Another method is to tie string on one end of the strip and hang the strips in the smokehouse if you have a smokehouse.
8. Smoke at 80degrees F. for 24 hours. The strips should be dry to the touch but raw in the middle.
9. Now begins the of finishing the drying process. We use a strong fan to blow a volume of air across the product for the next couple of days. Dry it until it has the consistency of beef jerky.
10. After it has finished drying, you should freeze the product. There are two reasons for freezing. One is to kill any parasites and the other is if you allow the strips to continue to dry it will continue to dry it will get so hard you cannot eat it.
Cedar plank grilled salmon or fish- you should add this one to your list barbecuing recipes/experiments to attempt, This process adds incredible flavor and texture. Grilling on a wooden plank can be very rewarding because a cedar plank allows a good stable surface to hold fish fillets on at the same time giving you that backyard smoked flavor you love.