Mackerel is a tasty and healthy fish that is rarely used to cook hot dishes. But conservation with her is simply amazing. Salted mackerel will be an excellent snack, including for the holiday table. In our material we will tell how to pickle it at home.
The main nuances of cooking
The general technology of salting mackerel is simple: you need to wash the fish, clean it, cut it or use it whole, pour in the brine. However, many novice housewives who decide to cook this dish for the first time face various difficulties.
Professional chefs advise you to carefully and accurately perform each stage, keeping in mind the following algorithm for making salted mackerel:
- It is best to choose fish of medium or large size, since small fish have almost no fat, with the result that the dish will be very dry.
- Prepare mackerel. It is best to salt fresh, but if you purchased a frozen carcass, it should be sent to the refrigerator for a few hours before cooking.
- For salting is best to use a container made of ceramic or steel, which will preserve the taste of fish.
- For salting is best to choose large sea salt.
- To fish cooked faster, it is best to cut it into large pieces.
- After cooking brine or another mixture, it is necessary to soak the mackerel with it and put it in the refrigerator until it is fully cooked.
Top 5 delicious and simple recipes
Do you want to pickle mackerel at home? There are dozens of different recipes, we will tell about the most delicious and simple, which do not require much time and effort, but the snack will turn out delicious.
In brine
The average cooking time is about two days. Moreover, professionals are confident that in this case it is worth using less spices, because the taste of the fish can be emphasized with salt. And for those who prefer savory dishes, you can add a couple of tablespoons of mustard powder.
To prepare you need to take the following ingredients:
- 2 medium sized fish;
- 2 tsp. mustard;
- 7 p. spoons of salt;
- 1300 ml of water.
The process of making mackerel is very simple. First, you should make a brine, for which you need to boil water, pour in salt and mustard powder. For taste, you can add 0.5-1 spoon of black pepper, if you prefer spicy snacks.
Then prepare the fish: carefully cut the fish on the abdomen, remove all the bones and internal organs, separate the head and tail. After that, thoroughly wash the fish, divide it into several large parts. Then pour the brine, and it should be warm, close the container with mackerel lid. Do not forget to shake the container with fish several times a day, but do it carefully so that the mixture does not exfoliate. After 2-3 days, the appetizer is ready!
Spicy Ambassador
The cooking time of this dish is 10-12 hours. This dish is ideal for those who want to get a tasty snack and not spend a lot of time on it. If you start in the evening, by the afternoon the mackerel will be ready. In this recipe, we give the number of fish in grams, since the calculation of other components will depend on it.
You will need the following ingredients:
800 g of fish;- 1 l of water;
- 0.5 tsp coriander (it is better to use grains);
- 7 pieces carnations;
- 5 pieces. allspice;
- 5 pieces. laurel;
- 5 l. Of salt;
- 30 ml of vinegar 9%;
- 45 grams of sugar.
800 g of fish;The cooking method will be as follows:
- Wash the mackerel, remove the insides, chop off the tail and head.
- Prepare the pickle: boil water, add salt and other spices.
- Remove liquid from heat and cool to 45 degrees, add vinegar to the brine.
- Cut the carcass into several pieces, put in a glass jar.
- Fill the mackerel with brine so that the liquid covers all the fish.
- At night, put in the fridge.
Express cooking
On the threshold of the guests? In this case, you can use this recipe, since the preparation of mackerel is only 2.5 hours. There is one important caveat - with normal salting the fish is left in the refrigerator, in this case you need to put them in a warm place, because the heat accelerates the salting process.
For cooking you need:
- mackerel - 3 dressed carcasses;
- large sea salt - 3 tablespoons;
- sugar - 2 tsp;
- Carnation - 3 pcs .;
- a few sprigs of dried basil;
- 3 pcs. onions.
Preparation is quite simple:
- Wash the fish thoroughly, cut into pieces. And here it is very important to remember that pieces of mackerel should be no larger than 2.5 cm.
- Basil rub with cloves, add sugar.
- Place the fish pieces in a jar, sprinkling the layers with salt and chopped onion.
- Add spices.
- Close the container by inverting and shaking every hour.
Fresh-frozen mackerel recipe
Professional chefs are sure that the taste of the final dish will not change from what kind of fish you will use - fresh or frozen. And so that each piece of mackerel soaked as much as possible in brine, it is imperative to use oppression.
To prepare, take:
- 3 fish;
- 3 tsp. salt and sugar;
- 2 tsp. ground black pepper.
The cooking process is very simple. First, cut the fins, remove the tail and head, remove the insides, wash the fish. Be sure to dry the carcass with a paper towel, cut the mackerel in half. Sprinkle with spices. Place the carcass itself on a chopping board, and put the oppression on top, leaving it for 10 hours.
Mackerel Chunks
Cooking this dish takes quite a long time - about three days. And there is one nuance - in the preparation of brine you need to use cinnamon. Another point is that the salting liquid should be hot, but not so that the carcasses are cooked, although most recipes use brine with temperatures up to 40 degrees.
To make mackerel, you need the following ingredients:
- 600 g of fish;
- 1 l of water;
- 1 tsp cinnamon;
- several bay leaves;
- 200 g of salt;
- 10 pieces. black pepper.
First, prepare the fish itself: remove the fins, cut off the heads and tails, remove the insides, thoroughly wash the carcasses. Cut the fish into small pieces. In parallel with this, prepare the brine: boil water, add spices there, boil for 2-4 minutes. When the brine has cooled, fill them with carcass and leave for three days.
Cooking tips
The most important thing, as the cooks note, when salting mackerel is to prepare the fish itself. If you miss this moment, the dish will turn out to be tasteless. So, it is imperative to thoroughly wash the fish inside and outside, remove the scales.
Do not forget to remove the insides, especially the black bubble - it is the organs that give a feeling of bitterness.
But there are other difficulties that novice hostesses may face. The following recommendations will help you prepare a truly delicious snack:
- Under no circumstances should boiling brine be used. With the hot salting method, the temperature of the liquid should be about 40 degrees, with a cold one - no more than 15 degrees.
- If you want to quickly pickle fish, in any case, do not make it cold.
- There is one unusual way to cook mackerel - you need to pour it with pickle from cucumbers.
- In the case when the recipe says about the use of onions, the pieces must be stretched with your hands, so that they give the juice.
- It turned out a lot of mackerel and you do not want to throw it out? Just freeze the cooked carcass.
As you can see, salting mackerel is very simple, the main thing is to accurately select the ingredients and not to forget about the above tips.
