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Posted: **Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:13 pm**

Hi All
Its 22:10 and have just filleted 40+ Mackerel, from sea to fillet within 30 mins.
They are now in a container on ice overnight, I would like to smoke a fare few of them, should I put them in a brine or salt dry before smoking?

Any guidance on the best way to treat them is most welcome, times etc, I was thinking of a full CSG smoke but I am unsure as to the best prep before smoking.

Regards Gazza.

Posted: **Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:20 pm**

Gaz,
you could try this threadhttp://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=7013&highlight=mackerel where I showed my ignorance when it comes to the use of brines :oops:

All the best

Ryan

Posted: **Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:22 pm**

Yes, you should salt them ASAP. My recommendation is to dry salt them, no sugar. Don't rinse the fish. Use sea salt, 70 grams per kilo gutted fish or 60 grams per kilo fillets (some people find this too salty, you might want to reduce the amount). Let stand for 24 hours. Drain, rinse quickly, pat dry and immediately smoke; hot or cold. Good luck!

Posted: **Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:42 pm**

Thanks Guys, so there are people awake and on site at these times!

I don't know why but I always seem to err towards dry curing, I brined a wild scottish salmon years ago before cold smoking and was not that impressed, xmas I dry cured and cold smoked and the results were excellent.
I think I will go with the dry cure but I may knock the time down to 4 hours and then feel the firmness, the salmon I did for 24 hours was too salty.
I do noy have facilities to hot smoke at present but as these fish have not cost me anything it may be a good time to experiment
Ideally I would like to cold smoke and slice as per salmon.
try a gravalax recipe.
cold smoke and then cook as kippers.
Also use the smoked ones for pate.
A few years ago I was given a glut of mackerel that were not very well prepared and I deciced to make the children fish cakes.
I put them through a kenwood mincer, the amazing thing for me was that when I dismantled the mincer 99% of the bones were wrapped arround the auger.
They did not last long!

If the mackerel return tomorrow then i need to go and get another freezer!!

Cheers Gazza

Posted: **Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:56 pm**

I don't know about parasites in mackerel. Maybe you should check on that? It may be necessary to freeze the fish.

Posted: **Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:02 pm**

Hot or cold smoked Kimgary?

My hot smoked Mackerel is here:

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/weblog ... php?id=645

It don't take a genius to see that the results are pretty bloomin' good!

24 hours in salt would make individual fillets unpalatable. Whole fish - Maybe?

Cold smoked? Do the same prep then a couple of cycles of the CSG. Oven cook them before use?

HTH

Phil

Added: I'm not trying to offend, and I'm sure that Grisell's method will work - after all, it does for him.
Which you would choose is probably dependent on my initial question: "Hot or cold smoked". However, I still think that he likes his stuff on the salty side. :wink:

Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:17 pm**

Hi All

I need a bigger fridge!

some of this mornings catch.

Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:22 pm**

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A few gutted and de-gilled for the barbecue.

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Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:34 pm**

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Drying off/

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Improvised smoker/

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Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:38 pm**

Just have to light the CSG, cover with plastic bag or cling film.

Note no fish in baskets, too hot to cold smoke so fish back on ice until tonight and will do a smoke overnight.

Going to go with Phil's brine and a 10 hour smoke.

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Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:38 pm**

Fantastic posts kimgary and superb workmanship.

Phil

Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:01 pm**

There's a great filleting method for Mackerel in the last video here:

http://www.filleting-fish.com/mackerel

Phil

Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:55 pm**

Thanks for the thumbs up Phil.

Roll on winter when i hope to make a cold/hot smoker.

I use that fish web site a lot but the twin fillet method looks much better than the way I do them at the moment!

Your hot smoked mackerel look superb.

Slightly linked because I think hot smoked mackerel on ciabatta would be devine, hence have you got a recipe/method for ciabatta that you are now happy with, I know you were working on one.

Regards Gazza.

Posted: **Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:39 pm**

Holy cow gaz! :shock:

You lucky bugger. Thanks for sharing those superb photos with us. Keep us posted on your results, it looks like a great haul.

All the best

Ryan

Posted: **Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:43 am**

grisell wrote:I don't know about parasites in mackerel. Maybe you should check on that? It may be necessary to freeze the fish.

That's when cold smoking of course. BTW, 24 hours with salt is way too much; Phil is right. I was thinking about salmon which is a much bigger fish. Sorry!