salting IQF pillys

[ashh]

thaw before salting and then re-freeze? or just salt whilst still frozen?
and how long do they need to be left to get the benefit of salting?

[bondy99]

Salt them when they are not fozen, pack in layers, it will toughen the pillies, drain fluid and resalt maybe two or three times. Wrapped in bteween newspapers , no need to keep in fridge Mine took 3 to 4 days.

The salt needs to penetrate the flesh when fresh i.e. thawed if they have been frozen.

Caught heaps of tailor in the past with this method.

Peter

[aussiefool]

For me the first use of iqf pillies I do not salt down. If I have any left over then I put about 10 into a freezer bad a hand full of salt and giggle around to cover and freeze. do this till all are used.When I go beach fishing I take one bag out to defrost and leave the others in the freezer till I walk out the door. That way they stay frozen longer. If it is a hot bite on then the next bag goes into the kill bag and quickly defrost.
I'm sure everyone will have a different way of salting then down but that works for me.

[ashh]

awesome, thanks fellas

[ThePinkPanther]

Bondy 99 is on the money mate ........... as a bonus use the zip top plastic bags to store them and in each bag chuck in a tablespoon of olive oil. This keeps them nice and supple plus a great smell as well.

Don't put too much in or they will get a bit "saggy" and fall apart on you!

Stick to about twelve in each bag. You can either freeze them or toss 'em in the crisper when done.

Should get at least three months out of them and try to get the small size pillies and not the bloody monsters that are prettty common in the bait shops.

On the southside, Budds Bait and Tackle usually have a good supply of the little fellers!

[bondy99]

Bondy 99 is on the money mate ........... as a bonus use the zip top plastic bags to store them and in each bag chuck in a tablespoon of olive oil. This keeps them nice and supple plus a great smell as well.

Don't put too much in or they will get a bit "saggy" and fall apart on you!

Stick to about twelve in each bag. You can either freeze them or toss 'em in the crisper when done.

Should get at least three months out of them and try to get the small size pillies and not the bloody monsters that are prettty common in the bait shops.

On the southside, Budds Bait and Tackle usually have a good supply of the little fellers!

ThePinkPanther,

Thanks for the tip about olive oil . I was not aware of that one, I was having my pillies like an iron board after awhile.

[clarke]

do u use sea salt or plain table salt

[bondy99]

do u use sea salt or plain table salt

I just use standard plain old table salt. IMO sea salt and table salt is the same stuff except when iodine is added

[gr hilly]

pool salt does the job and its cheap

[bondy99]

never thought of that one, then again I don't have a pool. Thanks

[PNG1M]

Do a search...

Last year on 27/06/09 Lucky_Phil did a good run-down with photos on how to salt down mullet fillets, but he said the same method can be applied to pillies.

There are other bits & bobs too. I've never really done the salting down bit myself but when/if I do I'll be using some info from this forum.