attention mackerel fishos
Was just wondering do you guys freeze them? do they freeze well enough to last say a month? we only ever ate them fresh or gave the fillets away.
i love the fillets just cooked in a coating mix on a fresh roll yum.
going to head out to our spot in a couple weeks where we know they love to hang out. Might keep a few extras if i know they freeze well enough.
any suggestions on freezing, steaking, filleting i would love to hear!
cheers Dean
i freeze them and i find they freeze ok..i smoke a few of them and eat them in egg and breadcrumb seem ok to me..
cheers rosco
Mate, after seeing a cryovac in action last week, i reckon that is the best way to do it
I think the best thing with freezing any fish is not to wash it in water beforehand and vacuum seal it.
Cheers,
Owen
The whole world's mad save thee & me (but I'm not too sure about thee)
x2 on the Cryovac but if you dont have one chop them into portions and put in a cliplock bag and zip up 95% of the way. Then get a bucket of water and submerse the bag bottom first in the water till you reach the zip lock then close off the rest. Submersing in water squeezes all the air out of the bag. They will last for a month no worries I reckon.
I cryovac and freeze. fillets come out fine several months later
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thanks guys some great ideas and suggestions there. cryovac seems the way to go.
Owen - you said not to wash in water. I normally wash the fillets in water just to get the blood n sinew etc off. Should i not do that? or dry the fillets after that before i freeze?
Rosco - what sort of smoker do you have? ive been looking at some but dont know which ones are good
cheers
back in the 90,s we used to get the spaniards off noosa, bring back esky full of fillets
we filleted the fish, then also filleted the fillets, so they were not a thick fillet, washed them in salt water, and put them in zip bags, froze when we got home
they kept for months, when defrosting we wouldnt let them thaw completely before cooking....found that if thawed completely they tended to dry out more so when cooked
rob - freeze skin on or off?
i normally skin bream before i freeze them. If i freeze them with skin on, it tends to go really rubbery when i cook it.
i guess the reason i ask is im not a huge fan of freezing tailor, and figure mackerel are similar to them.
But then again, its probably more the way ive been doing it.
Thanks again for all suggestions.
Mackeral are way firmer than Tailor mate. I always wash/rinse mine in saltwater before packaging. Just bring a bucket full home with ya. I normally skin off but the ones we caught at 1770 last week left the skin on for ease of ID in the frezzer.
kingray
we always skinned them after taking the 2 fillets off, then filleted the fillets
we left a meaty backbone which was great smoked and washed down with beer
I have frozen them and taken them all the way home from 1770 to southern NSW and they are good, this year I froze some in bags, when I left, I wrapped them in a pile of newspaper, rolled them in a sleeping bag, drove from 1770 to Sunshine Coast (4-5hours) on a plane for 1.5 hours, then 2 hours home from Sydney airport and they were still hard as a rock, defrosted and had them last night. . . . delicious. Still got Trout, Hussar and Emperor to go yet.
Last edited by Noelm; 26-09-2012 at 08:57 AM. Reason: sad spelling
cheers fellas well now i just gotta go and get em.
Kingcray
I smoked some Spanish last week, that I caught off Bustard Head in January and was frozen in zippy bags.It was filleted and skinned,It was very good and done in a little kipper smoker.
My theory is that water expands when you freeze it and could "break" the flesh in the process making it less firm or even mushy when thawed.Originally Posted by kingcray
I just wash it salty water after thawing if required. Still dry it before cooking.
Cheers,
Owen
The whole world's mad save thee & me (but I'm not too sure about thee)
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