How to salt mackerel at home - two salting methods

Mackerel can be salted in two ways. Of course, this is a conditional figure, because in fact, there are a lot of nuances. This means that there are only two main ways.

How to dry dry salt mackerel

After defrosting, the mackerel must be gutted. Cut off the tail, head, and lay it out like a book. Remove the ridge and prepare a container for salting. The container can be plastic, glass, or enamel.

Place the mackerel skin side down and sprinkle it with salt. Spread the salt evenly over the entire surface of the fish and fold it back in. Take the salt again and rub the outside of the mackerel with salt. One mackerel will require approximately 2 tbsp. l. salt.

Place the salted mackerel in a tray, cover with a tight lid, and put it in the refrigerator.

This is not the fastest salting method, and with the dry method, mackerel needs to be salted for 3-4 days. Be sure to drain the resulting liquid from the tray, and then dry-salted mackerel will delight you with its delicate taste.

Salted mackerel in brine

When salting mackerel in brine, you can already show your imagination and use various spices and techniques to improve the taste. Although, mackerel does not really need any improvements or additions. And yet, to please not only your stomach but also your eyes, you can make mackerel as smoked. It will taste like salted mackerel, but look like cold smoked mackerel. What is needed for that?

To salt 4 fish you need:

• 1.5 l. water;
• 150 gr. salt;
• 60 gr. Sahara;
• a couple of handfuls of onion peels, or 6 bags of black tea.
• spices: cloves, bay, peppercorns.

In this case, there is no need to cut off the tail of the fish. Cut off only the head and remove the entrails.

Boil the onion skins for a few minutes, add salt, sugar and spices to the water. There is no need to cook the husks for a long time, and 10 minutes of boiling is enough. After this, cover the pan with a lid and remove it from the stove. You need to wait until the brine cools and infuses.

When the brine has cooled, strain it through a sieve.

Take a three-liter bottle and lower the fish into it, tails up. Pour the brine over the fish and put the bottle in the refrigerator.

Whole mackerel is salted for 3-4 days, but the result is worth it. On the fourth day, remove the mackerel from the jar and hang it by the tail over the sink overnight.

The brine should drain and the fish should dry out a little. Before serving, brush the skin of the fish with vegetable oil, and no one will distinguish salted mackerel from smoked one.

A quick way to salt mackerel

If 3-4 days of pickling seems too long to you, you can speed up the process.

Cut the mackerel into pieces and fill them with brine, based on the ratio:

• for 1 liter of water – 100 g. salt

Do not put the fish in the refrigerator, and leave it to salt at room temperature for 12 hours.

You can shorten the salting process to 6 hours by adding 1 tbsp of water to the same amount of water. a spoonful of vinegar.

Watch the video - smoked mackerel in onion skins at home: