Cured Fish - A Bit Like Salami

demonboy

demonboy

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We were invited aboard 'Gilgamesh' the other night, an Italian couple who filled our bellies with pizza, foccacia and anchovies (all impossible to get here in India).

Pièce de résistance, however, was dried, cured fish. It had the texture of salami, was processed with sugar, salt, lemon and a large amount of herbs and spices, sliced really thin and served with little cubes of tomato. Wonderful.

It occurred to me that with the amount of fish we waste when trolling, this is the perfect solution to our excess piscean stocks. It's really easy and I'm in the process of trying it myself. I bought 1.5kg of kingfish this morning and I'm just undertaking the first stage of the process today.

Anyone else tried this? Anyone interested in the recipe?
 
Fish salami? I'll try it. Elder son sent me some salted liquorice from exotic Bristol - put them together and useful starters. Keep us up to date with your recipe trials.
 
Sounds good.
Have you sampled fish pickle?
A few years ago I stayed for Christmas with the parents of a friend at their home in upcountry Goa.
The Christmas eve feast was a huge spread of dishes including buffalo xacuti, pork vindalo, piles of fish-curry-rice and a turkey flown in from Bahrain.
But for me the magnet was a big jar of pickle with chunks of baby kingfish.
The fish is slowly cooked in vinegar with fruit, veggies and spices added, then allowed to cool in jars.
It will keep unrefrigerated in for months.
Yum.
 
demonboy said:
We were invited aboard 'Gilgamesh' the other night, an Italian couple who filled our bellies with pizza, foccacia and anchovies (all impossible to get here in India).

Pièce de résistance, however, was dried, cured fish. It had the texture of salami, was processed with sugar, salt, lemon and a large amount of herbs and spices, sliced really thin and served with little cubes of tomato. Wonderful.

It occurred to me that with the amount of fish we waste when trolling, this is the perfect solution to our excess piscean stocks. It's really easy and I'm in the process of trying it myself. I bought 1.5kg of kingfish this morning and I'm just undertaking the first stage of the process today.

Anyone else tried this? Anyone interested in the recipe?
Click to expand...
Sounds like pickled spada - a very Sicilian delicacy.

While you're there try balachaung - fantastic shrimp pickle - never been able to find any in Europe.
 
OK, here's the recipe. I'm on Day 2 of drying out so if there is anything I can add to the process that is different from below I'll let you know:


Ingredients
1 white game fish - fresh as you can
Sugar and salt in equal measures - I've been using brown sugar cos that's all I have to hand and it's recommended that you use rock salt if possible, which I'm not cos I can't get it here
Lemons or limes - cut in halves
Crushed herbs and spices - pepper, oregano, cinnamon, rosemary, herbs de provence, bay leaves, mustard seeds... basically anything you can get your hands on, all crushed up in a pestle and mortar

Process
1. Fillet the fish into reasonable sized fillets. I bought 1.5kg of kingfish, which was about 30cm in length, and filleted it into four lengthway slabs working around the backbone
2. Cover each fillet in the salt and sugar mix, shake excess off
3. Lay fillets on a rack with a bowl underneath and leave in a cool, dry place for at least two days. Turn every morning and evening. The excess moisture will drip into the bowl. I'm finding I'm having to add more sugar and salt to keep the drying process going.
4. When dried, rinse in water
5. Rub with lemon or lime halves
6. Season with herb mixture
7. Tie tightly with kitchen string, just like ham (criss-cross fishnet style)
8. Hang up to dry in shade for a further two days

Served thinly sliced like prosciutto with olive oil and small tomato pieces. The water from the tomato pieces is absorbed by the fish, adding to the flavour.
 
Mmmm

almost the same as gravelax and also Biltong cured,flavoured,spiced and air dried,let us know how your batch goes
 
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