1st attempt at Pickled Salmon w pics

[Hanrahan]

Well, it's been storming to beat hell here on the Charlottes, so I've been doing some experimenting. Did some salmon candy the other day and just finished my first batch of pickled salmon. Thanks to curly top. I pretty much followed his recipe with a couple minor differences.

Started with one coho from the freezer.

Cut and salted with skin on. Into the fridge for 24 hrs.


I removed the fish from the salt and rinsed and skinned it. It was mostly firm with the exception of some areas that were under the skin. So I resalted the freshly skinned side and left it for another 8 hrs. Rinsed again and then soaked in fresh water overnight, changing the water a few times. I tasted the fish after rinsing and it was too salty. I tasted it again an hour later and it was still to salty, so I left it over night. Next morning I pulled it out of the fresh water. It was still nice and firm and much less salty. Then I cut the fish into bite sized pieces.



Then I made the pickling mixture. I did 2:1 vinegar to sugar. I made 2 batches. One with apple cider vinegar and one with white vinegar, just to see the difference.
3 cups vinegar
1.5 cups white sugar
3 tbsp pickling spice
3 chopped garlic cloves
Heat vinegar and spices while disolving sugar. Cover and bring to a boil and then let cool with the lid on.



Cut some lemons and onion into slices. Layer onion, lemon and salmon into jars.



Pour cooled mixture into jars to cover fish and into the fridge they go.



That's all. One large coho made 10 half pint jars. It needs to stay refridgerated and I'm lead to believe it will last up to 6 months in the fridge. I can't wait to try it. If it turns out to be awful, I'll let you know. If you never see me post again, I did something wrong and it killed me.

[guest]

Hanrahan,
I noticed you did not add any water to your variation of the recipe, and used even more sugar, no Ginger ......... I Hope it turns out for you but she'll have a smack to it with the vinegar and no water. Surprised you found it too salty ...... but to each his own.

CT

[Hanrahan]

I mulled over adding the water. I read that using only vinegar helps it keep longer. Although I'm guessing that won't be much of an issue. It's my first go at it, so there are bound to be things for me to learn. I couldn't get ginger here on the Charlottes. Hasn't been a ferry for a while with the storm force winds. I sort of split the difference between your recipe and this one. http://www.dutchclarke.com/Recipes/PickledSalmon.htm
I have more fish in the freezer and will see how this batch goes. I might have to add water next time if it has too much "smack", but I use vinegar instead of salad dressing, so I do like the smack.

[thunderheart]

looking forward to hearing how it went ... lucky man for living on the charlottes .. i lived there for a few yrs ... i miss it

[tomahawk]

Looks great in the pictures, I slice mine thin and add water and a few more peppers, looking fwd to hearing how it is!

[bogman]

I made another batch this morning also. I used sockeye and a recipe from Sportfishing bc. Similar to that recipe only i used brown sugar mixed with salt for the dry salting process and then again with the apple cider vinegar. I put the pickling spice in a small baggy of cheese cloth and put the whole mix in 1 litre plastic yogurt containers. I found from past experience with pickled herring that with the small jars I had to open two at a time to get my fill. Yours will turn out great and its hard to screw it up.

[Hanrahan]

UPDATE: Well, I couldn't wait any more and opened up the first jar after 6 days. It's awesome and so far I'm still alive. Not too lip smacky with the straight vinegar. Fish is still nice and firm even after the 30 or so hours of soaking in fresh water after the salt brine. I'm very happy with it. I do think some ginger would have added a nice flavour though. Unfortunately not available at the time.