Spicy salted mackerel at home - 3 recipes
We somehow got used to salt herring, red fish and completely forgot about mackerel. And as it turned out in vain and not deserved. One has only to try at least one of the salted mackerel recipes I offer at home. Very tasty! That's just very good.
Before moving on to describing the cooking processes step by step, let's first have a little theory.
How Do I Pick a Good Fish? Oddly enough, fresh fish has no fishy smell. But its presence speaks of staleness. The skin should not show any pronounced spots, dark or light, with the exception of a natural mottled color. To the touch, the skin is covered with mucus, but always transparent, without blood. Clouded dry eyes are also a sign of a considerable age of the product; fresh fish have transparent, convex and bright eyes.
By itself, mackerel is a fatty, soft fish, but it is necessary to cut it, especially fresh-frozen one, so that it does not fall apart and keep the pieces intact. For the same reason, it is impossible to cut it very thinly, it will simply fall apart in your hands.
It is sometimes recommended to use liquid smoke, supposedly then the mackerel will taste like smoked. Perhaps it will be, but this is a deception of taste buds and extra chemistry for the body. The recipes below are already good enough to be spoiled by fake smoke.
The number of products is indicated for 1 fish of average weight, which is usually 500-600 grams. Therefore, to determine how many ingredients you need, first weigh your fish.
Spicy salted mackerel in onion skins and tea
After all, this is probably my favorite. Although, when I cooked for the first time, doubts did not leave me until the very end. Husks and tea were embarrassing. Completely in vain! The tea leaves and husks give it a beautiful color, while the rest of the ingredients give it an incomparable spicy taste.
Ingredients:
- mackerel - 1pc;
- onion - 1 head;
- husk - from 5 onions;
- black tea - 4 bags;
- sunflower oil - 50ml;
- a mixture of peppers (ground) - to taste;
- a mixture of peppers in grains - 0.5 tsp;
- salt - 3 tablespoons;
- sugar - 2 tablespoons;
- coriander (grain) - 0.5 tsp;
- bay leaf - 3 pcs;
- vinegar 9% - 3 tablespoons
How to cook:
Dry salted mackerel
Ingredients:
- mackerel - 1pc;
- onion - 1pc;
- salt - 3 tablespoons;
- sunflower oil - 60ml;
- balsamic or red wine vinegar - 1 tablespoon;
- a mixture of peppers (ground) - to taste;
- sugar - 1 tsp
How to salt:
Mackerel with mustard filling
Again the "wet" ambassador. The specialty of this recipe will be the mustard filling. You can take the usual Russian, or you can mix it with grain.
Ingredients:
- mackerel - 1pc;
- mustard - 1 tablespoon (+0.5 grain optional);
- salt - 5 tablespoons;
- peppercorns - 10-15 peas;
- bay leaf - 3 pcs;
- sugar - 1 tablespoon
How to do:
- Pour hot water from a kettle into a small saucepan - 1 liter. Add salt, sugar, pepper, lavrushka, which can be broken into smaller pieces. We stand for 5 minutes. We want the marinade to cool down a bit, as the next step is to add the mustard. Hot water will neutralize its taste, and we really need it.
- When the water is warm, add the mustard and stir. Leave it to brew and cool even more.
- While you can clean the fish. Unlike the previous two recipes, when the mackerel was cooked in pieces, this one will be marinated whole. This means that we need a fairly long vessel and an ordinary plastic bottle is ideal in such cases.
- So that you can lay the fish inside, we make an incision along the length, but not for the entire length, 12-15 centimeters will be enough. Pour the filling into a bottle and put it in the refrigerator, where we put it horizontally with a cut up.
- Mackerel is salted according to this recipe longer, for 3 days.
- Before serving, drain the liquid, and cut the fish into portioned pieces and garnish with lemon slices.
It is advisable to store salted mackerel at home for no longer than 5-7 days. But, take my word for it - for so long this yummy made with your own hands will not lie with you, it is very tasty!