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Dry Curing Fish?


SydneyIsSkyBlue

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Hi everyone, 

I've been experimenting with some fish recipes over the last few months and was told about dry curing fish (essentially to draw some surface moisture out and concentrate the flavours) - has anyone had any experience with this? Thoughts?


Looking forward to hearing your feedback.

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I do it as part of my job as a chef & I also do it at home as well for myself using various ingredients & methods compared to the video.

Im at work at the moment so cant go into detail but I am getting a write up ready for the cooking section as we speak of which curing, dehydrating, cold & hot smoking is a part of it.

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I like that dried Cod you can buy at a proper delicatessen, tastes great, looks pretty strange, but after a good soak in water it's nice, I have salt dried some fish to make a kind of jerky, tasted terrible.

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3 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

I do it as part of my job as a chef & I also do it at home as well for myself using various ingredients & methods compared to the video.

Im at work at the moment so cant go into detail but I am getting a write up ready for the cooking section as we speak of which curing, dehydrating, cold & hot smoking is a part of it.

Really looking forward to having a read, thanks mate!

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1 hour ago, noelm said:

I like that dried Cod you can buy a proper delicatessen, tastes great, looks pretty strange, but after a good soak in water it's nice, I have salt dried some fish to make a kind of jerky, tasted terrible.

Try making salt&air dried estuary bread&butter species.  Oily sea species do not taste good. Freshwater species usually have too many bones in the flesh.

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I reckon that salmon in the video was overcooked. That’s how my wife and mother-in-law like it but I like it pinker in the middle. Each to their own. Before I watched the video, I thought you were talking about salt dried fish. Having married into an Asian family, we eat a lot of “ikan bilis” - basically dried sprat or tiny whitebait that you fry up in the wok so they’re crunchy... a great accompaniment to many dishes... yum!

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56 minutes ago, Berleyguts said:

I reckon that salmon in the video was overcooked. That’s how my wife and mother-in-law like it but I like it pinker in the middle. Each to their own. Before I watched the video, I thought you were talking about salt dried fish. Having married into an Asian family, we eat a lot of “ikan bilis” - basically dried sprat or tiny whitebait that you fry up in the wok so they’re crunchy... a great accompaniment to many dishes... yum!

Now that I am home and had a chance to watch that video properly I have to agree with you Baz, the secret when pan frying salmon is to under cook it & as it rests the residual heat continues towards the centre but still medium rare.

I tend to cook by temperature a bit more & although I like seared salmon I much prefer it slow cooked to a core temperature of around 48-50c, itjust melts in your mouth.

 

Also I don't get why if you are searing fish why you would want to draw any moisture out at all, I want to keep it in as much as I can!!

To add, if I am going to a heap of salt/sugar fish its to cure it mainly & then to eat raw or if I am going to smoke it or on the case or hot smoking things like trout or even aussies salmon then brine it for 24hrs in a salt/sugar/water mix with some spices etc.

 

Plenty of Asian cultures just hang fish in the open or even dry it on the roof of their house. Some of those scenes worry me a bit though knowing about food safety etc, just like when I se those markets where all the meat is just hanging in the open with bugs etc flying around.

Anyway still in the process writing that article, its only taken me about 6 months :whistling:🙄😁

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3 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

 

Plenty of Asian cultures just hang fish in the open or even dry it on the roof of their house. Some of those scenes worry me a bit though knowing about food safety etc, just like when I se those markets where all the meat is just hanging in the open with bugs etc flying around.

Anyway still in the process writing that article, its only taken me about 6 months :whistling:🙄😁

Just ask for breathable plastic bags at Woolies bread section - they will protect the hanged fish from flies bugs etc and still allow the fish to dry and the liquid to leave the fish and bag. Though I do it only with salted fish.

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