Brine for fish at home mackerel. Delicious brine for mackerel - preparation methods
Mackerel is rightfully considered a fish for health and beauty. How to pickle mackerel so that it remains as healthy and tasty as possible. Sea fish is good as an appetizer and as a main course, with all kinds of side dishes, and in salad.
Mackerel - an affordable delicacy on your table
Mackerel is sea creature low calorie, excellent taste qualities and reasonable price. Its meat is nourishing and healthy, it contains vitamins and minerals, fatty acids and antioxidants, easily digestible protein and healthy salts. Mackerel fat will help maintain youth and prolong life. Mackerel in the diet promotes vital activity and good health.
Health benefits of mackerel fish:
- normalizes cholesterol;
- increases hemoglobin in the blood;
- gives the body the necessary vitamins, micro and macroelements;
- promotes ;
- improves metabolism;
- reduces the risk of blood clots;
- strengthens bone tissue;
- normalizes human hormonal levels;
- has a positive effect on skin quality;
- regulates water-salt balance in the body;
- restores nerve cells;
- strengthens the immune system;
- improves vision;
- promotes brain activity;
- resists the aging process.
Mackerel on the table is healthy, tasty and satiating for the whole family. Salting mackerel at home is not difficult.
How to choose the right mackerel for salting
Before you pickle mackerel at home, you need to purchase it. You should buy mackerel whole, as the freshness of the product is easily determined by the appearance of the fish's eyes and gills. It is difficult to choose fish without a head, since the main signs of freshness and quality are missing.
Mackerel fish – signs of quality:
- light bulging eyes;
- whole red gills;
- even color without yellowing or darkening;
- pleasant smell characteristic of sea fish;
- skin without deformation or damage.
When buying frozen mackerel, you should pay attention to the ice glaze. The ice should be transparent and homogeneous, without yellowness, dark spots, cracks and sagging. After defrosting, high-quality fish remains elastic; when cutting, the bones should remain in place and not lag behind the meat.
The place to store frozen mackerel is in the freezer.
Fresh frozen mackerel - the best salting recipes
Sea fish most often comes to stores and markets in fresh frozen form. Fish and seafood are best preserved after shock freezing. Mackerel should be defrosted slowly - cold water or in the refrigerator, then they remain in it useful substances, taste and smell of sea fish. 
It is not recommended to defrost mackerel when elevated temperature or in warm water. Along with this defrosting, the cooking process begins - the protein in the fish coagulates, and the quality of the product noticeably decreases.
Fish and seafood during defrosting should remain in a plastic bag or under cling film, since the surface of meat is a favorable environment for the proliferation of bacteria and microorganisms.
How to pickle fresh frozen mackerel at home:
The permissible width of the pieces is from 2 to 3 cm; this size allows the meat to be salted quickly and well. For whole salting, you should choose a medium-sized fish; it salts quickly and is convenient to work with in the kitchen. 
Mackerel in homemade brine
How to pickle mackerel? The brine can be spicy; for this purpose, spices, sugar and spices are added during the cooking process - peppercorns, cloves, bay leaf and others according to personal taste and desire. Spicy salting is delicious and original recipe pickling mackerel. This dish will decorate festive table and diversifies the daily menu. You can salt mackerel according to classic recipe- in salted brine.
How to pickle mackerel in brine:
Salting fish at home should be done in portions, since the shelf life of salted fish in the refrigerator is quite limited - no more than 5-7 days.
Salted mackerel - tasty, simple and quick
Sea fish is an essential product in the diet of a person of any age, replenishing vital and unique substances in the body. Mackerel is a source of protein, amino acids and vitamins. Sea fish and seafood are especially beneficial for children, teenagers and the elderly.
Mackerel belongs to the category of dietary products with low calorie content, so it is recommended for people who are watching their weight.
You can pickle mackerel quickly and tasty using the dry method. During the cooking process, the fish releases its own juice, in which it is salted. 
For 1 kg of mackerel, cut into pieces, you will need 2 large bay leaves, 10 black peppercorns, a teaspoon of sugar and 4 tablespoons of salt. Additionally, you can add a little universal seasoning with carrots and herbs, as well as a couple of spoons of mustard powder. 
Fish pieces must be rubbed with a dry mixture, placed in glass or plastic containers and placed in the refrigerator. After a day you will get medium-salted mackerel, and after two days the fish will become saltier and spicy.
Mackerel - the best pickling recipes
It is recommended to consume salty foods at the very beginning of the meal, as they stimulate the appetite and improve gastric secretion. Mackerel is a popular choice for a variety of interesting appetizers. It is good on its own at feasts; its original taste perfectly complements salads.
Recipes for salting mackerel at home:
- With liquid smoke. This recipe produces mackerel with a pleasant smoked aroma. For three medium-sized fish, you need a brine made from one liter of water with 4 tablespoons of salt, strong tea leaves, liquid smoke and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Liquid smoke is added to the cooled brine. The fish is placed in a glass container, filled with prepared brine and covered with a lid. Mackerel according to this recipe is cooked for 2-3 days.
You can salt the whole mackerel - without gutting, with head and tail. Ingredients for pickling two big fish includes: 4 tablespoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of dry dill and ground pepper, a little vegetable oil. All ingredients along with the fish must be placed in plastic bag, shake well and put in the refrigerator for several days. The finished fish must be washed in water, allowed to dry on paper and lightly rubbed with oil.
Salted mackerel in an hour
How to quickly pickle mackerel? Healthy and tasty salted mackerel can be prepared in 1 hour!
Quick salting - stages:
- Wash the mackerel, gut it and cut it into large pieces.
- For two carcasses you will need about half a kilogram of salt, on which the prepared pieces are laid out.
- After an hour, the fish is ready; it must be freed from excess salt and placed in a clean storage container.
A beautiful and tasty serving of salted mackerel on the table - in onion rings, with the addition of vegetable oil and lemon juice.
Mackerel meat is very fatty, so it does not absorb excess salt. Storing finished fish is permissible, either in marinade or without it.
Mackerel is a fragrant and delicious fish that is good on the table on weekdays and holidays. If the housewife knows how to pickle mackerel deliciously at home, she can surprise her guests and delight her loved ones with this unusual dish.
When choosing fish, always study it very carefully appearance. It is best to take a fish with a wide back, with a skin that has a beautiful bright shade, without damage and white plaque.
You need to defrost the fish in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf - no need to fill the fish with water or take it out into the air.
Wash the outside of the mackerel, make a longitudinal cut along the belly and carefully remove the insides. Carefully scrape out the dark film with a knife, rinse well again running water and dry a little.
After this, you can cut the mackerel into not very thick pieces.
To salt mackerel in brine, it is best to use classic spices - peppercorns and bay leaves. The recipe for salting mackerel in brine is very simple - boil the brine, cool it and pour over the fish.
Place the mackerel pieces in a glass jar - it is best to use half-liter or liter jars. Pour water into a saucepan, add salt, sugar, pepper and bay leaf and bring to a boil. The brine needs to be boiled for several minutes so that the salt and sugar are completely dissolved.
After this, the brine must be cooled to room temperature and poured over the fish.
Cover the jars with fish with a plastic lid or film and leave for about four hours. After this, you can put it in the refrigerator for a few more hours. Typically, a liter jar of mackerel is salted for six hours.
To make it convenient to store the fish, it is best to use not very large jars - take the amount of mackerel that you can eat at one time.
Salting mackerel at home will largely depend on your taste preferences. If you like lightly salted fish, then after six hours you can serve it to the table; for those who like more spicy and salty fish, there is another wonderful recipe.
If you like more flavorful fish, then this is the place for you. would be better suited recipe for salted mackerel pieces in spicy brine. Fish prepared in this way will be a wonderful appetizer for a holiday table.
The mackerel also needs to be cleaned, washed and cut into not very large pieces - 2-3 centimeters thick. Wash the lemon well in running water, then cut into two halves. Set half the lemon aside and cut the other half into thin slices or medium cubes.
In a separate bowl, mix salt and sugar, add peppercorns and chopped bay leaf. Onions cut into rings - not very thin.
Pour into a saucepan required quantity water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add all prepared spices to the water, except onion and lemon.
Mix the resulting brine well and leave until it cools completely. When the brine has cooled to room temperature, you can fill the jars.
Lay out the fish, lemon and onion in layers. Carefully pour brine on top and cover the jars with a lid or plastic wrap.
We salt mackerel at home in several stages. Leave for two to three hours room temperature, and then put it in the refrigerator.
If you remove the bones from the fish and salt only the fillets, the mackerel in brine will be ready in 5 hours. Medium pieces of mackerel - 4-5 centimeters thick, will be ready for consumption in a day, and small pieces - 2-3 centimeters can be tasted after 12 hours.
In the video on how to pickle mackerel, you can see all the stages of preparing this magnificent snack. If you are going to cook a large amount of fish, then try to stick to the proportions of salt and sugar - 2:1. You can use lemon instead lemon juice or a little fruit vinegar - this will make the fish more tender.
For spicy salting, you can use any spices to your taste - you can experiment and add ginger, garlic, dill or parsley. All vegetables that contain essential oils Perfect for making spicy sauce.
When the fish is completely ready, carefully remove it from the jar and set it on the table. Bon appetit!
The most best recipes pickles of mackerel, herring, capelin
Salted mackerel according to the recipe of the "Old Mariner"
As soon as the fish had melted a little, I washed it, cut off the head, tail, fins, removed the skin, carefully gutted it, cut it into 2 fillets along the spine, removing the spine and all the bones. Sprinkle with salt (about 1 tbsp) and place in a saucepan. The fish caught caviar - and that's it too! Place the saucepan in the refrigerator. until the morning. In the morning (12 hours passed), I lightly washed the fish under running water and laid it on paper napkins to dry. Meanwhile, I finely chopped the garlic (1 m clove for 1 fillet) and chopped the dill. Inner part I peppered the fillet halves with freshly ground black pepper, sprinkled with garlic, dill, and laid out pieces of bay leaves. You can stop there, but to add additional flavor, you can lightly coat the fish with spicy mustard, mayonnaise, butter. I mashed the caviar with a fork and also spread it evenly on the fillet. Next, press the two halves of the fillet tightly against each other and wrap each “pair” separately in a bag. Place in the freezer until evening. In the evening, remove the fish from the freezer. Lightly salted mackerel ready! Easy to cut, dense. Stored in the freezer. But not for long, as it is eaten quickly. Bon appetit!
Mackerel marinated at home!
You can't imagine how delicious it turned out! You will need 2 fish. Cut off the head and gut it.... (I asked my son to do this, I couldn’t do it myself, my hand didn’t rise. I even ran away from the kitchen so as not to look...). Wash well. Cut into pieces 1.5 cm thick. Pour a large glass (I have about 300 ml) of water into a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of salt. Stir well until the salt dissolves. Place our fish pieces there, I also put a couple of bay leaves. Cover with a plate and place some weight on top. Let's leave the fish to salt. I left it overnight. I put it in in the evening, in the morning, at about 10 o’clock, I already took it out. I was salting for about 12 hours... In the morning there was such a picture. Drain all the liquid... Place the fish in the same bowl again. Then, in the same bowl, put:
. Vinegar (if 9%, then 3 tbsp, if 5%, like mine, then 4-5 tbsp);
. black pepper, hot paprika - to taste;
. onion, cut into half rings - 1 large onion;
. 2 cloves of garlic (squeeze through a garlic press);
. rast. oil - 1 glass.
Mix everything well. Cover again with the same plate (all the fish should be in the marinade), press down and place a weight on top. Then put it in the refrigerator until evening to marinate well. You can stir it periodically. And in the evening you can eat! The mackerel turned out so delicious that it cannot be expressed in words! It seems to me that it is even tastier than herring... fattier, or something... With boiled potatoes and pickled onions... In general, my mouth is already watering again... Bon appetit!
How to pickle mackerel - cooking recipes!
In this marinade, mackerel turns out tastier than red fish! Tender pickled mackerel will simply melt in your mouth... Wonderful salted mackerel can be prepared at home. There are many cooking recipes, some of which we will consider.
Recipe No. 1
. Mackerel - 1 kilogram.
To prepare marinade for 1 liter of water:
. Salt - 5 soup spoons;
. Granulated sugar - 3 soup spoons;
. Dry mustard - 1 soup spoon;
. Bay leaf - 6 pieces;
. Cloves - 2 pieces;
. Vegetable oil - 2 soup spoons.
Preparation: The fish must be cleaned, the entrails and head removed, the tail and fins cut off. In a separate pan, cook the marinade from the proposed ingredients, which must be cooled. After the marinade has cooled, put the fish in it, put a plate and pressure on top of the mackerel and in the cold, in two or three days the fish will be ready. The fish can be turned over periodically.
Recipe No. 2
. Mackerel - 3 pieces.
For marinade per 1 liter of water:
. Tea leaves - 4 soup spoons;
. Salt - 4 soup spoons;
. Granulated sugar - 2 soup spoons;
. Liquid smoke - 4 soup spoons.
Preparation: First defrost the frozen mackerel, then cut off the tail, head, clean the entrails, rinse well and put it in a two-liter jar, the tails should be at the top. Prepare the marinade separately. To do this, add tea leaves, granulated sugar, and salt to the water and bring everything to a boil. After which you need to strain, let it cool and then add liquid smoke to the marinade. Pour this marinade over the fish, cover with a plastic lid and refrigerate for about three days. Periodically, the jar of mackerel needs to be shaken. After the time has passed, the fish can be consumed by cutting into pieces.
Recipe No. 3
. Mackerel - 500 grams;
. Salt - 3 soup spoons;
. Sugar - 3 soup spoons;
. Black pepper.
Preparation: Thaw fresh frozen fish, then clean it, removing the head, tail and entrails. After this, rinse it well and cut it into portions. Then each piece of fish must be salted, peppered and sugared, placed in a jar or some other container for salting fish. Between each row, salt the fish, sprinkle with granulated sugar and pepper. You need to put the mackerel in the cold and in about a day or two the fish will be ready.
Recipe No. 4
. Mackerel - 3 kilograms.
Marinade:
. Water - 1 liter;
. Granulated sugar - 3 soup spoons;
. Salt - 6 soup spoons;
. Bay leaf - 3 pieces;
. Black peppercorns - 9;
. Allspice - 3 peas;
. Coriander - half a teaspoon.
Preparation: It is necessary to defrost and clean the mackerel, that is, remove the entrails, remove the head, fins and tail. After this, rinse the fish well and place it in a pan in a jack. Separately prepare the marinade from the proposed ingredients. Let it cool and pour the mackerel on top; if there is not enough water, you can add boiled salted and cooled water. Place a plate and weight on top of the fish. Place in a cool place for 5 days. Bon appetit!
How to cook mackerel home salting?
This recipe is dedicated to lovers of delicious salted mackerel. It is simple; even an avid bachelor who does not have special cooking skills can salt mackerel using it. Ingredients:
. Mackerel;
. tea;
. salt;
. sugar.
Preparation: So, take two large frozen mackerel, defrost under running water, wash, cut off the head, and also remove the insides straight into the trash. We wash the fish inside and out, remove the moisture with paper towels and start cooking the brine. How to cook brine, also known as marinade: pour four tablespoons of tea with a liter of boiling water. It turns out to be such a strong tea in which our defrosted mackerel will swim. Add four tablespoons of salt and the same amount of sugar to the tea (cooled) and stir. Place the mackerel in this salty-sweet tea brine and store it in the refrigerator for four whole days. Then we remove it from the marinade, hang it in the kitchen over the sink overnight, remove it in the morning and put it in the refrigerator, having first wrapped the fish in a paper bag. All. The fish is ready! Cut it and try it. Bon appetit!
Let's marinate mackerel! You'll lick your fingers!
Take 3 pieces of frozen mackerel, wash, clean and cut into pieces. The main thing in this matter is not to let the fish UNFROST, we carry out all manipulations with frozen mackerel!! Peel and chop 3 onions and 3 cloves of garlic. Place the mackerel, onion and garlic in a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 heaping tablespoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of oil, ground hot pepper, allspice, bay leaf. Mix carefully. Place tightly in a jar, cover with a lid and refrigerate for a day. And a day later we take out our fish and eat it.
Home-salted herring + marinades and brines!
Herring should be purchased with a thick back (fatty). If it is frozen, then it should be completely defrosted before salting. And it's better not to wash it. And now a few recipes: Marinade 1:
. Boiled water (1 glass);
. vegetable oil - 3 tbsp;
. black peppercorns;
. bay leaf or several;
. salt to taste.
Boil it all, cool it and add a little vinegar. Place the herring, cover tightly with a lid and leave in the room for 4-5 hours, then in the refrigerator for another 5 hours, or better yet, leave it overnight.
Marinade 2:
. For 1 liter of water - 1.5 tbsp. spoons of salt;
. 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar;
. bay leaf;
. black peppercorns;
. cardamom;
. garlic;
. 1-2 flowers (dried) cloves.
Bring all this to a boil and cool. Pour over the herring so that it is completely covered with marinade. Place the container in the refrigerator immediately (in winter, you can put it on the balcony). After two days you can eat.
Pickle 3:
. 4 tbsp. spoons of salt;
. 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar per 1 liter. water (this is about 2-3 herring).
Place the fish in the cooled brine for 1 day. Basically, no hassle. This method can be used to salt not only herring, but also mackerel.
Pickle 4:
. 2 tbsp. spoons of salt;
. 1 tbsp. dissolve a spoonful of sugar in 0.5 liters of hot boiled water;
. add bay leaf;
. allspice peas;
. coriander (bunches).
Sue everything. Cut the herring into medium pieces, place in a bowl on its side, pour over the chilled marinade. Cover with a plate and place a jar of water on top like a press. Leave in a cool place for 1 day.
Second recipe:
. 6 table. spoons of salt;
. 1 table. spoon of sugar;
. seasonings are the same for 1 liter of water.
The rest is done the same way. Place the ungutted fish in a three-liter jar and fill it with brine: for 1 liter of boiled chilled water you need 5 tablespoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2-3 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of allspice peas. When the brine has already been poured into the jar, place 1 tablespoon of dry mustard on top. Bon appetit!
Our own salted herring!
. Fresh frozen herring - (3-4 pieces per 3 liter jar);
. salt - 3 tbsp. spoons;
. sugar - 5 tbsp. spoon;
. laurel - 2 pcs.
Preparation: Boil 1 liter. water. Add 3 tbsp to boiling water. spoons of salt and 5 tablespoons of sugar. Place the resulting brine on a window or balcony until it cools completely. Completely defrost and wash the herring. Place the herring in a 2 or 3 liter jar and fill with brine. Add 2 bay leaves. Place in the refrigerator for 2 days. After 2 days, the herring is ready to eat. P.S. Personally, I use Norwegian herring, in my opinion it tastes better than Atlantic herring. At all this ambassador it turns out no worse and even better than that one sl / s herring, which is sold in the store.
Herring is an incomparable way of pickling!
We have salted herring using this recipe many, many times and we have always been pleased with the result!! We take 1 kg. fresh frozen herring good quality. Gut, remove skin and cut into pieces. Place the fish in an enamel saucepan.
Prepare the filling in advance:
. 3 onions cut into rings;
. 10-12 tbsp. water;
. 1 tsp Sahara;
. 1-2 tbsp. salt (without a slide);
. 0.5 tsp ground black pepper;
. 1 dec. l. vinegar (essence); . 2 tbsp. l. ketchup;
. 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil.
Preparation: Boil everything together with the onion, cool and pour over the fish. Place in the refrigerator. In a day, the delicious herring will be ready! Well, very tasty!! I used table vinegar. Bon appetit!
Delicious and quick marinated herring!
●herring - 2 pcs.,
●onions - 1-2 large sizes,
●apple vinegar - 5 tbsp.,
●salt - 2 tsp,
●sugar - 0.5 tsp,
●water - 1 glass,
●peppercorns - 10 pcs.,
●a pinch of coriander seeds.
Preparation: First, prepare the marinade - add sugar, salt, apple cider vinegar to the water and heat a little (do not boil) until the ingredients are dissolved in it. While the marinade is cooling, clean the herring and cut into pieces, and also cut the onion into rings. Take a jar and place the herring in it, adding onions, peppercorns and coriander alternately as you place it. Pour the now cooled marinade over it, cover it with a lid and leave it somewhere away for a day. In a day, the delicious pickled herring will be ready. Bon appetit!
Gentle salted herring!
5 pieces fresh-frozen herring
Brine: For 1 liter of water we take 5 tablespoons (without a slide)
- salt 3 tablespoons (without slide)
- sugar
- 12-15 grains of black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon of dry mustard seeds (you can use 1 teaspoon of dry mustard) - mustard gives hardness, or rather elasticity, to the herring, it will not be soft, as we sometimes get in the store.
- 6 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Five pieces of herring fit into a 3-liter jar, it’s okay that the tails are still sticking out, we’ll press them down. It took 2 liters of water, so we do a double calculation. Pour water into a saucepan, boil along with salt and sugar. Let cool. Place all the spices in a saucepan and fill with cooled brine. Press the tails under the water and close with a lid. Place in a cool place. You can eat tomorrow. If you add cloves, you will get a spicy salted herring. But we don’t like this kind of thing. We need gentle salting. Bon appetit!
Spicy dry salted sprat!
. Sprat (fresh) - 1 kg;
. Coriander (grains) - 0.25 tsp;
. Salt (with a small slide; shallow spoon) - 3 tbsp;
. Black pepper (peas) - 1 tsp;
. Allspice (peas) - 4-5 pcs.;
. Bay leaf - 3-4 pcs.;
. Ginger (ground; pinch);
. Cloves (buds) - 4-5 pcs.
Preparation: Rinse the sprat thoroughly under running water. Prepare the pickling mixture: Crush the spices in a mortar, but not very finely, then mix with salt. Remember that iodized or fine salt is not used for salting fish. Sprinkle the sprat with the pickling mixture and stir. It is better to do this in a wide container, such as an enamel bowl. Do not use jars or other narrow dishes; the sprat in them is salted unevenly and quickly deteriorates. Cover the fish with a plate and place a small weight on top. Place in a cool place. In 12 hours, the delicious fish will be ready!
Lightly salted capelin!
Ingredients for brine (per 1 liter of water):
. 3 tbsp. salt;
. 2 tbsp. Sahara;
. 5 bay leaves;
. 1 tsp each allspice, cloves and coriander.
Preparation: Wash the capelin and put it in a jar. Bring the brine to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Then cool and pour the fish into jars. You can add 1 tsp. vinegar essence per 1-liter jar of fish. Then the ambassador will be spicy. But you don't have to add it. Better a couple of tbsp. sunflower oil. And in the refrigerator for a day. Bon appetit!
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Hello, dear readers. Today I will write you a recipe for spicy salted mackerel. But first of all, I want to congratulate you on your apple savior. This recipe produces tasty lightly salted mackerel. It seems like it’s summer, the season for fresh vegetables and fruits, but sometimes you want some salty fish. Well, of course, of all the fish, I prefer salted mackerel. Yesterday we went to the store with the children, there was no mackerel, we looked at the salted herring, but somehow its appearance did not inspire confidence at all. And as they say in the summer, if you get poisoned in the summer, there’s nothing to do at all. But the freshly frozen mackerel turned out to look good, and there was no foreign smell in it. So, after thinking a little, we decided to buy some mackerel. Moreover, I don’t want salted mackerel, I want tasty and lightly salted mackerel.
When we went home we also bought some potatoes to go with the fish. We came home and immediately started salting the mackerel. This recipe is more suitable for those who do not like to wait a long time for the fish to cook. When my dad comes to visit, I specially prepare this spicy-salted mackerel for him; it’s absolutely delicious with potatoes. Dad loves it, he is ready to eat salted mackerel even for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But, of course, everything is good in moderation.
One of his good friends, Vera Petrovna, shared a recipe for spicy salted mackerel with my husband; she told me how she makes mackerel and advised me to try salting it. We tried it and we liked it. Now, at any feast, spicy salted mackerel is always on the table. Moreover, the recipe is very simple and does not require huge costs and effort to prepare.
But, not only is it simple, mackerel also cooks quite quickly. We salted the mackerel at 19:00, and in the morning it was already tasty lightly salted mackerel. Already at 10 o'clock we ate mackerel with potatoes. And according to this recipe, you can not only salt mackerel. For example, we tried it, it also turns out very tasty. But mackerel is still tastier.
- 2 mackerel
- 1 liter of water
- 4 tbsp. spoons of salt
- 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar
- 2 tbsp. spoons of vinegar 9%
- 5 bay leaves
- 5 allspice
- 5 carnations
I have 2 mackerel, they were tightened to 850 grams, but taking into account the fact that they were frozen, exactly 700 grams remained after defrosting. Moreover, this recipe is so original, but the prepared brine is enough for 2-3 mackerel, and if it is not large, like mine this time, then for all four. I wash mackerel under running water. These are my fish.
Now we need to take a saucepan in which we will prepare the brine. Pour 1 liter of water, measure out into a liter jar. Throw spices into the water. It is advisable to add the spices all at once; when they boil, the brine becomes much more aromatic. True, they immediately added the bay leaf and allspice, and the cloves were already added when the brine was boiling; there was so much dust and spices in the house until they found the cloves and the brine was already boiling. We also add sugar to the brine.
Place the pan with brine on the fire. In addition to spices and sugar, you need to add salt to the mackerel brine. Spoons should not be particularly heaped. Just scoop up salt with a spoon and pour it into the water.
We wait until the water with spices, salt and sugar boils. The brine boils for just a couple of minutes. Now set it aside from the heat until it cools down, to approximately 40 degrees. You can pour it from a pan into a bowl, for example. So that the brine cools faster.
In the meantime, let's fish. Well, here everything is generally simple, we cut off the head and tail, and cut the mackerel into pieces of about 2.5 cm. It pickles in brine better and faster this way. We also remove the middle of the mackerel and thoroughly wash the pieces to remove any blood. Because if you don’t wash the mackerel and remove the middle, the brine will be cloudy and the fish itself will taste bitter. The fish is fresh, beautiful, without any unpleasant odors.
Now I take the jar. For 2 mackerel I take a 2 liter jar. I randomly drop pieces of chopped fish into the jar. When the brine for preparing spiced mackerel has cooled, I add two tablespoons of 9% vinegar. Of course, there is a little sediment in the brine, from the salt, sediment from the water, but we don’t pour the brine out completely. Pour the brine into the jar so that the mackerel is covered with brine, and simply pour out the sediment.
Now I fill the mackerel, placed in a jar, with our cooled brine. Under no circumstances should you pour hot brine over the fish, otherwise you will end up with boiled mackerel instead of salted mackerel. Fill the fish in the jar with brine so that it is completely covered with our brine. If you have three small mackerel, then don't worry, 2 liter jar quite suitable for pickling.
You see I have 2 mackerel, and only half a jar, so the third one will still fit. And there will be enough brine too. The jar will just be full and that’s it. Well, if for some reason you don’t even have enough brine, then don’t be upset, prepare another portion of brine or prepare brine for half a serving, simply dividing the ingredients for the brine in half. The main thing here is that the fish is in brine.
That's it, I leave the fish on kitchen table at room temperature. I don’t cover the jar with a lid; we don’t have flies in our apartment. At 19:00 they salted it. In the morning we had to go to the hospital, we are now visiting doctors for kindergarten. We returned at 10 o'clock in the morning, the mackerel was just what we needed, tasty, lightly salted, spicy. We just ate it, and then covered the jar with a lid and put the rest in the refrigerator. This is what spicy salted mackerel looks like in a jar on the second day. Spices and some fish oil floated to the top. There is a small sediment, but overall the brine is clear. I got a little sediment when I was rearranging the jar for photography. Mackerel smells very tasty.
This is very quick recipe spicy salted mackerel. Moreover, the fish turns out lightly salted, tasty and spicy. It doesn’t last long in our refrigerator; it’s eaten almost immediately. The pieces turned out beautiful, smooth, even. Honestly, it all depends on the mackerel, sometimes you take a fish, but it’s frozen or something, the brine is cloudy, the fish is also not very beautiful, it just “falls apart” and doesn’t cut.
And if the fish has not been defrosted several times and then not frozen, it looks beautiful both fresh and salted, and it turns out delicious. Very convenient, put beautiful pieces on a plate and serve, no need to cut.
The mackerel was cooked within a day, it’s warm now, and the pieces of fish were not large. If, of course, you immediately put the jar of fish in the refrigerator, then the fish will take two days to cook, or even more. It will marinate faster in the warmth. I’m not always willing to wait a long time if I want fish. Well, of course, except in cases where I went and bought it at the store, but homemade fish is homemade.
Last year, this fish was salted for my son’s birthday. The mackerel stood warm for a day, then it was laid out beautifully on a plate and put in the refrigerator until the evening, and in the evening there was a feast. Yes, and on New Year salted mackerel. For several years now, it has been a tradition in our family to salt mackerel on holidays, and not only on holidays, but also on weekdays, when you want fish. I wish you bon appetit too.
To prepare the brine in which the mackerel will be salted, you need to add salt, sugar, and spices to the water. Next, there are two possible options.
The first option: first bring the brine with salt, sugar and all the spices to a boil, let it cool and then pour it over the prepared fish. This method is suitable when you want to get a more spicy mackerel in the end, and also when tea leaves and/or onion peels are added to the brine. Brewing black tea and onion skins paint the surface of mackerel an appetizing golden color. I’ll show you salting mackerel using this example.
Second option: simply mix all the ingredients in water and immediately pour brine over the mackerel.
When choosing mackerel, give preference to beautiful fish: not crooked, with intact skin, strong and not falling apart. It is advisable to take fattier mackerel, and by fatty we mean fish that are thick in appearance and to the touch, and not fish with yellow greasy spots on the surface!
Prepare the mackerel. If it is frozen, then defrost it. Despite the fact that in industry, or more precisely according to GOST, it is allowed to salt whole ungutted fish, for home options for salting mackerel, I still advise salting headless and gutted fish. Moreover, when gutting, remove not only the intestinal part, but also black films and everything that can spoil the taste of the finished fish.
Place the mackerel in a suitable glass or enamel container. Plastic food containers work too. The main thing is that the fish fits freely in them and is completely covered with brine.
In my version of salting, I cut off the tail part so that the fish would fit better in the chosen container. Airtight containers are very convenient, they can be turned over or shaken without the risk of spilling.
Pour the cooled and strained aromatic brine over the mackerel. If desired and to taste, you can add more of the same, but fresh spices.
Let the mackerel in the brine first sit at room temperature for three hours, and then place it in the refrigerator for the time needed for brining. It is recommended to salt mackerel at home for at least two days, and preferably three. Ready mackerel for serving can simply be cut into portions or filleted. Salted mackerel – great ingredient for snacks, for example, sandwiches and for salads, for example, “under a fur coat”.
