Freshening fish that's been frozen

[hteas]

I'm limited to summer for spearfishing. During the winter it's cold, it's dark, and sometimes it gets very, very stormy.

Therefore, I get enough fish in summer to help get me through the winter.
To revive fish that's been frozen for a while I thaw it and soak it in a saturated salt solution for about 30 seconds, then rinse it off and cook it. It isn't really fresh, but is much better that store-bought fish.

Anyone else try this to help with the winter blues?

 

[bobdonny]

I cant see how soaking it would make a difference.
I think as long as its cleaned and frozen as soon as possible after the catch it should be good for a few months deep freeze.

 

[hteas]

The few who have been willing to try it have all been pleased.

As soon as a piece of fish thaws, microbial activity re-starts. There's always some there. The salt blocks all such activity, even in well preserved fish. I rise mine, then seal with an inductrial vacuum packer. it helps even there.

 

[foxfish]

Very interesting!
I also vacuum pack my fish fillets, & lobster, scallops & squid but, I just defrost at room temp.. hmm I will give this a try..

 

[Huan]

Ever tried glazing your fish? It works for fillets and whole fish.
You need a bath full of really cold water and a large steel plate to hold the cold in.
You freeze the fish, once frozen you dip it into the water and put it back on the plastic covered plate.
Repeat.
This stop freezer burn and seals the fillet.
The faster you bring the fillet down to below 0º the better the freezing process works.
I read about a commercial salmon operation that used a brine freezer to freeze salmon in pouches, it would completely freeze a fish in less than 10 minutes.
and the fish was indistinguishable from fresh once it was thawed.

 

[hteas]

Huan,
I agree completely with the concept. I just don't have a flash freezer in the garage. The salmon processors here use flash freezers that they claim freeze whole red salmon in less than a minute. They then dip the whole fish in a sugar glaze and keep frozen at -20C.
My problem is I don't have the stuff to do that. My solution is to do the salt dip when thawing the fish. Because it works so well, I thought I'd pass it on.

 

[Huan]

Howard
I don't have a flash freezer either but I will try your salt revival method once I have sufficient fish built up.
I do glaze fish although we had an accident with the chest freezer about a month ago and lost everything that was frozen. Home reared pork, Bass, salmon, Tuna and Venison.
I am trying to rebuild it now.

 

[Mr. X]

Interesting, I'll give it try. Was surprised to see a couple of mullet in the freezer last week - along with the last of last seasons game birds, & some venison.

 

[hteas]

Mr X,
I've never tried it on anything terrestrial. Should be an intereswting experiment. Let us know how it goes.

Huan,
Ouch. You sure it won't happen again. It would be terrible to have to keep going out and collect more fish.

Howard