The best and simple recipes for salting mackerel at home
Mackerel is rightfully considered a fish for health and beauty. How to salt mackerel so that it remains as healthy and tasty as possible. Sea fish is good as an appetizer and as a main course, and with all kinds of side dishes, and in a salad.
Read also the article: how to salt lard yourself at home.
Mackerel is an affordable delicacy on your table
Mackerel is a low calorie marine creature with excellent taste 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 oil will help maintain youth and prolong life. Mackerel in the diet promotes vitality and well-being.
Health benefits of mackerel fish:
- normalizes cholesterol;
- increases hemoglobin in the blood;
- gives the body the necessary vitamins, micro and macro elements;
- promotes weight loss;
- improves metabolism;
- reduces the risk of blood clots;
- strengthens bone tissue;
- normalizes human hormonal levels;
- positively affects the quality of the skin;
- regulates the water-salt balance in the body;
- restores nerve cells;
- strengthens the immune system;
- improves vision;
- promotes brain activity;
- resists aging processes.
Mackerel on the table is the benefits, taste and satiety for the whole family. Salting mackerel at home will not be difficult.
How to choose the right mackerel for pickling
Mackerel fish - quality features:
- light bulging eyes;
- whole red gills;
- even color without yellowness and darkening;
- pleasant smell typical for sea fish;
- skin without deformation and damage.
When buying frozen mackerel, you should pay attention to ice icing. Ice should be transparent and homogeneous, without yellowness, dark spots, cracks and sagging. After defrosting, high-quality fish remains elastic, the bones during cutting should remain in place and keep up with the meat.
The storage place for frozen mackerel is the freezer.
Freshly frozen mackerel - the best salting recipes
Saltwater fish most often comes to shops and markets fresh-frozen. Fish and seafood are best preserved after shock freezing. Mackerel should be thawed slowly - in cold water or in the refrigerator, then useful substances, the taste and smell of sea fish remain in it. 
It is not recommended to defrost mackerel at elevated temperatures or in warm water. Along with such defrosting, the cooking process begins - the protein in the fish curls up, and the quality of the product decreases markedly.
Fish and seafood during defrosting should remain in a plastic bag or under cling film, since the surface of the meat is a favorable breeding ground for bacteria and microorganisms.
How to salt fresh frozen mackerel at home:
- Defrost fish properly.
- Remove fins, head and tail.
- Cut the abdomen.
- Cleanse the insides.
- Rinse the carcass in cold water.
- Remove any water remaining on the surface of the fish with a paper towel.
- You can salt mackerel in pieces or whole.
The permissible width of the pieces is from 2 to 3 cm, this size allows the meat to be quickly and well salted. For whole salting, you should choose medium-sized fish, it quickly salted, it is convenient to work with it in the kitchen.
Mackerel in homemade brine
How to salt mackerel? The brine can be spicy, for this, spices, sugar and spices are added during the preparation process - peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves and others according to personal taste and desire. Spicy Ambassador is a delicious and original recipe for pickling mackerel. This dish will decorate the festive table and diversify the everyday menu. You can pickle mackerel according to the classic recipe - in salted brine.
How to pickle mackerel in brine:
- Brine. To prepare the brine, you need to dissolve the salt in cold water, add sugar and spices, then boil the liquid for 2-3 minutes. The finished brine is cooled and filtered.
- Salting fish. Fish carcasses or pieces are placed in a glass container close to each other. Prepared fish is poured with chilled brine.
- Time for preparing. Pieces of mackerel are salted well in a day, then they should be transferred to a dry container - a plastic container or a glass jar. For whole fish, the cooking time should be increased to 3-4 days, depending on their quantity and the desired salting strength.
- Storage. The finished salty product is stored in the refrigerator, and it can be eaten for a week. Over a longer shelf life, mackerel can deteriorate.
Homemade salting of fish 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 fast
Sea fish is an indispensable 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. Saltwater fish and seafood are especially beneficial for children, adolescents and the elderly.
Mackerel belongs to the category of low-calorie diet foods, so it is recommended for people who monitor their weight.
Salting mackerel quickly and tasty can be dry. During the cooking process, the fish secretes 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. In addition, you can add a little universal seasoning with carrots and herbs, as well as a couple of tablespoons of mustard powder.
Fish pieces must be grated with a dry composition, folded into a glass or plastic container and refrigerated. After a day, you will get a medium-salted mackerel, and after two days the fish will become more salty and spicy.
Mackerel - the best salting recipes
Salty foods are recommended at the very beginning of the meal, as they stimulate the appetite and improve gastric secretion. Mackerel is a popular staple for a variety of interesting snacks. At feasts, it is good in itself, 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 prepared for 2-3 days.
- In onion skins. This recipe will produce mackerel with a light onion flavor.Onion pickle is prepared from one liter of water, 1 tablespoon of salt, half a tablespoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons of black leaf tea and a lot of onion husks - 3 or 4 handfuls full. Water with spices, sugar, salt, tea and onion skins is boiled at medium boil for 5-7 minutes. The cooled liquid is filtered through a fine sieve and the fish is poured. Within 12 hours, the mackerel should be at room temperature, then it is removed in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
- Under oppression. For this recipe, you will need the following products - 2 mackerels, 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of allspice and ground black pepper. For salting under pressure, you need a clean fish fillet, which should be cut from the bones and freed from the skin. The finished fillet is poured with a dry salting mixture. The fish is placed in the refrigerator under oppression for 7-8 hours, after which it is completely ready for consumption.
You can salt the whole mackerel - without gutting, with head and tail. The composition for salting two large fish includes: 4 tablespoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of dry dill and ground pepper, a little vegetable oil. All the ingredients, along with the fish, must be placed in a plastic bag, shake well and refrigerated 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 cooked in 1 hour!
Fast salting - stages:
- Wash the mackerel, gut and cut 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 needs to be freed from excess salt and put into a clean container for storage.
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. Storage of finished fish is permissible, both in the marinade, and without it.
Mackerel is a fragrant and delicious fish that is good on the table on weekdays and holidays. If the hostess knows how to salt mackerel deliciously at home, then she can surprise the guests and please loved ones with this unusual dish.
Read also the article: how to salt herring at home in brine recipe!