Pickled fish?

So I caught a few small bass and a couple small Northern pike the other day and decided to finally pickle some fish… so I followed the instructions on the pickling spice blend I bought and then realized:

Using the boiling brine and processing the jar in boiling water actually cook the fish and cooked fish tends to fall apart.

So I now have a jar of pickled cooked fish fragments.

How do other people do this?

I used bread-and-butter pickling spice blend, 1.25 cups of vinegar and 1.25 cups of sugar for this jar…

I don’t mind using a different recipe, I just want them to come out like pickled herring, yanno? Nice, solid, thick pieces of pickled fish.

Do you make them more like refrigerator pickles?

Any help, PM or here, would be appreciated.

I cold pack mine. Puts the store bought stuff to shame.

http://www.idofishing.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=fishrecipes&Number=843837&Forum=,,&Words=&Searchpage=1&Limit=100&Main=843837&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=13156&daterange=1&newerval=5&newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post843837

Also curious: do you need small Northerns to pickle so that the brine can dissolve the y-bones or doesn’t that matter?

The pair of pike I pickled were 14-16″, which were small pike but they seemed like the right size to pickle. Those two with 3 12″ largemouth JUST filled the pickle jar I used.

Size won’t matter on the bones. Be sure to freeze your pike first to eliminate any chance of tapeworms. I have a similar recipe and it works great on pike and suckers.

Pickled Fish

1 C. white vinegar
3 C. sugar
1 C. water
1 tsp. whole cloves
2 tsp. allspice(whole)
3 whole red peppers(dried)
1 tsp. powdered mustard
3 whole bay leaves
2 or 3 white onions
1 C. white port wine

Cut fish into small pieces and put in salt water strong enough to float an
egg. Let stand in refrigerator for 48 hours. Drain off salt water and discard.
Put in vinegar and let stand for 48 hours. Drain and discard vinegar. Boil re-
maining ingredients(except port wine). Cut up onions and put over fish in jars.
Cool brine a little, add port wine, then pour boiled brine over fish in jars. Let stand 2
days. It will be ready to eat. Can be made with fresh or frozen fish. Make
enough brine to cover fish and have some left over and stored for next batch.

This should do at least three 3-5# northerns….I think

Al

Thanks guys!! Can’t wait to try this again.

I will probably pop the jar I’ve got tomorrow and see how it goes… I’m kinda dreading the results, but we’ll see.

Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I follow a recipe posted by a user named “fishing machine” on this website. It was posted many years ago, but seems to reappear every winter when someone is looking for a recipe to do up some pike. I don’t have it handy right now (and won’t have time to post it tonight), but you may be able to get to it using the search function on ido. It is a cold pack method, and is heavy on wine and onions. I’ve been really successful with gills and pike. Never tried anything else (although one time someone gave me pickled catfish-yuck). One change that I do is that I don’t like pickling spice in with the fish-so I boil it in the brine for 20 minutes and strain it out.

Also, as mentioned before, make sure to freeze pike before you pickle it. I’ve heard some resources say for as long as a couple months. Unless you like tapeworms crawling around your body.

Make sure you freeze the pike 1st. They have tape worms than can survive the pickling process. Or so I’ve been told. I also use lemon juice rather than wine. Most people love it that way. Says it’s better than any store bought herring.

from K Goligowski in 2009 best ever. Make sure to freeze first.

Todd

NOTES: In this recipe do not hot brine Fish! Pickling spice can be purchased,

ready to use, from most grocery stores.

contains: (Mustard seed, Coriander, Bay Leaves, Allspice,

Red Pepper, Cloves, Cinnamon & Other Spices.)

Start with three northern pike, cleaned,filleted and cubed in chunks.(keep chunks to a 3/4 inch thickness.)

I have used many kinds of fish and most work well.

Cut off all lateral lines,fat,stomach lining,and freezer burn if using frozen fish.

Fresh fish is best.

makes approx. 2 quarts.

Step 1: Make salt brine.

1. 4 cups white vinegar.

2. 1 cup pickling salt.

3. Boil till dissolved.

4. Cool brine in fridge! Cold brine keeps fish firm.

5. Soak fish in brine for 72 hrs in refrigerator. (At this point I make and have ready to use the second brine.)

6. Drain brine from fish.

7. Rinse fish well in cold water.

8.Drain water from fish.

9.layer fish,onions,and spice in jars. (see below)

10. fill jars with cold finish brine.

Step 2:Make Finish brine.

1. 2 cups white vinegar.

2. 1 1/2 cups sugar.

3. Heat till dissolved.

4. Cool brine in fridge! Cold brine keeps fish firm.

5. Layer the rest of the recipe.

. Layer of fish (chunked in pieces)

. Layer of onions

. sprikle in Pickling spice between layers of fish. (total spice used is approx. 4 Tablespoons .)

.Add an extra dry chile pepper or two if you like heat.

This recipe is forgiving when it comes to the amounts fish, onions, and spice. so change amounts to your preference.

6. Refrigerate for one week.

Ready to eat.

So I guess the next question is

“Dare I even taste the ones I already made since I didn’t freeze the pike or the bass before I pickled them, or can I count on the fact that I basically boiled them to have killed any buggers?”

I’m guessing that dowsing them in boiling brine and then putting the jars in boiling water for 15 minutes should have killed anything off…

Anyone?

Why I am I having trouble with the pickling salt not dissolving in the vinegar?

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Why I am I having trouble with the pickling salt not dissolving in the vinegar?

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Try heating the vinegar and salt together [bring them to a gentle boil for 10 minutes] ahead of time and letting them cool before using the brine.

Quote:

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Quote:

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Why I am I having trouble with the pickling salt not dissolving in the vinegar?

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Try heating the vinegar and salt together [bring them to a gentle boil for 10 minutes] ahead of time and letting them cool before using the brine.

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Here is what is happening with my attempt at making pickled fish.

I am using Mortons Canning and Pickling Salt and white distilled vinegar. I am putting just the salt and vinegar in a saucepan together and bringing to a boil. The vinegar evaporates leaving the salt still in the bottom of the pan. The salt will not dissolve. What I ended up with is a house that reeks of vinegar and undissolved salt.

There must be something I am not doing correctly. Why won’t the salt dissolve?

I am using TG002 recipe from above. 4 cups vinegar and 1 cup salt is all that I am trying to boil

I don’t know why someone hasn’t already mentioned this.

Bass are poison and shouldn’t be consumed.

I stir my vinegar and salt until the salt is disolved. I using Mortons canning and pickling salt. Takes a couple of min so be patient.

My recipe never calls for salt and vinegar to mix and it is a pretty quick recipe. Try this one out and let me know if you like it.

Uncle Jim’s Pickled Fish
Brine:
1/2c non-iodized (canning or pickling) salt to each quart of water.
Cut fish into bite-sized pieces(Small Pieces get mor flavor)
Place fish pieces in a non-reactive bowl with Brine for 24 hours
Drain
Very lightly rinse with cold water.
Make the Pickling Solution below so it has time to cool on this day.
Cover with white vinegar for 12 hours.
Drain.

Pack fish and onion slices into the jars.
Pickling Solution for a gallon of fish:
4c. White Vinegar
3c. Sugar
1c. Moscato Wine
1/4c pickling spice
Dissolve sugar in white vinegar.
Heat to dissolve the sugar, but don’t boil.
Add Moscato Wine
Add pickling spice
Bring to a boil, then cool to room temperature or refrigerate for later use.
2 Raw onions – thinly sliced
Pack onion and fish pieces in layer in jars
Add cool pickling solution to cover fish pieces and close tightly.
Refrigerate for 4 days
KEEP REFRIGERATED

Make sure you use pickling salt as that will dissolve in the liquid

Craig, my grandfather gave me a similar recipe. I am on day 5 of soaking my fish pieces in a salt and vinegar brine and ready to do my rinse and ice bath. My concern is he said to do the soak at room temp. I have had his pickled fish since I was a kid and have never gotten sick and it is delicious. However my survival instincts are kicking in and the 5 days at room temp is making me nervous. Anybody else use this method? After the ice bath and put in jars with the actual delicious “syrup” as he calls it, it’s then kept in the refrigerator.