Preserved Fish Fillets

In the last blog post, I discussed fish species diversity in our diet.
The less celebrated by catches very much lend themselves to low income survival. They generally aren't a compromise. They can make for delicious, good value meals.

Some of the more affordable fish species can be quite strong in terms of flavour. Many people's tastes aren't conditioned to strong fish flavours, but preserving can make a huge difference as well as making a your fish go further.

Preserving in oil and vinegar is a particularly good way of dealing with dark oily fish. The method outlined below, is one that I developed for processing blue mackerel, which are abundant in Southern NSW where we spend a fair bit of time.

If you're buying whole fish, ask your fishmonger to head and clean them for you. It will save a lot of time and messiness.

Blue mackerel are particularly easy to fillet and best prepared with the skin on. Fillet with a

Preserved mackerel fillets

sharp, long, narrow flexible filleting knife, held flat just above the tail, with the fish flat on the board. Make an incision in the fillet and run the knife held at an angle of around 5 degrees from tail to gills. The fillet will come off in one easy stroke.

Slice under the ribs from the lateral line to the pectoral fins, in order to remove them. Feel for any remaining bones along the lateral line and pull them out with pin boning tweezers or a pair of needle nose pliers. Trim off any fins and there you have a boneless fillet, very easy.

Grilled preserved sardines

Other oily dark fleshed fish that preserve well include: bonito, sardines (whole gut in, is my preference), mullet, trevally, herrings (Tommy ruff), trout, warehou, eel and small varieties of tuna such as mack tuna and skipjack.

The process of preserving is extremely simple. I take enough rectangular takeaway containers to fit the number of fillets. I place 3 or 4 fillets skin down on the bottom of the container, then sprinkle the flesh with salt and plenty of black pepper, then rub it in gently. Pour oil over the top of the fillets. Just oil them generously, don't cover them. I tend to use cheap supermarket brand olive oil because I like the flavour, but peanut oil or any number of cold pressed, cholesterol free oils will work. I say cold pressed as oils that aren't cold pressed, tend to be extracted using solvents.

Repeat the process up to 3 layers, depending on the size of the fillets. Leave a gap at the top of the container between the lid and the fillets. You need this to cover the fillets. Once the fillets are all seasoned and oiled, pour cheap cider or white wine vinegar over them until they are completely covered. 

It's all as simple as that really. All you have to do is secure the lids on the containers and place them in the fridge for at least 4 days. We usually ensure that we eat every portion before 8 days have passed. I don't like to push the boundaries in terms of food safety, plus we have found that the fillets become soft after that period of time.

Cooking the fillets is a very simple affair. We pre-heat a cast iron stove-top grill until

Under the grill

absolutely sizzling then place the fillets on flesh down until cooked right through. DO NOT turn them and don't move them until cooked through. The flesh needs to char a little to prevent sticking. That leaves the skin. We are lucky enough to have a very hot gas flame salamander type grill in our oven. We simply take the cast iron grill off the stove top and place it under the flame grill for a few minutes until the skin blisters and crisps. If you don't have one, a small, cheap butane blow torch is very useful. The fish is completely cooked on the cast iron grill. A little bit of blow torch action will finish the skin off perfectly and make you look really fancy like someone on a wanky cooking show. 

If you don't have a cast iron grill, a heavy frying pan or a camp oven will do the job. When the the fillets are cooked, slide them off with a fish slice. Plate them up with some good quality olive oil drizzled over them and serve with a simple Mediterranean style salad of lettuce, cucumber, ripe tomatos and Spanish onion, dressed with a simple mix of oil, vinegar and dried oregano.