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Preserving fish by drying.

4K views 31 replies 12 participants last post by  America's Patriot 
#1 ·
Right now is the season where I am that a person could fill barrels with fish in a single night. The smelt finished running last weekend, now it is suckers, carp, and red horse. And on a much smaller scale bluegills.

Right now I can them but I am interested in learning how to dry them for later use in a way that tastes good.

Does anyone here dry fish on a scale larger than using a simple nesco type dehydrator? I am thinking sun drying or in a smoke smoke house? Any pointers someone may have would be helpful.
 
#2 ·
If you can find one of the old all-metal refrigerators (no plastic), you can mount a vent pipe on the back and turn it into a smoker. Use the metal bins for the wood. They also have metal racks.

I used to see a lot of these types of smokers in the backwoods and on farms in Minnesota.

These types of refrigerators may be hard to find today, but you might find one sitting next to an old barn or in an old dump. It might be rusty, but the rust just adds character.
 
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#4 ·
Don't know about the drying, although I think a smoker like above would work, just don't put wood into it.

You're doing your suckers wrong if you have freezer space. Do them like pike. Drop knife to the backbone and run it down rib bones and all you are just filleting. After you skin it drop it into the grinder on medium bones and all. Then run it back through on fine.

This gives you good white meat that patties up like a burger without having to add all that junk like eggs and breadcrumbs, and will even stick together well enough to roll it out long and run through cornmeal or whatever your choice for good fish sticks.

I ate enough canned sucker and salmon when I was a kid. Nasty stuff all you can do is make it edible. This is a much better way to do suckers if you have the freezer space.
 
#5 ·
Drying fish seems to be far more about air and salt than warmth. Dry winters are actually preferred.

So I went to find a useful video and came across this one. It's an English or Aussie guy in Asia doing it at his local GF's apartment. It's a bit oddball and mildly amusing. But it goes through all the steps they took. If nothing else it will move your knowledge base a bit more.

 
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#9 ·
Drying fish seems to be far more about air and salt than warmth. Dry winters are actually preferred.

So I went to find a useful video and came across this one. It's an English or Aussie guy in Asia doing it at his local GF's apartment. It's a bit oddball and mildly amusing. But it goes through all the steps they took. If nothing else it will move your knowledge base a bit more.

How to dry a fish - YouTube
That is an interesting thing to do in an apartment. The problem for me is, it is mostly in middle spring when I can get tons of fish, the weather tends to be too warm to dry fish by just hanging it out.
 
#12 ·
Dehydrated fish in a Nesco SUCKS big time. Ive tried it a few times. In the past I use a Big Chief smoker with a salt and sugar cure. The smoke adds nitrates or nitrites, can’t remember which. To be absolutely safe( for long term) I would use mortons tender quick or something with cure like Prague. Do some research. You can finish it out on the nesco to get it bone dry,but cure it with smoke for flavor. Trust me. Ive smoked tons of crappie and white bass fillets. Its been shelf stable for a month. Never last any longer than that. Smoke curing needs to be done around 140 degrees.
. Its been fishing like this every weekend since April. 60lbs of fillets in the freezer already. White bass will spawn next.


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#14 ·
Thought I would bring this post up again instead of starting a new one.

I lost most of my gear and preps though a divorce and a barn fire in 2016
So this week I bought a new Big Chief smoker. Ive made tons of fish jerky,but never dried it this much.
I started with 4 pounds of white bass fillets. I used a salt and sugar brine. 1/2 cup non iodized salt,1/2 cup sugar in 1 quart of water. Soaked 24 hours in fridge. Total drying time,10 hours with outside temps of 75/90. 2 pans of alder wood smoke.
The finished fish is a little salty, I used canning salt. I should have rinsed the fish a few more times. I will put some in a canning jar and some in a vacuum bag. I don’t have any o2 absorbers on hand right now. I would try to get it weighed, but there are a few pieces missing. There is a formula to calculate water loss, but I need the full batch to weigh. From memory shelf stable needs to be 85% water loss.
I will try to keep this batch unrefrigerated for 3 weeks. At that time I will be the ginny pig and try it. Im confident from past smokings this it will be safe. Ive never kept any past 6 months though. The kids always find it.


White bass

On the smoker

Big Chief front load smoker. $130 amazon or Ebay best prices

First pan of smoke

Fish jerky dried to the point of snapping when bent.
Will post back latter. If you don’t hear back from me, don’t try this at home.


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#16 ·
I lost most of my gear and preps though a divorce and a barn fire in 2016
Jeez buddy, you don't break stuff by half measures, do you?

All you needed then was a failed IRS audit for someone to have offered you a cyanide capsule. :upsidedown:



The finished fish is a little salty, I used canning salt.
Lots of preserved fish around the world is salty as heck. Don't go using less salt if it works now.

Better to learn how to soak and rinse better before use. Better just meaning more soaks, longer soaks, and more rinses.
 
#20 ·
Normal mortons non iodized table salt it what I usually use. I was out and to lazy to go to town. So I used some canning salt. Its a finer cut. I think that’s why its a bit salty. Its not to awfully bad though. My boy took the jerky off the racks and put it in a zip lock bag. No kidding, the high humidity is making it flexible again.
Ive got 15 lbs of flathead fillets. Ive never done catfish before. Shouldn’t be any more oily than salmon. Now the kids are begging for some deer loin out of the freezer. I knew I should have made this a secret mission to preserve fish.
Maybe cure 1 or 2 or prauge powder would be a good choice. Ive never used them except for sausage making. It always comes pre measured


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#21 ·
Normal mortons non iodized table salt it what I usually use. I was out and to lazy to go to town. So I used some canning salt. Its a finer cut. I think that’s why its a bit salty. Its not to awfully bad though. My boy took the jerky off the racks and put it in a zip lock bag. No kidding, the high humidity is making it flexible again.
Ive got 15 lbs of flathead fillets. Ive never done catfish before. Shouldn’t be any more oily than salmon. Now the kids are begging for some deer loin out of the freezer. I knew I should have made this a secret mission to preserve fish.
Maybe cure 1 or 2 or prauge powder would be a good choice. Ive never used them except for sausage making. It always comes pre measured

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I'm still not thinking nitrites are the way to go here. Maybe someone will chime in.
 
#23 ·
Maybe cure 1 or 2 or prauge powder would be a good choice. Ive never used them except for sausage making. It always comes pre measured
What are you trying to accomplish that plain salt doesn't? Nitrite cures are generally for things like bacon, sausage ham, etc that are not fully dried and thus is a botulism risk.

But something fully dried like fish shouldn't need it, and you probably won't get the flavor and texture benefits from it that you do with red meat anyway.

Whatever you do, find a good, vetted recipe. Although I am not a nitrite alarmist this IS something you can poison yourself with if you get it wrong enough.
 
#28 ·
What are you trying to accomplish that plain salt doesn't? Nitrite cures are generally for things like bacon, sausage ham, etc that are not fully dried and thus is a botulism risk.



But something fully dried like fish shouldn't need it, and you probably won't get the flavor and texture benefits from it that you do with red meat anyway.



Whatever you do, find a good, vetted recipe. Although I am not a nitrite alarmist this IS something you can poison yourself with if you get it wrong enough.


I whole heartily believe anyone wanting to dry fish or jerky should not experiment with nitrates/nitrites.
I should not have even mentioned it with out full understanding because of the dangers.
I brine my jerky in the fridge over night. It’s not going to spoil. I keep my fish on ice while fishing
Thanks


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#24 ·
You should not have a bit of trouble with your well dried fish.

Other than salt, add some brown sugar to your brine (and try a little soy sauce). Play around with the quantities a little and you will have survival food (and regular living food) fit for a king.

I like it smoked as well, in fact I've never just dried fish but dried/smoked them. Fish preserved like that I never get tired of.
 
#25 ·
We use a bus boy size tray that will fit in the Fridge. Pat fileted fish dry, layer of course kosher salt, fileted fish, salt layer, fileted fish, etc. Place tray in the fridge for a day or 2.

We have a large all metal walk in smoke house at our BOL.

For air drying, we attach a furnace sized squirrel cage fan to the smoke house air inlet.
Hang filets, turn on the fan and let it run for 24 hours a day, for as long as it takes to dry the filets.

Once dry, we remove the fan & cold smoke with apple wood for a few days.

BTW, COD makes GREAT dried fish.
 
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