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Have enjoyed fresh quite often this summer and would love to continue chomping over the cooler months...any ideas?
Ooh a new vid!
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it goes to mush pretty quick tony,i guess blast freezing would help,or perhaps theres some way of pre-freeze preparation that helps or perhaps part cooking before freezing
Had this conversation recently as I wanted to do the same. Have been told you should lightly salt them first, then freezer bag individually. I have done that, so will take one out soon and see if it works. Keep you posted.
side filleted first and induvidually rap tight with cling film ,when taking out to defrost for fishing its still nice and firm when defrosted
yeh thats how i do them but a find it helps if you can put some baking trays in to freezer the night before then put maki on them it seems t help feeze them so much quicker
Hey Tony, there are a few things you can do to improve the quality of your frozen mackerel. Firstly, make sure any that you catch go straight into some sort of coolbox or bag; there's an old saying that "mackerel is the only fish that starts to go off before it's dead" so it's important that it's kept as cold as possible until you clean & fillet it, which you want to do as soon as you can.
Then pat dry your fillets on kitchen paper to remove as much surface moisture as possible - this will help the cling film "cling" to the fillets, which I wrap tightly as lads have described above. You could try salting the fillets first - 30 minutes will do (see my post on marinating mackerel for how to do it), but rinse off the salt & pat dry before wrapping.
Next thing is to freeze them as fast as possible. If your freezer has a "fast freeze" setting, use it. Metal trays etc. placed in the freezer first are good, but I've found the best thing are the freeze-blocks that go in my cool box. I lay a few of them flat on one shelf of my freezer, then lay the wrapped fillets on top of them (I do the same with my frozen crab) - they really seem to get stuff frozen down double quick!
Lastly, don't try & keep them for too long; they'll be spot on for a month or two, but I wouldn't go longer than three months for any frozen fish. I've eaten a few frozen fillets this summer (in between catching some more fresh) that have been frozen for 3 or 4 weeks, which have been indistinguishable from fresh when thawed. So the end of season mackerel that I catch will have been eaten by Xmas - any that are left by then are relegated to the bait freezer.
Hey Tony, there are a few things you can do to improve the quality of your frozen mackerel. Firstly, make sure any that you catch go straight into some sort of coolbox or bag; there's an old saying that "mackerel is the only fish that starts to go off before it's dead" so it's important that it's kept as cold as possible until you clean & fillet it, which you want to do as soon as you can.
Then pat dry your fillets on kitchen paper to remove as much surface moisture as possible - this will help the cling film "cling" to the fillets, which I wrap tightly as lads have described above. You could try salting the fillets first - 30 minutes will do (see my post on marinating mackerel for how to do it), but rinse off the salt & pat dry before wrapping.
Next thing is to freeze them as fast as possible. If your freezer has a "fast freeze" setting, use it. Metal trays etc. placed in the freezer first are good, but I've found the best thing are the freeze-blocks that go in my cool box. I lay a few of them flat on one shelf of my freezer, then lay the wrapped fillets on top of them (I do the same with my frozen crab) - they really seem to get stuff frozen down double quick!
Lastly, don't try & keep them for too long; they'll be spot on for a month or two, but I wouldn't go longer than three months for any frozen fish. I've eaten a few frozen fillets this summer (in between catching some more fresh) that have been frozen for 3 or 4 weeks, which have been indistinguishable from fresh when thawed. So the end of season mackerel that I catch will have been eaten by Xmas - any that are left by then are relegated to the bait freezer.
Gary
Good advice Gary, wish you had posted it before I froze my Mackerel, as I didn't rinse salt off! Ooops
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or perhaps part cooking before freezing
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