I have always loved the pickled herring available from the deli depts. No, not the stuff in a creamy sauce....but the herring described as being in "wine sauce". I don't know what the maker is using as "wine sauce", but any "wine" or "wine sauce" is a foolish and unnecessary addition.....probably added to make the label appear more inviting. Years ago, I lived in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and enjoyed smelting with good friends. One of them passed a FABULOUS recipe to me, from the March/April 1984 issue of "Michigan Natural Resources Magazine". I have used this recipe to "pickle" herring, smelt, salmon, whitefish, pike and suckers from fresh water, as well as spadefish, croakers and other small saltwater fish. So help me.....the results are invariably terrific! Though good, eating smelt can become tedious, relative to the larger segments of meat available from the other species mentioned. So, here is the recipe:
Cut the cleaned fish into pieces about the size of 2 thumbs. Place in a salt brine of (proportionately) 1 cup salt and 4 cups water for 48 hours in the fridge. Rinse VERY well and drain. Place fish pieces in white vinegar for 24 hours in the fridge. Drain.
Bring to a boil:
2 cups white vinegar, 4 bay leaves, 2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 tsp black peppercorns, 1 and 3/4 cup sugar, 7 whole cloves.
Allow to cool to room temp.
Fill canning jars with fish pieces and onion slices...and a squeeze of lemon juice. Then fill with the stirred (to suspend the seeds) pickling liquid. Cap the jars and place in fridge for 2 weeks. You will LOVE the result.

I'm working on it, second day in brine mixture at this point.......sounds good.

Very good. Thanks for the recipe.

I kind of screwed up, we had all the other ingredients but no whole cloves, so I guesstimated to use a teaspoon of ground cloves. While the result tastes fine, I think it would be a more rounded result with a 1/2 or even 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves.

SOUNDS GOOD. Everyone smokes or freezes or cans. Picking the new(old) way to enjoy fish. I will print the recipe and try. Thgank you.

be careful.....NO ground cloves....use WHOLE only.
This recipe also good with eels. I LOVE eels. Pickled or smoked. ...used to discard them as vermin when caught. Now, miss easy access to them.

quote:

Originally posted by conifer:
be careful.....NO ground cloves....use WHOLE only.
This recipe also good with eels. I LOVE eels. Pickled or smoked. ...used to discard them as vermin when caught. Now, miss easy access to them.

I'm not sure why you're saying that, but I can go on the record and say that I used ground cloves, as I said above, and the fish tastes great and has no side effects.

If you somehow think ground cloves are toxic, you are wrong in any normal quantities. After all, water is toxic if you drink enough of it.

As I said, I think the fish would be less "clovie" if I had used a bit less but it tastes fine as is and makes for a great snack. Next time I'm going to add plenty of cayenne or similar pepper.

odd. did I say/infer that ground cloves were toxic? Ground cloves are more "pungent/aromatic" than whole cloves. By grinding whole cloves, much surface of the dried clove is exposed. So, there is alot more leaching of the spice "chemicals" from the powder. This adds alot more flavour to whatever you are preparing, than added by whole cloves. Possibly, the excessive flavour from ground cloves might be more than is wanted in that particular recipe.
But, please feel feel free to "go on the record". There's always room for fortitude.

conifer
I'd like to try this but we don't have any of the fish you mentioned around here other than Salmon which I don't care for.
Think I could use some of the frozen Cod or Polock like they sell at ChinaMart?

quote:

Think I could use some of the frozen Cod or Polock like they sell at ChinaMart?

Sure, cod makes great pickled fish. If you have a restaurant supply place around you can find 5 lb. boxes of IQF Pacific cod or Icelandic cod fillets that are individually wrapped and frozen in the box.

High quality and reasonable in cost.

Thanks Skinner
Don't know if the one and only Resturant supply in town sells to the public but I'll sure check.
Even if I have to pay five bucks for a pound of the frozen pieces at ChinaMart, it'll be a dang sight cheaper than those little jars.
I'm a sucker for anything pickeled so I'm all over this.
Might even have a glass of beer while I'm making it, and call it "Beer Sauce".

Cod is great idea! And, if you want to try something interesting, try suckers. The flesh is firm (I'm envious) and not fishy-tasting. Pickling softens the bones and makes the pickled flesh easy to pull from the bones at table. Suckers can be found almost everywhere. Just remember to scale whatever fish you use, before starting the pickling process....otherwise the final fluid will be awash with scales. People discard suckers, not realizing how good the meat can be. Darn....I'm sitting in suckerless Florida, getting misty-eyed.
Another thought: try whiting. Frozen whiting seems available and very inexpensive at supermarkets. Flesh is light. It pickles beautifully. THought #3: STURGEON!! It's terrific!! I would not bother with carp. My mother used to bake it, and she loved it. But, the only happy result I have personally experienced with carp, has been in chinese recipes. And then....I would only use small carp. In the Spring, one can catch 50-pound carp in the Red River at Lockport, Manitoba, near where I grew up. The big ones were awful; the small ones were ok. That's the same place where we could catch gigantic catfish, but their flesh was like jellied fat....and repulsive. It's an interesting spot. Almost anything was catchable there.

Thanks conifer
I think I've seen Whiting at the store too.
No suckers around here either but there are Sturgeon over on the Snake/Columbia rivers. I don't fish for em though.
Funny thing is,,,, I live about 400yrds from the Clearwater river, one of the most popular Salmon/Stealhead destinations in the west, but I don't really care for either so I don't persue em. Bout the only fish I enjoy to catch and eat anymore are Smallies in the river and pan fish from a couple local resivours. I chase em with a fly rod but I'm not very good with it so I usually go hungry.

Thanks again for the recipi.
I'll let ya know how it turns out as soon as I can gather up the ingredents.
Charlie

If anyone wants pics (attachments) of the original recipe from the magazine, please send me your e-mail address.

I have also pickled northern pike and it is great even on the "hammerhandles " that the kids keep. The vinegar basically disolves the Y bones and it is good eating if only I could get my wife to try it she might like it.