extracting oil from fish?

[den]

Does anyone know of the best method for extracting oil from fish?

It will probably be mackerel as it is the only oily fish I can catch in numbers.

It would also be nice to be able to use the fish after .

Any ideals folks?

 

[Snufkin]

Accuse them of possessing weapons of mass destruction. Bomb them to h@#l and then invade their home waters, and then..... Oh that's not the sort of oil you meant is it

 

[torjusg]

I wouldn't use the fish afterwards, but the natives of the northwest coast of America had a method for extracting oil from euchalon. I assume you could do the same with mackerel as well.

The fishes were buried (just barely) in the ground and left to rot for ten days in warm weather (longer if it was cooler).

When properly rotted the fish was boiled for several hours and the everything was left to settle. The oil would then float and the rotten flesh would sink.

I doubt the remains are much good for anything but fertilizer.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[KIMBOKO]

In Cornwall pilchards were salted, packed into stone pits and weighted to extract the oil, which was collected from a hole in the tank. Because they were salted the pilchards were preserved and still edible and delicious.

 

[demographic]

Accuse them of possessing weapons of mass destruction. Bomb them to h@#l and then invade their home waters, and then..... Oh that's not the sort of oil you meant is it

Class answer

 

[den]

Nice one folks

Might have a go at what you have suggested torjusg. Maybe not ten days but mackrel left in the sun for just a day will turn into mush.

KIMBOKO the method you suggested sounds good. How do you think i should go about it. Mackrel are much bigger and turn much quicker than other fish they might need slicing into strips?

I dont need big amounts just enough to work into some fish skins after i have finished tanning them.

 

[anthonyyy]

Try cooking them in a lot of hot salty water. let them cool and filter in to a glass measuring jug. Pour the oil off when it settles at the top.

 

[anthonyyy]

Ahh he wants to eat his fish .
Steam the fish. When cooked pour the water into a measuring jug when still hot. Wash the cooking container with hot water and add to the jug. Add salt. Allow to separate out. Decant the oil off the top.

 

[longshot]

i don't know if this helps but when i fry mackeryl i end up with loads of oil in the pan, would this be of any use to you?


dean

 

[Ketchup]

Oil in fish is generally concentrated under the skin, but in the first place in the liver.
The meat of most fish hardly contains any fat, so you can have your fillet anyway.

You can go to a fishmonger and ask for the innards of the cleaned fish, you should get them for free. Only take the livers, which, in fish, are very large. The largest livers you will find in skates and dogfish.

Boil them with some water, the oil will come to the top. Allow to settle while cooling

What do you want to use the oil for?

Tomàs O' Crohan (b. 1856) described his youth in the Blasket Islands (Ireland) in the famous book "The Islandman". There he writes how, as a kid, he would secreteley soak his bread in the oil lamp (containing shark liver oil: good for lighting and full of vitamines)

 

[Nemisis]

Two questions can you smoke mackerel and would smoking them drain off the oil?
Dave.

 

[British Red]

Oh yes you can Dave and its lovely - ask any Westcountryman! I guess whether the oil cam out would depend on whether you used a cold smoke or a hot smoke, but given the fish has been cleaned, I suspect you wouldn't get much

Red

 

[Nemisis]

Thanks Red I only asked because I was reading yesterday someone had purchased one of those Cobb BBQ + smoker combined and its set up to gather the oil/ fats from cooking and as its an oily fish I thought it might be a way to extract it and be able to eat the fish too.
Dave.

 

[den]

Anthony I have noticed you have mentioned adding salt. Does this help to separate the oil?

Ketchup I have been messing around for the last year with tanning fish skins into leather. Till now I have been breaking the skins in with adding a little birch oil but it darkens the skin and smells so I was going to see if I could make oil from fish to go with the fish leather.

I sometimes go to the fishmonger at the end of the day if I have not prepared any bait for my crab pots beforehand. I get some funny looks walking away with a bin bag full of heads and guts. Apart from getting the odd free bag of guts every now and then I am totally self sufficient for fish in the summer months.

I only have a hot smoker which I use for mackerel but can’t say I get much oil and what I do falls on to the wood chips.


I have no real need to save the fish after making oil as I can catch more mackerel than you can shake a stick at, but more for my conscience that I have not just done it for a drop of oil. This is properly why I started making fish leather

Nice one Nemesis will go and have a look at B + Q

 

[anthonyyy]

Anthony I have noticed you have mentioned adding salt. Does this help to separate the oil?

Adding salt to the water should lessen the tendency to form an emulsion (oil water mix).

 

[anthonyyy]

If you are using the method I outlined above; and the oil is not to be used for human comsumption (say for use as lamp oil); you can more readily separate the oil:water layers and increase yield, by adding some paraffin oil.

Filter the oil:water mixture and then shake well before allowing to separate out.

 

[Ketchup]

Ketchup I have been messing around for the last year with tanning fish skins into leather. Till now I have been breaking the skins in with adding a little birch oil but it darkens the skin and smells so I was going to see if I could make oil from fish to go with the fish leather.
I

I wish you luck. I'm not an expert, but I have worked with experts tanning fish skins in the past. I have a wallet made from the skin of a "sea cat/catfish/wolffish" (Anarhichas lupus), which lasts for more than 10 years.
I know Tilapia, nile perch, eel, shark and skate make great skins, but they need adapted techniques as they differ strongly form mamal skins.

The real specialists in tanning fish skins (and turning them into shoes etc) are the Italians. Look for dogfish skin tanning in Italy or italian websites.

Skate and stingray leather has allways been known as "galuchat" in cabinet making since the XVIII th century. The skin around the mouth of the ray was used by Japanese to make sword and knive handles.

A great area to explore.

 

[Toddy]

I'm told that neatsfoot oil works well on both fish and reptile skins as does 50/50 mixture of overproof rum or vodka and glycerine.
I have also heard that anti freeze, uhuh, the stuff for cars, does a good job too.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[wingstoo]

I'm told that neatsfoot oil works well on both fish and reptile skins as does 50/50 mixture of overproof rum or vodka and glycerine.
I have also heard that anti freeze, uhuh, the stuff for cars, does a good job too.

Cheers,
Toddy

Hi Toddy,

It is probably the Glycol in the anti freeze that is the important ingredient...

Sounds like a waste of good vodka to me

LS

 

[den]

I have got to say I am having fun with something that would normally go in the bin.

Last year I vegetable tanned some conger which came out so much better than I expected, shame it was only a small test piece. I was able to catch a nice sized one a couple of weeks ago which should be finished tanning in about a month.

I boiled a large saucepan tonight full of conger from the freezer to make fish cakes and ended up with about teaspoon of oil.

Funny you should mention dogfish today I broke in a skin which I have tanned in bramble leaf. Only took three week compared to the conger which took seven. The warmer weather speeds the tanning time considerably.

Can’t wait to have a go on my prim arrow shafts