A good days fishing out of Looe yesterday saw me staggering home with 48 Mackeral & 6 Herring 
Some were gifted away, some were cleaned up and frozen, one or two jumped straight into the frying pan as soon as I got in the door and I was STILL left with loads!!
So I decided to experiment.
Knowing that Hugh Furry Whittlingtool would be able to come up with something a bit different I found his 'Gravad Max' recipe from The River Cottage Cookbook. If you've never had Gravad Lax (cured salmon) then that wont make any sense to you, but trust me its ruddy gorgeous! Here is the recipe if anyone is interested.
About 10 very fresh Mackeral
About 100g Caster Sugar
About 75g Coarse Salt
15g Coarsely ground black pepper
Large bunch of dill finely chopped
Use a plastic, wooden or other non metallic bowl or box with holes around the base for draining the juice (I used a small ice cream tub and stabbed some holes around the base with a shiny)
Sprinkle a small amount of the cure on the base of the tub, then lay a mackeral fillet, skin side down, onto the mix, sprinkle more on top of that and keep layering fish & cure mix till all used up. Place a rigid board (non metal again) on top of the fish and then a weight on top of that, HFW suggests a couple of housebricks. Put on a tray that will collect the drips, leave in a cool place and spoon the juice back over the fish once a day.
It can be eaten after 24 hours but apparently is best after 72 hours.
I am amazed how much liquid has come out of half a dozen small mackeral. Its only been 24 hours & I have already snuck a taste - so far so good
j
Some were gifted away, some were cleaned up and frozen, one or two jumped straight into the frying pan as soon as I got in the door and I was STILL left with loads!!
So I decided to experiment.
Knowing that Hugh Furry Whittlingtool would be able to come up with something a bit different I found his 'Gravad Max' recipe from The River Cottage Cookbook. If you've never had Gravad Lax (cured salmon) then that wont make any sense to you, but trust me its ruddy gorgeous! Here is the recipe if anyone is interested.
About 10 very fresh Mackeral
About 100g Caster Sugar
About 75g Coarse Salt
15g Coarsely ground black pepper
Large bunch of dill finely chopped
Use a plastic, wooden or other non metallic bowl or box with holes around the base for draining the juice (I used a small ice cream tub and stabbed some holes around the base with a shiny)
Sprinkle a small amount of the cure on the base of the tub, then lay a mackeral fillet, skin side down, onto the mix, sprinkle more on top of that and keep layering fish & cure mix till all used up. Place a rigid board (non metal again) on top of the fish and then a weight on top of that, HFW suggests a couple of housebricks. Put on a tray that will collect the drips, leave in a cool place and spoon the juice back over the fish once a day.
It can be eaten after 24 hours but apparently is best after 72 hours.
I am amazed how much liquid has come out of half a dozen small mackeral. Its only been 24 hours & I have already snuck a taste - so far so good
j
