I'm sure there are many different ways to make dried fish but this is the Dene way. Dene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is lake trout. If doing this to a fish with scales, it would need to be scaled first.
My apologies for the messy table but more than a dozen fish were done before I realized that this might be of interest to others.
The fish shown here was near the last of them left to be prepared, so I was somewhat lazy to clean the table so near the end.
To start, cut both belly fins off
Cut down to the tail bone but be careful not to force too hard. You don't want to cut the tail off. Once cut, turn it over and cut the other side as well
Cut below the head to where you feel the resistance of the bone, stopping there. As with the tail, turn it over and do the same on the other side
Next, cut along the backbone starting at the cut you've just made below the head and continuing to the tail, stopping where you made the tail cut
Then cut along the backbone again. If you're comfortable leaving it in place for the second back bone cut, go ahead. Otherwise flip it over
The finished back cuts should look like this
Start cutting along the bones towards the stomach
Continue to the tail
Now turn to the other side and do the same
At this point you've 'skinned' your fish
Completely removed, meat and skin in one
Cuts are then made to facilitate drying. If not for these cuts, the meat would be too thick
The next step is to thoroughly wash it. Then hang it to dry a bit. It doesn't need to dry long. All we're wanting to do is let the excess water from the washing drain off. Here it hangs on a spruce pole that's tied between two trees, at a comfortable working height
From here it's off to the smokehouse. You can smoke these with whatever wood you wish. The Dene use very dry old spruce so there is no pitch in the wood, and no bark left either.
This particular method doesn't require the fish to be smoked until dry. They are only smoked enough to partially dry them and add flavour.
Afterwards they are frozen and kept that way until ready to eat.
Once thawed, a small amount of lard is put on the meat side to prevent them from becoming too dry while baking. Put it on a shallow pan, skin down, and bake for about twenty minutes at 350 degrees.
You can experiment all you want by using butter or basting it with whatever you like, rather than the lard, it's entirely your choice.
This is lake trout. If doing this to a fish with scales, it would need to be scaled first.
My apologies for the messy table but more than a dozen fish were done before I realized that this might be of interest to others.
The fish shown here was near the last of them left to be prepared, so I was somewhat lazy to clean the table so near the end.
To start, cut both belly fins off
Cut down to the tail bone but be careful not to force too hard. You don't want to cut the tail off. Once cut, turn it over and cut the other side as well
Cut below the head to where you feel the resistance of the bone, stopping there. As with the tail, turn it over and do the same on the other side
Next, cut along the backbone starting at the cut you've just made below the head and continuing to the tail, stopping where you made the tail cut
Then cut along the backbone again. If you're comfortable leaving it in place for the second back bone cut, go ahead. Otherwise flip it over
The finished back cuts should look like this
Start cutting along the bones towards the stomach
Continue to the tail
Now turn to the other side and do the same
At this point you've 'skinned' your fish
Completely removed, meat and skin in one
Cuts are then made to facilitate drying. If not for these cuts, the meat would be too thick
The next step is to thoroughly wash it. Then hang it to dry a bit. It doesn't need to dry long. All we're wanting to do is let the excess water from the washing drain off. Here it hangs on a spruce pole that's tied between two trees, at a comfortable working height
From here it's off to the smokehouse. You can smoke these with whatever wood you wish. The Dene use very dry old spruce so there is no pitch in the wood, and no bark left either.
This particular method doesn't require the fish to be smoked until dry. They are only smoked enough to partially dry them and add flavour.
Afterwards they are frozen and kept that way until ready to eat.
Once thawed, a small amount of lard is put on the meat side to prevent them from becoming too dry while baking. Put it on a shallow pan, skin down, and bake for about twenty minutes at 350 degrees.
You can experiment all you want by using butter or basting it with whatever you like, rather than the lard, it's entirely your choice.
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