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How to Prepare Saltfish/Stockfish

How to Prepare Saltfish/Stockfish is a traditional British recipe for a classic method of creating saltfish or stockfish by salting and then drying in the sun prior to storage for use in a range of recipes. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: How to Prepare Saltfish/Stockfish.

prep time

30 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

50 minutes

Additional Time:

(+20 days brining and drying)

Makes:

20 pieces

Rating:

Tags : British Recipes

Salting is one of the oldest methods of preserving fish and explains why salt was so valued (and expensive) in ancient times. This is an excellent way of preserving fish and, if properly packed and kept free of excessive moisture salted fish will keep safely for almost a year.

Many recipes, particularly West African recipes call for stockfish or saltfish as a primary ingredient. Today, salt cod is becoming very expensive, so if you can salt alternate species at home, this can be a very economic method of providing meat for the family.

If you want similar qualities to traditional salt cod then I would suggest using other members of the cod family such as coalfish (coley), pollack and whiting. But this method of preserving will work with just about any fish. I use it frequently with gurnard and I am particularly partial to salted dogfish (perhaps the most un-loved of our commonly caught shore fish — but you need to remove the sandpaper-like skin before salting).

It is always best to start by salting non-fatty white-fleshed fish (such as the ones named above). Do not try salting mackerel, salmon etc until you have enough experience with salting to overcome the problems of rancidity, rusting and spoilage associated with fatty fish.

Ingredients:

whole, fresh, fish
salt (about 1kg per 10kg fish)

Method:

Take very fresh fish and prepare them as soon as you can after catching. First remove the head by cutting it off with a sharp knife along the line of the gills (this leaves the collar bone intact and attached to the fish). Now cut along the entire length of the ventral fold (base) of the fish to the anal vent.

Remove the guts of the fish and scrape away any black membrane located in the visceral cavity of the fish. Lay the fish flat (press down on the backbone to flatten if you have to) and if below 4.5kg leave like this. If over 10kg then split the fish in half along the backbone.

Wash the fish thoroughly and remove any blood then pat dry. Your fish is now prepared and ready for salting.

Take a flat, deep, plastic tray and scatter over just enough salt to cover its base. Add a layer of fish, flesh side uppermost, over this (ensure that the fish do not overlap). You will get more fish in if you lay them head to tail. Cover the fish with a thin layer of salt, but ensuring that no part of the fish is visible. Add two or three more layers of fish like this. But for the final 3 layers in the tray put the fish in with the skin side uppermost. Finish with a generous layer of salt on top.

Cover the top with boards and weight down. As the salt extracts the moisture out of the fish it will form a brine, the board ensures that the fish is always below the level of the salt sot the top layer does not spoil.

Ensure that the brine remains saturated (when no more salt can be dissolved in it) at all times. To ensure this, add more salt to the top layer, as necessary. The fish will be totally impregnated (struckthrough in preserving parlance) typically in between 12 and 15 days in warm weather. In cold weather, this can take 21 days or more. When properly salted the flesh of white fish will be almost translucent. There should be a prevalent odour of fish and brine, but no scent of spoilage.

Once the fish is struck through it can now be washed and dried. Remove the fish from the brine and wash in either clean sea water, or fresh brine to remove any excess salt from the surface. Now arrange the fish on a clean, flat surface and press down with boards and weights to make themas flat as possible. This both presses out any excess moisture from the fish and makes the fish thinner to aid in air-drying. Leave the fish this way over night.

Traditionally salted fish are dried out in sunlight. If you are going to dry in the sun, be careful as placing the fish immediately in direct sunlight can cause 'sunburn' where the outside hardens and turns yellow but the inside does not dry properly. As a result, it's best to beginning drying in the shade for the first day.

Put up strings or wooden dowels suspended above the ground. Tie or peg the fish to these by the tail and allow to hand in as much sun and wind as possible (but away from flies). After the first day make certain that this arrangement is in as much direct sunlight for as much of the day as possible. Typically three sunny days with a strong breeze will be enough to fully dry the fish for storage.

You can also dry for several nights by putting the fish on racks and setting in a warm oven that's ajar.

Once dried either vacuum pack the fish or place in a large jar with a layer of salt in the base and a screw-top lid (this prevents moisture from getting in).

Fish dried in this manner can be used for any of the recipes using saltfish or stockfish as an ingredient on this site.