Beat The Winter Blah's With Your Summer Catch!
by Margaret L Burns
Nothing beats a home-cooked fish meal on a cold winter's day. Here's a few thoughts to keep in mind as you "squirrel away" a few meals of fish for this winter.
The best tasting, highest-quality fish is the one you clean and cook immediately after catching. As time passes after the death of the fish micro-organisms begin to grow and the fish begins to break down. The key to great tasting fish in winter is timely preparation and freezing at the time of the catch.
Fish baskets, buckets, and live-wells help keep fish alive temporarily and are the first step to great tasting fish later. Depending on the length of your fishing trip or the temperature, you may need to use a cooler of ice to store your fish until time to clean them. A plastic bag for the fish will make cleanup easier.
Once you've cleaned the fish, packaging becomes the next issue at hand. Air-tight packaging is essential. Many of the undesirable flavor and color changes in fish are caused by oxidation of the unsaturated fats, oils and color pigments. In addition, if the package is not air-tight water evaporates from the fish flesh. The fish becomes dry and tough, or "freezer burned."
Freezing your fish in water works great to keep air away from the flesh. Clean your fillets well, place the amount needed for a meal in a plastic freezer bag, cover the fillets with water, tap the bag to release the air trapped between the fillets, squeeze out all air at the top of the bag, seal, date the bag, then place flat in the freezer until frozen well.
If you've decided to leave bones in your fish you'll want to use a thick container for freezing. Clean cardboard milk or juice cartons work great to prevent fins and bones from piercing the container, thus allowing air in. Clean your fish well, place the amount needed for a meal in a water-tight container, cover the fish with water, tap the container to release the air trapped between the pieces, seal, date the container, then place upright in the freezer until frozen well. (Don't fill the container to the top. You'll need some room for expansion as the water freezes.)
Dating the bag and carton helps to make sure you don't forget to eat them in a reasonable amount of time. They'll do very well as long as you eat them within one year. Even fish frozen longer in this manner have retained its freshness and great taste.
Besides the date make a note of where the fish came from, who caught them, who you were with, etc. When you cook them, invite your fishin' buddy over to share the meal, or just take a few minutes to talk about how much fun you had catchin' these fish. Hard to have the winter blah's when you're chewing the fat over a great fishing trip!/
__________________________
Margaret Burns provides practical information on a variety of health-related issues faced by outdoor lovers. Author Profile
This article was posted on July 20, 2004
|
