Salmon, Safety and Grubs

[Yon]

This morning, after doing the super-early-morning school drop off, was the third day straight that I’ve hit this huge salmon school hanging around the Waverley beaches. It seems to come and go based on the same schedule as the old NSW Bus I used to take to school oh so many years ago. My kids have eaten several kilos of fresh fish and I am no longer ridiculed for fishing but not catching anything. Life is good and we are having fish n chips as a Sunday treat. My mum bought me Josh Nilands fish book, so I’m dry aging the salmon to see if that makes any difference.

So all good on that front... 

I’ll have to remember this feast the next time there’s a slow period.

It’s an incredible shame and makes me very sad to see what a mess some people leave on the rocks (see the attached photo of the crap I cleaned up - at least 100m of braid and another 100 of heavy mono just thrown onto the rocks, plus a bunch of other stuff). I know who does it and I tell them to clean up after themselves, but it seems to be a cultural or language thing as they either don’t understand or don’t care. Grubs...

My mate got washed off the rocks a while back and was telling me that he got tangled in braid swimming back in - which could have ended in disaster. Just scares me to think about all that crap wrapping around me when I go after a snagged lure.

Anyway, I think I’m done for the week. Got a great feed and will cure or smoke what doesn’t get fried up.

Have a great weekend fishos - clean up your discarded waste and be safe out on the rocks!

 

[kingie chaser]

Nice work.

There are plenty of ways of preserving fish for later consumption.

 

Being a 1st world country I think in general we take it for granted as we have an abundance of many species & weather is on our side but in many countries/cultures they arent so lucky.

Smoked(cold & hot)

Salt/sugar cured

Dehyrated

Preserved(self made tinned fish)

Even vacuum sealed & frozen are just few ways we can be eating our catch some 12 months after catching it.

 

Im interested to hear how it goes for you.

 

 

[thaichilli]

Good on you Yon!

Would love to hear how you experiment with dry aging goes. Was there any mention of aus salmon or other less popular but sustainable local species in the book?

Every time when I am out on boat, beach walk or hopping on rocks there is rubbish to collect. Worst is when you pull out a fish and plastic comes out of them.

Enjoy the feast!

Gus

[bombora]

I am getting a tad tired of the cultural or language excuse. There are grubs from all cultural backgrounds. Your background or native language is not an excuse. Particularly if someone has politely pointed out what you are doing is wrong. We tip toe around this issue for fear of the R word. But, Ocker or recent immigrant, you are the same type of Australian: a willfully lazy jerk.

And good on you for cleaning up after someone else. 

Edited August 14, 2020 by bombora

[kingie chaser]

7 hours ago, bombora said:

I am getting a tad tired of the cultural or language excuse. 

It's like the old saying ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law.

I think what your describing is occurring less & less these days to the point where it would equal some sort of leniency to English 1st language person.

Law enforcement, fisheries, boarder force, maratime etc imo do not see language as an excuse these says.

There is enough literature & internet information around now that it's zero tolerance for everyone.

[Yon]

Regardless of the reason - I find it unacceptable and dangerous. I was patrolling off Bronte a couple of years ago and sucked a long length of mono into the rescue craft intake, which disabled the engine. 
If nothing else, people’s sense of self preservation should keep them from leaving crap in the water and all over the rocks. 
If the rescue craft is disabled and you go in, we can’t come get you. 

[Yon]

11 hours ago, thaichilli said:

Was there any mention of aus salmon or other less popular but sustainable local species in the book?

@thaichilli Surprisingly there wasn’t, but he does provide a lot of alternative fish for his recipes. I find that there are very few chefs who use Australian salmon, even though it’s such a good and easy to catch fish. 
I also have the Australian Fish and Seafood cookbook by Susman and that doesn’t mention them either. 
Very strange. 

[kingie chaser]

11 minutes ago, Yon said:

@thaichilli Surprisingly there wasn’t, but he does provide a lot of alternative fish for his recipes. I find that there are very few chefs who use Australian salmon, even though it’s such a good and easy to catch fish. 
I also have the Australian Fish and Seafood cookbook by Susman and that doesn’t mention them either. 
Very strange. 

Thats because its a fish(like many others E.g Albacore/bonito) thats very hard to get to market then to the table in prime condition & they are at there best just on the day or the next!

If commercial fisho's were to take the time to kill/bleed/ice straight away then it would have a better chance but that would be to time consuming & expensive for what essentually is a cheap sale price fish.

[Yon]

Makes sense I guess. I think they used to can them. 
 

Dry aging going great so far, although only 24 hrs. No smell and the fish look good! The only issue I have is that the flesh can sometimes be a bit soft when fresh, but the red meat gets a bit smelly when she’s off the fillet. Hoping that aging them whole solves that. 
No water whatsoever has touched these since they came out of the ocean. 

[Rebel]

Great report.

[kingie chaser]

25 minutes ago, Yon said:

Dry aging going great so far, although only 24 hrs. No smell and the fish look good! The only issue I have is that the flesh can sometimes be a bit soft when fresh, but the red meat gets a bit smelly when she’s off the fillet. Hoping that aging them whole solves that. 

Its not a easy thing to get right & be food safe at the same time which is why the use of salt & nitrates are so widely used in the process & imo you also need a controlled environment as well if air drying.

Its the main reason I stick to salt/sugar curing & hot/cold smoking most of the time.

When any protien isnt treated right it can deadly!

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by kingie chaser

[Yon]

Yes I completely agree. I should have mentioned that It’s dry aging in the fridge, as per Josh Nilands method. Its not air drying and hanging in the open air like you’d hang biltong (which I love!). 
Usually I just knock the fillets off, prep everything and then wrap it tightly in paper towels and then plastic on top of the paper towels until it firms up a little bit so that we can eat it as sashimi. 
This time I’ve left the fish whole and lightly covered, sitting on top of a drip tray so that they firm up but don’t get mushy in their own juices but also don’t dehydrate. 
Should achieve a better result. 

[kingie chaser]

I dont know Josh Nilands method so cant comment but your original method sounds like what I would do.

So in this method is there any salting or is it just natural??

 

Personally imo covering it defeats the purpose.

 

As a chef I know the whole dry aging thing is continuing to grow & lots of meat perveyors are getting into it for their customers(E.g The meat emporium)

 

Its a great way to tenderise & develop more flavour in the meat.

 

Anyway let us know how it ends up.

 

Good luck.

[Yon]

It’s just natural. His premise is that fish is just another protein (albeit a more delicate one) and benefits from aging. 
Agree that covering it isn’t great, but I’ve got a fan forced fridge. If I didn’t cover the fish it would turn into jerky - or at least that’s what happened last time I did this. 
 

I’ll let you know how it turns out 

[kingie chaser]

6 hours ago, Yon said:

It’s just natural. His premise is that fish is just another protein (albeit a more delicate one) and benefits from aging. 
Agree that covering it isn’t great, but I’ve got a fan forced fridge. If I didn’t cover the fish it would turn into jerky - or at least that’s what happened last time I did this. 
 

I’ll let you know how it turns out 

Its definately an under appreciated & under utilised fish as are many others in Australia, mainly because of a lack of knowledge on taking care of it & ways of preparing it but thats what happens when you are spoiled with options as we are.

[savit]

On 8/15/2020 at 9:19 AM, Yon said:

Yes I completely agree. I should have mentioned that It’s dry aging in the fridge, as per Josh Nilands method. Its not air drying and hanging in the open air like you’d hang biltong (which I love!). 
Usually I just knock the fillets off, prep everything and then wrap it tightly in paper towels and then plastic on top of the paper towels until it firms up a little bit so that we can eat it as sashimi. 
This time I’ve left the fish whole and lightly covered, sitting on top of a drip tray so that they firm up but don’t get mushy in their own juices but also don’t dehydrate. 
Should achieve a better result. 

I  air-dry (open air) salted fish sometimes . Best results with estuary fish like bream and flatties. Oily fish like trevally etc is not so good as too strong taste of oil left in the flesh after drying.

There are plenty of  Australian Salmon recipes in internet  - just google Kahawai recipes instead . Same fish - different/NZ name. 

[Yon]

Well... the conclusion on the aging is that it made absolutely no difference. The fish kept better whole, instead of as fillets, but that’s nothing new. 

I’ve got the last fillet curing in a mix of sugar, salt, vodka and dill now. 48 hrs in that and then thinly sliced and served on toast. 

[James Clain]

Nice job on the sambos!

Sussed out Bondi headlands yesterday in the hopes of finding a safe ledge in all the swell. It was pretty bad so didn't fish and had to walk all the way back to the station but in the process saw a massive bust-up about 200m offshore and a smaller one inclose at about 70m a few really large salmon jumping. 

[damos]

Nice report there and interesting hearing about ageing the fish. Hope the school makes its way down to Malabar. Nothing more fun than chasing a salmon school on the kayak.

[corro]

Interested to hear about your cured fish! Must admit have never thought to try it myself. Wonder how it would go with an oily type fish. Plenty of large slimys in the bay last time we went.

[PaddyT]

Kingie Chaser and I exchanged a few posts on curing fish in ""The Kitchen"" a couple of months back-have a look there-I am guessing from my kingfish results last time that 48 hrs for aussie salmon is going to be too long-ive found that to be too long for atlantic salmon (which is really oily) , the aging process needs to vary a bit by species according to what ive read-

[Yon]

On 8/17/2020 at 9:52 PM, James Clain said:

Nice job on the sambos!

Sussed out Bondi headlands yesterday in the hopes of finding a safe ledge in all the swell. It was pretty bad so didn't fish and had to walk all the way back to the station but in the process saw a massive bust-up about 200m offshore and a smaller one inclose at about 70m a few really large salmon jumping. 

PM me next time before you do that and I’ll show you where you can safely hit that school

[Yon]

2 hours ago, PaddyT said:

Kingie Chaser and I exchanged a few posts on curing fish in ""The Kitchen"" a couple of months back-have a look there-I am guessing from my kingfish results last time that 48 hrs for aussie salmon is going to be too long-ive found that to be too long for atlantic salmon (which is really oily) , the aging process needs to vary a bit by species according to what ive read-

Yeah it was a tad too long, or maybe the cure had too much sugar. Regardless it can’t out a bit too sweet, overpowering the fish flavour. Still edible but could be better. 
Will definitely check out the thread about curing. Thanks!!!

[kingie chaser]

Yon, you spoke about who's method what your attempt is based on but you haven't  explained it or given the details.

You basically have stated that your attempting to dry age the whole fish, but If your adding any salt & or sugar then it's still curing or brining essentially.

Brining is a good method to impart some flavour & treat flesh prior to cooking or hot/cold smoking.

Anyway just my opinion but dry aging is a different process taking some time, talking like weeks here!

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by kingie chaser

[Yon]

1 hour ago, kingie chaser said:

Yon, you spoke about who's method what your attempt is based on but you haven't  explained it or given the details.

You basically have stated that your attempting to dry age the whole fish, but If your adding any salt & or sugar then it's still curing or brining essentially.

Brining is a good method to impart some flavour & treat flesh prior to cooking or hot/cold smoking.

Anyway just my opinion but dry aging is a different process taking some time, talking like weeks here!

 

Mate - I’m sorry, I seem to caused some confusion, so allow me to explain. 

I brought home 4 big salmon this weekend. One was eaten as sashimi immediately. The remaining three were put aside for an outdoor, COVID safe, fish and chips dinner with our neighbours. One of my neighbours is a chef and along with my wife mentioned that the sashimi was nice and fresh, but lacked the flavour of the kingfish I usually hand around. 

I mentioned this to my mum, who suggested that I read the book by Josh Niland she had bought me, as it discusses how to best store fish to improve its flavour. Niland recommends what he calls “dry aging”, which involves never touching a fish with water after it leaves the water (hence the “dry” bit). Don’t rinse them down after scaling and gutting and don’t rinse the insides off. Just wipe them down with paper towels or something similar and then “age” in the refrigerator. 
I figured I’d give it a try as I needed to store the fish for a couple of days anyway. On Sunday I filleted the “dry aged” fish and fried up two of them. The aging in the refrigerator had made no difference whatsoever. The fish had kept well and the red meat had not oxidised as a fillet would have though. So that’s good. As sashimi, it made no difference to the flavour or texture. 
But alas - we were left with one whole fish... what to do with it...

I come from European stock and gravadlax is something we eat often just usually with Atlantic salmon, so I thought I’d give that a try. One fillet went to the curing mix and the remainder was pan fried and flavoured with a home made teriyaki (came out a bit dry). 
The gravadlax was left to cure for 48 hours because I like the strong dill flavours that this brings out in Atlantic salmon. However as @PaddyT mentioned, it was too long a cure for what was a smaller fillet than the salmon we usually buy. Still tastes good but a bit too much flavour. 
So that’s the story. We love seafood, but being close to the beach, a mad keen fisho and sometime environmentalist I prefer to catch what’s in season and not support the commercial fishing industry. Just my preference, not trying to get into a political debate. This usually results in feast or famine type moments with me either bagging out on luderick, salmon, squid etc or coming home empty handed. 
As a result of this my family tire of whatever it is I’ve caught quite quickly, so I like to experiment with different ways to 1) store the fish for longer and 2) present it to my very judgemental and fickle audience (my extended family, wife and kids). 
To be perfectly honest I love cooking too, so nothing gives me greater pleasure than plating something I caught and cooked myself, especially when the feedback is good. It’s just a little boost to my ego I guess. I feel like a true provider at a time that this is becoming quite hard to do. At the same time I’m educating my kids about where their food comes from and to respect the fact that something has to die for them to eat sashimi etc... 
This past week you’ve been a party to that adventure 😂