Dry aging fish?

[FrigateMack]

I've noticed that pretty much any fish seems to taste better when I fillet them and then keep the fillets in the fridge for a day or two. Not frozen. The meat gets more tender and any hint of unpleasantness seems to disappear. I'm starting to think that "fresh" fish is a bit of a myth, with regards to eating quality. Obviously, they need to be bled and kept on ice until processed, and then straight to the fridge. Google tells me that high end sashimi / sushi places dry-age them, as well. Sometimes quite a long time, under controlled conditions. What's everyone's take on this? I might experiment with this a bit more..

 

[frankS]

I have mentioned it before that fish are better when kept in the bottom of the fridge overnight, not sure about a couple of days.

Frank

[seasponge]

100%

My key principals - never wash with fresh water, salt water wash only (or preferably just wipe down with paper towel), no contact with any surface (even a plate or glad wrap). I've noticed so much difference in taste, texture and how long the fish lasts. Here's a previous post I did on the subject with a few more details.

 

1 hour ago, frankS said:

I have mentioned it before that fish are better when kept in the bottom of the fridge overnight, not sure about a couple of days.

Frank

Using the principals above, I've had fish in the fridge for 6 days and it was still perfect. Better than putting it in the freezer. 

[noelm]

It's pretty rare that I fillet fish the same time as I caught them, (unless it's a big Tuna or the like) they all get gutted and into the fridge for filleting the next morning, I do this in salt water (I live across the road from the ocean, and the harbour with a cleaning table is only a few minutes away) I take them in an esky with some ice in a bag, fillet and clean as desired, some fish are scaled, some skinned, only washed if really necessary, then back into the esky, ice still in bag, no contact with fish, then into the fridge for that night or the next. Fish will remain "fresh" for quite some time if looked after, people who catch fish, then just stick them in a bucket of sea water until they come home, or just toss them in an esky or kill tank with no ice are just ruining the fish from the minute they caught them.

[noelm]

11 minutes ago, seasponge said:

100%

My key principals - never wash with fresh water, salt water wash only (or preferably just wipe down with paper towel), no contact with any surface (even a plate or glad wrap). I've noticed so much difference in taste, texture and how long the fish lasts. Here's a previous post I did on the subject with a few more details.

 

Using the principals above, I've had fish in the fridge for 6 days and it was still perfect. Better than putting it in the freezer. 

Fresh fish will keep for 6 days easy.

[kingie chaser]

5 hours ago, FrigateMack said:

Google tells me that high end sashimi / sushi places dry-age them, as well. Sometimes quite a long time, under controlled conditions. What's everyone's take on this? I might experiment with this a bit more..

 

What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger right 💪 🤢🤮

Just kidding.

What is the definition of dry aging?

BUT as you mention "controlled conditions"

What are they?

You need to know what your doing & as you say done under the right conditions otherwise incorrectly treated food can kill you.

Dry aging(more so in beef) is a process where enzymes in the meat break down the protien chains & intern tenderize but also change the flavour characteristics as well.

 

The big issue with any protien is that micro bacterial growth & pathogens can easily multiply, especially if it is not being cooked or cures with salt(which can be a bacteria killer)

 

In the case of the beef, it's aged for a minimum of 21 days up the whatever your confident of, the meat it trimmed back & the outer layer discarded but then the meat is seared/cooked.

I prefer to cure or smoke fish if I am going to keep it longer.

If your talking about just some air drying to reduce a little moisture content & tighten the flesh then your only talking a day or so imo which isn't really dry aging.

[FrigateMack]

11 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

BUT as you mention "controlled conditions"

What are they?

You need to know what your doing & as you say done under the right conditions otherwise incorrectly treated food can kill you.

Good point - it's something to be cautious about. I should have pointed that out.

From what I've read, they age the fish at very low temperature. They also keep the humidity constant. Also, the fish has to be cleaned in a specific way - basically what seasponge talks about. One example: https://dryager.com.au/dry-aged-fish/.

11 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

I prefer to cure or smoke fish if I am going to keep it longer.

Agreed, I smoke fish as well.

[wizza]

Good methods,Noelm.Flouring and refrigerating mowie boneles fillets for 3 days improves them out of sight.Snapper are best fresh imho,and dont improve like mowie.Mowie is very good for fish pie.

 

[Sea Ranger]

I thought this was going to be a thread about torrfisk.  Truly a treat!

 

[noelm]

I still don't get why people just put fish in the kill tank with no ice, particularly during summer, the eating qualities of a fish iced as soon as it's caught is noticeable compared to one left in the kill tank (and even worse if seawater is added) for a couple of hours. If you're too tight to buy ice, make your own, even fresh water bottles frozen are better than nothing, plus you get extra cold water when it melts.

[kingie chaser]

9 hours ago, noelm said:

I still don't get why people just put fish in the kill tank with no ice, particularly during summer, the eating qualities of a fish iced as soon as it's caught is noticeable compared to one left in the kill tank (and even worse if seawater is added) for a couple of hours. If you're too tight to buy ice, make your own, even fresh water bottles frozen are better than nothing, plus you get extra cold water when it melts.

100% 👍

 

[Mike Sydney]

Greg Vinall also waded in on this subject on his podcast in Episode 355: Improving The Eating Quality Of Fish With Greg Vinall , worth a listen and some bullet points here : https://doclures.com/keeping-fish/ 

@seasponge thanks for mentioning the book, I saw Josh Niland preparing a kingfish on masterchef a year ago and it was proper amazing to see such clean and efficient cuts. I imagine the book is equally impressive.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Mike Sydney

[Little_Flatty]

8 hours ago, Mike Sydney said:

Greg Vinall also waded in on this subject on his podcast in Episode 355: Improving The Eating Quality Of Fish With Greg Vinall , worth a listen and some bullet points here : https://doclures.com/keeping-fish/ 

Since I listened to that podcast, I have adopted every recommendation that Greg made regarding keeping fish, and the difference between the quality of the fish is like night and day. It's a heck of a compromise though - being landbased and needing to be highly mobile - I've ended up leaving most of my lures at home, so that I have space in my backpack for a soft cooler bag and an ice pack. But it's been worth it.

[noelm]

While I do agree with most of what was said in that link, most people wouldn't bother with half the things mentioned, it would not be worth keeping a fish to eat if everything mentioned was done. It says to not gut a fish you are going to fillet, now I am pretty good at filleting fish, but doing a Flathead without cutting into the gut cavity would need a surgeons skill, unless you just filleting the tail below the bum......what it amounts to is relatively simple, any fish you intend to keep to eat, needs to be stored properly soon after capture, to do this is simple and cheap, from a very basic esky with some ice, to a large esky, with salt water slurry. Almost every week there is photos on this site with fish in kill tanks and eskies without any ice whatsoever, you need to remember, summer temps here can get quite warm, and even in an esky, without ice, a fish will deteriorate considerably in a few hours, fish kept in a bucket (or esky) full of seawater is no better, the ocean is over 23 degrees now, and after a couple of hours, a bucket of water will only increase in temperature. We go to a lot of effort and expense in pursuit of our pastime, and the rewards can be good, but at least do your best to keep your catch worth eating.