Freezing fish

[pc farmer]

What's the best way to freeze fish.? My son caught red drum and Spanish mackerel and I need to freeze some. He brought home a lot. And best way to cook them. We deep fried some tonight.

 

[DougE]

I've always frozen fish in salt water. IMO, you get as close as possible to fresh fish when thawed and cooked.

 

[jcam222]

I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.

 

[pushok2018]

I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.

This is how I freeze fish. Recently found piece of salmon in my freezer which was vac packed one and a half years ago - taste and texture was perfectly fine after I cooked it....

 

[indaswamp]

I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.

I'm with jcam. We process a lot of fish from what we catch offshore out of Venice, La. Towel dry the fillets with paper towels and vac seal dry. They should last 6 months. You can still eat them after that but the quality suffers.

 

[indaswamp]

Also- might be little late for this tip, but we always leave the skin and scales on to freeze unless it is a pelagic fish. Helps protect the meat better.

 

[chilerelleno]

I do the same, vac pack dry.
I do it mainly with large catches of Catfish, Spanish mack, Redfish and Sheepshead.
But fish doesn't last long enough in the freezer to test long term storage.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

What's the best way to freeze fish.? My son caught red drum and Spanish mackerel and I need to freeze some. He brought home a lot. And best way to cook them. We deep fried some tonight.

I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.

I'm with jcam. We process a lot of fish from what we catch offshore out of Venice, La. Towel dry the fillets with paper towels and vac seal dry. They should last 6 months. You can still eat them after that but the quality suffers.

I do the same, vac pack dry.
I do it mainly with large catches of Catfish, Spanish mack, Redfish and Sheepshead.
But fish doesn't last long enough in the freezer to test long term storage.

I do as Jeff, Keith, and John do. Sometimes I'll lay the fillets out flat on a baking sheet and partially freeze them and then vacuum seal...

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I also just vacuum seal. Be sure to clean the sealer after though. I forgot one time.

 

[cmayna]

Yes for dry vac as well. Wife and I do a lot of Salmon, rock cod, ling cod and Albacore fishing ending up with two stand up freezers in the garage full of fish. Have had great success with dry vac product.

Here freezer #1 -Salmon

 

[Bearcarver]

I'm with the Flat & Dry Vac Packing gang:
Back in 2010, Bear Jr Vac Packed 18 Salmon fillets. They were all in the 30" to 36" length range, and he packed them individually. It took me about a year to get them all smoked, and they held up Fine that whole time. We didn't notice any loss of quality. These were from a Salmon run, but not a real long one, so they weren't in real bad shape to begin with.

Now years ago, in the days before Vac Packers, My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.

Bear

 

[indaswamp]

Now years ago, in the days before Vac Packers, My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.

Bear

My grandpa did the same thing....he liked that they would fit nicely in the freezer with no wasted space.

 

[tbern]

I'm with the Flat & Dry Vac Packing gang:
Back in 2010, Bear Jr Vac Packed 18 Salmon fillets. They were all in the 30" to 36" length range, and he packed them individually. It took me about a year to get them all smoked, and they held up Fine that whole time. We didn't notice any loss of quality. These were from a Salmon run, but not a real long one, so they weren't in real bad shape to begin with.

Now years ago, in the days before Vac Packers, My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.

Bear

My grandpa did the same thing....he liked that they would fit nicely in the freezer with no wasted space.

i also remember my grandparents using this method, seemed to work very well.

 

[chopsaw]

My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.

Yup . That's how I always saw people do it . I'm a catch and release fisherman so never tried it myself .

 

[sawhorseray]

My grandpa did the same thing....he liked that they would fit nicely in the freezer with no wasted space.

I used to do that with ocean-caught smelt.! Yeah, I reckon that was 50 years ago now that I stop and think about it. RAY

 

[HalfSmoked]

I'm with the help you eat them group

Warren

 

[Buckeyedude]

I'm with the help you eat them group

Warren

I'm in this guy's group! Lol.
We tend to freeze in water in gallon bags, but most of what we freeze is walleye, pan fish and if lucky salmon! The salmon we cut into 4" chunks and bag up meal size quantities.

 

[pc farmer]

I ended up drying with paper towels and vac sealed.

 

[WaterRat]

I'm with jcam. We process a lot of fish from what we catch offshore out of Venice, La. Towel dry the fillets with paper towels and vac seal dry. They should last 6 months. You can still eat them after that but the quality suffers.

This. And if they get a touch dry/freezer burned - make chowder, you won’t know the difference.

 

[Bearcarver]

Yup . That's how I always saw people do it . I'm a catch and release fisherman so never tried it myself .

I was always "Catch & Release" too;
Catch them & release them into my gullet.

Bear