Pickled Christmas Steelhead

[Fishawn]

This is a Christmas time tradition in my family...... As Christmas time is typically about the peak of the Winter Steelhead run around here..... It is equally as good with Salmon.

FISH
- Filet & skin fish & remove any of the brownish flesh along skin side
- Cover filets with rock or kosher salt top & bottom for 12 hours & refrigerate
- Remove filets from salt after 12 hours & wipe excess salt off but don't rinse
- Cut filets into about 1/2" thin slices

PICKLE
- 6 Cups Water
- 6 Cups Vinegar
- 1.5 oz. Pickling Spices (about 5 Tablespoons)
- 1 small box Brown Sugar (forgot to check size/weight)
- Boil brine mixture 5 minutes & cool overnight

Processing & Packing
- Cut White Onion(s) in thin slices, about 1/8"
- In large glass/plastic jar, layer onion, fish, onion, fish, onion, etc to near top
- Pour cooled pickling brine to top of jar, screw on lid & refrigerate 10 days

[salmonclubber]

Awesome

Merry Christmas Scott

[ALX]

WOW...that must be good Walter...Thanks for recipe...I have been out of loop on this stuff since we moved from alaska in 1981....

[Meat Hunter]

Man I envy you
Would this be sorta like the Herring you buy in the store? Going ice fishing tomorrow, hopefully coming back with a cooler full of panfish and some pike. Would like to pickle some of that pike with your recipe, sounds fantastic.

[Fishawn]

Man I envy you
Would this be sorta like the Herring you buy in the store? Going ice fishing tomorrow, hopefully coming back with a cooler full of panfish and some pike. Would like to pickle some of that pike with your recipe, sounds fantastic.

Pickled Herring Todd? ..... Kinda..... Steelhead is much better though .... Let me know if you pickle your pike.... I have never had pike, but if it flakes really easily when cooking, it may not hold together well enough to pull this off, but may be worth a try

I should mention that the recipe shown is doubled from my original old recipe book, so you might wanna try a small batch?

[SmokinLee]

Sounds great Scott. Only had the herring myself and love that stuff. It's a must have at deer camp along with pickled bologna. Thanks for the recipe, now to get my hands on some trout or salmon.

[Fishawn]

Do you use a similar style brine or pickle for the bologna Lee?

[SmokinLee]

I have only bought pickled bologna. It has what appears ( just looked) 4 cayenne peppers and a bay leaf in the jar and it's not sweet to the taste. I tried a recipe once with some of my smoked sausage I made, and the recipe had way too much sugar in it for me. Maybe I should try some already made natural casing hot dogs and experiment with a brine for when I do make a batch of bologna. Is this fish pickle real sweet?

[Fishawn]

It is not sweet, seems like a good balance to me... My FIL makes it with homemade vinegar and its got a nice lil vinegar bite to it.... I may try the pickled hot dogs eventually also... Sounds pretty good!

[Slanted88]

Can't do it Walter...Mental block... Fish gotta be fried or grilled... Louie can eat dat stuff...N them damn cans o' sardines..

[Gunslinger]

Good with carp too.

[curious aardvark]

looks great and the sort of thing I could eat till I developed gills.

BRINE
- 6 Cups Water
- 6 Cups Vinegar
- 1.5 oz. Pickling Spices (about 5 Tablespoons)
- 1 small box Brown Sugar (forgot to check size/weight)
- Boil brine mixture 5 minutes & cool overnight

(lol) BUT, can you call it a brine if it doesn't have any salt in it ?

Surely it's just pickling liquid/solution/marinade.

The fish is pre-salted anyway so salt isn't needed.

Just a thought.

[Fishawn]

looks great and the sort of thing I could eat till I developed gills.




(lol) BUT, can you call it a brine if it doesn't have any salt in it ?

Surely it's just pickling liquid/solution/marinade.

The fish is pre-salted anyway so salt isn't needed.

Just a thought.

I dunno ..... Good question though.... I can change it to something else if you wanna do the research for me to find out what I should call it

[Mark R]

It's Pickled, not brine.

[Fishawn]

It's Pickled, not brine.

.... Yes Mark, you are correct.... I think my head is brined.... or pickled, or.....

JT.... Here ya go bud