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So dave's been to ilfracombe for a week or so and brought back about ten mackerel for me to play with :-)
A couple I did as two seperate fillets but the rest I had a go at butterfly filleting. Never done it before, didn't really know how it worked or anything really lol.
Defrosting
Now while they were defrosting - I had lunch.
Home made sesame seed buns and homemade burgers.
I make 3 oz burgers, on account my burgers don't shrink when cooked and end up larger than shop quarter pounders by some considerable margin :-)
After lunch - down to the filleting !
Filleted
To be honest I reckon I didn't do too bad a job. The mackerel I buy has just as many bones in as the fillets I did. The butterfly looks better and I think you end up with noticeably more fish to your fillets:-)
I soaked the fillets in a sort of brine/marinade.
water in a large glass bowl with 2 tsp salt dissolved, several good splashes of indonesian sweet chilli sauce and about twice as much red wine balasmic vinegar (that's what it says on the bottle).
Gave them about 3 hours in the brine and then into the smoker.
I ground fresh cbp over the fillets once in the smoker. With the electric pepper grinder this is very much the quickest and easiest way to do it :-)
Ran it for about an hour at around 180 and then up to 250 for another 40 mins or so and fish were done (abts and mutton - see abt thread - were in for a bit longer).
Cooled them down and then vacpacked.
Now, because I'd brined these they were still very moist and juicy. First one leaked like a bastard under vacumn.
The rest I wrapped in a single sheet of clingfilm first. This seals tight round the fish (or whatever moist thing you're packing) and stops any liquid being squeezed out. Best of both worlds, food stays moist and gets vacpacked.
Flavour wise these were great. You could really taste the brine ingredients.
Definitely something I'll be doing again.
A couple I did as two seperate fillets but the rest I had a go at butterfly filleting. Never done it before, didn't really know how it worked or anything really lol.
Defrosting
Now while they were defrosting - I had lunch.
Home made sesame seed buns and homemade burgers.
I make 3 oz burgers, on account my burgers don't shrink when cooked and end up larger than shop quarter pounders by some considerable margin :-)
After lunch - down to the filleting !
Filleted
To be honest I reckon I didn't do too bad a job. The mackerel I buy has just as many bones in as the fillets I did. The butterfly looks better and I think you end up with noticeably more fish to your fillets:-)
I soaked the fillets in a sort of brine/marinade.
water in a large glass bowl with 2 tsp salt dissolved, several good splashes of indonesian sweet chilli sauce and about twice as much red wine balasmic vinegar (that's what it says on the bottle).
Gave them about 3 hours in the brine and then into the smoker.
I ground fresh cbp over the fillets once in the smoker. With the electric pepper grinder this is very much the quickest and easiest way to do it :-)
Ran it for about an hour at around 180 and then up to 250 for another 40 mins or so and fish were done (abts and mutton - see abt thread - were in for a bit longer).
Cooled them down and then vacpacked.
Now, because I'd brined these they were still very moist and juicy. First one leaked like a bastard under vacumn.
The rest I wrapped in a single sheet of clingfilm first. This seals tight round the fish (or whatever moist thing you're packing) and stops any liquid being squeezed out. Best of both worlds, food stays moist and gets vacpacked.
Flavour wise these were great. You could really taste the brine ingredients.
Definitely something I'll be doing again.
...... You've been busy 
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