Has anyone made pickled fish before, I used to eat this all the time in MN, my Grandma used to make pickled perch all the time, finally tried it and used crappie, turned out awesome.

Recipe?

This batch was supposed to make 1 gallon, I used a package of 18 crappie to test it.

1. rinse crappie with water
2. cut into chunks (mine are about 1.5x 1.5 in size, some bigger.
3. put fish in a container with 1 cup pickling salt and cover with water, cover and put in the fridge for 48hrs.
4. rinse fish with water and then cover with white vinegar , cover and put in fridge for 24hrs.
5. rinse fish with water and put into jars with sliced onions.
6. Boil 4 cups vinegar and 3 cups sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat to cool (important to let it cool or the fish will get mushy)(optional 1 cup white wine can be added here to the mixture, I did not on this batch)
7. Add mixture to jars covering the fish
8. Add 1/4 cup pickling spice
9. Put in fridge for 2 weeks. (I could not wait 2 weeks and had to test them after 1, lol)

When doing the pickling spice I just split the 1/4 cup up in each jar since I used the smaller jars. I do recommend getting some cheese cloth to put the spice in , I let it float (which is fine) but you have to scrape it off the fish when you are ready to eat it and it is kind of a pain.

Does it have to be stored in the refrigerator?

from what I have read, yes it does.

I'm interested in hearing more about this....does the fish need to be frozen first, then brined? I'm talking about freshwater fish only.

I am sorry -- something does not sound right to me eating pickled fish -- but i have NOT tryed it. I will now get some somewere to try. Heck i might pickle it myself . Thanks for the idea.

david

this is a good recipe and video on how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0S5oww48A0&feature=related

Stan V, every time i make fresh water fish it is either fried or grilled, so otherwise cooked, I have heard that you either need to eat it that way or freeze it, we make ceveche a lot and I always use some out of the freezer, granted the lime juice cooks it but I cannot say that I have tried it on non frozen fish. I believe the freezing also kills any bacteria, so if anything it is safer to do it this way.

Busboy, trust me, I saw the same reaction out of the people that have tried it as well, and they all loved it and want more.

tomnt, I just watched the video, that is really close to what I did, timing was a little different but basically the same. it is a good example though.

Good recipe. I found another nice recipe from this site. Thanks for the wonderful sharing. Nice thread and nice comments. Keep sharing new kind of recipes.

Yes, thanks for the effort. I've read that freshwater fish must be frozen first to kill parasites, I didn't see/hear Red on the video mention freezing the fish first. Being in Tennessee may be the difference, I don't know.

Still researching cause I want to try this. I guess that's the reason fresh water fish can't be eaten as sushi.

Interesting indeed