How to freeze salmon for shabbos

Amarante ↓

Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:44 am

It isn't good to marinate fish for storage because marinades actually "cook" the fish.

Don't marinate fish for more than an hour because the quality of the fish deteriorates.

It is really easy to add the marinade before you are cooking as you can prepare the marinade ahead of time and then pour it over the fish a half hour or so before popping in the oven.

Chicken and most other beef or lamb dishes benefit from a long marinade because it helps tenderize the flesh and the flavor permeates. You don't want or need to tenderize fish flesh for obvious reasons

HonesttoGod

Tue, Nov 16 2021, 12:00 pm

Depends on the marinade.
Like amarante said above a saucy marinade id freezer separate, raw, and just put on when defrosting.
I often freeze my salmon spiced though (raw). I do olive oil salt and pepper and freeze. I generally prefer salmon this way tho without heavy marinades.

↑ Amarante ↓

Tue, Nov 16 2021, 12:05 pm

HonesttoGod wrote:

I am not sure I would add salt to fish for long storage because that is actually a way of preserving it.

I also don't understand how seasoning it prior to storage is a time saver since it would take a minute or so to add salt, pepper and olive oil to a fish.

However I was assuming that something called a "marinade" would have some acidic element which would "cook" the fish. That is the basis of how ceviche is "cooked".

Not all marinades are the heavy sweet style though. Fish doesn't need to be marinated so I think technically we are talking about "sauces" and not marinades which are typically used for chicken, meat, lamb etc. There are some very good fish dishes which use yogurt for example - or even mustard to bind a coating of nuts.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Nov 16 2021, 12:08 pm

If you are using fresh caught fish, PLEASE don't freeze it!

You will ruin the texture, it will dry out, and it will have very little flavor. Puke

Do yourself a huge favor, and just bake it the day before. It will taste great cold or at room temperature (slightly warmed on the blech maybe.)

I think that most people ruin fresh fish because they think they are saving time by freezing ahead. If you want to save time and money, buy the cheaper salmon in the freezer section of the grocery store. It won't taste anything like fresh caught, but you won't be throwing your money away, either.

↑ Amarante

Tue, Nov 16 2021, 12:21 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

If you are using fresh caught fish, PLEASE don't freeze it!

You will ruin the texture, it will dry out, and it will have very little flavor. Puke

I agree with FF but wanted to add that unless you are buying from a super high quality fishmonger, the chances are that the fish has been frozen and is defrosted to sell. Then if you freeze it you are effectively freezing and defrosting it a second time.

Commercial freezing is done through flash freezing which doesn't compromise the quality of the fish as much as a home freezer does. In a home freezing situation it is frozen slowly and so the cells burst and then the liquid runs out. This is why you get a lot of liquid when you defrost meat or fish.

If you actually have a fabulous fishmonger and the fish is truly off the boat fresh, it would be a sin to freeze it because you are defeating the purpose of buying fresh fish.

I used to go with my father to the harbor and he would buy fish right off the boat that was just caught that day or the day before from the small fishermen - they aren't small but their business was small. LOL