Did a quick search here and saw lots o' people talking about storing canned fish but in my haste I did not see if we had a thread with some "how to" or recipes. I love fish and will eat about any form so lets just stop the canned fish criticism right there I have never canned my own and was hoping to find some tried and true Monkey recipes. when I lived in Alaska an old boy gave me canned fish he put up himself that came out as a spread (may have just been old) for making sandwiches. loved it but failed to learn how... anyone familiar? thanks all
I've bought line caught tuna off the boat and canned it. Much better than store bought, but pricy. many of the canning recipes called for cooking the tuna before canning, but I just filleted, cut and rinsed the fish and placed it into the sterile jars, added boiling water, a small amount of sea salt, placed the lids and retaining rings and processed in a pressure cooker by the numbers. From PRESTO Pressure Canner and Cooking Instructions and Recipes... Presto®: Pressure Canning: Fish and Seafood For all fish except Tuna. Clean fish thoroughly; fillet large fish or leave small pan fish whole. Cut into container length pieces. Pack with the skin side of the fish to the outside of the Mason jar, leaving 1" of headspace. DO NOT ADD LIQUIDS. Adjust jar lids. For processing above 2,000 feet see adjustments. Process at 11 pounds pressure - Pints 100 minutes. Altitude Adjustment 2,001 - 4000 12lbs 4,001 - 6,000 13lbs 6,001 - 8,000 14lbs Tuna Clean fish thoroughly. place belly side down on a rack, in the bottom of a large baking pan. Precook fish at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Refrigerate cooked fish overnight to firm the meat. remove skin and backbone. Cut meat one inch shorter than the Mason jars and pack solidly. Fill jars with hot cooking oil or boiling water, leaving 1" headspace. Adjust jar lids. Process at 11lbs pressure - Half pints 100 minutes. Above 2,000 feet, see altitude adjustments for pressure.
We canned Lake Michigan Salmon for years and years. I ate so much of it I got real sick of the taste. However today with food costs soaring I'm rethinking this. I am going to be canning Rabbit and Venison already might as well do some fish. KF
When I was a young man 17 to 21 I lived at a boarding house for wild kids. I left home at 17 because I didn't want to hear the truth about Communism and the evil of the federal reserve from my mother who was a Macarthy supporter. . This was in 1976 . The owner of the home was an older single man who ran a floor cleaning company. I worked there for basically room and board. One of the things we could do to save on our share of the food bill was shoot deer, small game and bring fish home. Snagging salmon was the norm here for decades. All the poor folk snagged as these fish were just going up the rivers to die any way. We canned an awful lot of it. Mixed it in anything you ever thought about using tuna for. Many different canning recipes including barbecue sauce. The guy even made fish sausage by mixing it with pork flavoring stuff. I dont know how he did it but it wasnt too bad as sausage. W e also smoked a lot of it. Cold beer and hot smoked fish was a saturday night party from August to October.
Way back in the late sixties and early seventies living in north Michigan, My grandfather would can smelt and small perch in tomato or mustard sauce. We would spend a night out dipping up smelt and be real tired of them by the time we finished cleaning them all..
The thing about canning fish is that the canning process time and pressure negates the need to remove the bones. They will dissolve. My post on this subject was a take off from a story in Backwoods Home magazine about the Amish in the Midwest harvesting trash fish from the creeks and rivers each spring to the tune of 400 pounds or so per family and canning same. My recipe was for a basic canned fish. All fish, cold pack (no precooking) no liquid added, and 1/2 teaspoon salt per pint jar, 10lb pressure for 110 minutes. My fish were prepared as for pan fry, (deheaded, gutted, and scaled, additionally I used SS medical shears to cut away tails and all external fins). Fish prepped and canned this way can be substituted in any recipe where you would use canned salmon or tuna. They will work just fine for fish patties, cocktail chunks with sauce on side if canned as chunks, in soups and chowders, for fish spreads and dips. Often folks would comment on how good the dish was and ask about the fish. I would usually just smile and say, House Secret.
Since I work for a Seafood Processor, I can NOT comment on, or recommend the proper Canning Techniques, for SeaFoods. However I can recommend that ANYONE interested in such information, to contact Seafood Products Association Which is the Industry Technical Organization that samples, and works with the FDA, and other Regulators, to make sure that the Industry, produces the best quality Seafood, in compliance with ALL applicable Standards.
