Restaurant owner, chef, Spearo, fisherman, and forager. With 25 years in the restaurant industry, I use what I’ve learned to showcase what’s possible with off cuts, underutilized species and bycatch. My specialty is stretching the catch and getting the most with very little.
Salt Cured Bluefish
Salt curing fish is a great way of preservation of your catch. This method is mostly used for gravlax but can be applied to any fish with the ratios provided. For me, I like using a nice oily fish because it can hold up to the salt.
We have done this recipe with Yellow Jack and Wahoo and it came out just as good. Once you have the salt and sugar ratio, you can experiment with different herbs and spices to create different flavors for your cured fish.
Scale and fillet your Bluefish. With pliers or tweezers remove all pin bones.
This part is important: weigh your fillets. Whatever the weight is we are going to measure out 1/2 that weight in equal parts brown sugar and salt. So if your fillets weigh 1lb total we will measure 1/4 lb salt and 1/4 sugar.
TWO BLUEFISH FILLETS
Chop a cup of dill and mix with salt and sugar in a bowl (you can add any herbs and spices of your choice to this mixture).
BROWN SUGAR
SALT
DILL
Layout your Bluefish fillets skin side down on a wire rack with a pan underneath to catch the liquid. Cover the fillets with the salt/sugar/herb mixture. Cover the fillets with plastic wrap. Now what I do to speed the process is put a pan on top of the fillets and throw some soup cans in that pan to add weight to squeeze out moisture. This will condense the fish and make the final product more firm.
Place this in your fridge and wait. Let cure no less than 12-24 hours, no more than 36-48. The longer you let the fillets sit the harder the cure and the more salt it will take on. This is also dependent on how thick your fillets are, a thin fillet will need less time. I usually go right in the middle at 36 hours.
At the end of the curing process rinse off all salt and sugar with cold water and dry with a paper towel. Now you have your cured Bluefish gravlax and added another week (unsealed) to a month (vacuumed sealed) of shelf life to your catch.
Scale and fillet your Bluefish. With pliers or tweezers remove all pin bones.
TWO BLUEFISH FILLETS (skin on and scaled)
2
This part is important: weigh your fillets. Whatever the weight is we are going to measure out 1/2 that weight in equal parts brown sugar and salt. So if your fillets weigh 1lb total we will measure 1/4 lb salt and 1/4 sugar.
BROWN SUGAR
SALT
DILL
3
Chop a cup of dill and mix with salt and sugar in a bowl (you can add any herbs and spices of your choice to this mixture).
4
Layout your Bluefish fillets skin side down on a wire rack with a pan underneath to catch the liquid. Cover the fillets with the salt/sugar/herb mixture. Cover the fillets with plastic wrap. Now what I do to speed the process is put a pan on top of the fillets and throw some soup cans in that pan to add weight to squeeze out moisture. This will condense the fish and make the final product more firm.
5
Place this in your fridge and wait. Let cure no less than 12-24 hours, no more than 36-48. The longer you let the fillets sit the harder the cure and the more salt it will take on. This is also dependent on how thick your fillets are, a thin fillet will need less time. I usually go right in the middle at 36 hours.
6
At the end of the curing process rinse off all salt and sugar with cold water and dry with a paper towel. Now you have your cured Bluefish gravlax and added another week (unsealed) to a month (vacuumed sealed) of shelf life to your catch.
