freezing mackeral

seeing as my freezer is empty and the shoals are starting to build up i have to start filling again. just a question though, do people find it best to fillet the mackeral and then vacuam seal them or freeze them whole and vacuam them

Leave the guts in them then vacuum pack and freeze, I only ever fillet on the beach or before the pan. They keep much better when frozen with guts in as long as you get them into the freezer fast and if for bait then you want guts for the scent trail.

I did a food safety course at some stage in the past and it said that large fish keep better if they are gutted as quickly as possible as once it dies the enzymes from the gut get into the blood and start digesting the fish

the problem is alot of the blood is in the gut too and makes for good bait

What I take from this is is if you can get them chilled or frozen quickly enough keep the guts but if you are out and are planning to stay out for a couple of hours gut them.

imo

Before you leave the venue gut the fish and clean then in salt water.
When you get home wrap them in a a half sheet of newspaper one at a time and freeze them.

id go with eonmag if your not out to long and its for bait i would filit them thoughif there for the table but i dont eat mackrel was turned off them young due to it being served for weeks of the mackrel sesson :shock:

maya culpa

were did you get the vacum packer might be intrested myself if there not to dear

I got one in Lidl about 2 years ago, that reminds me, I better try it out :shock:

Blackie

mother had one lying around the house so just used it. broke at the mo so gotta go back to the cling film

i have both gutted and not gutted them in the past, freeze them quickly after you catch em, havent noticed any difference

i glaze and vaccuum pack them, best if you use them inside 3 months i have found, still just about useable after 5

Atlantic homecare are doing a vacum pack and seal.have to say you cant go wrong for 60euro i'd certainly recommend them

i use a zip-lock sandwich bag (yes large Mr74) place mackeral in bag and lower the bag into water, just until the zip lock, the water pressure on the side of the bag forces air out, close bag remove from water, dry and freeze

nice one mc, must give that a go. you have to make sure to get all of the air out otherwise the makeral gets freezer burn and that makes it go very soft once thawed.

nice one mc, must give that a go. you have to make sure to get all of the air out otherwise the makeral gets freezer burn and that makes it go very soft once thawed.

use a straw if your brave enough, but dont sallow :lol:

wrap in clingfilm or newpaper. keeps for months. freeze whole for conveniece!

ok.. here goes... if you are going to eat any of the mackerel at any time.. as fenitbob said, gut it straight away, but this is for consumption purposes only...

dont freeze a mackerel whole then later fillet it and eat it.. this could cause a serious case of deli belly... not good.. some bacteria can survive extreme low temperatures and survive being frozen and thawed..

for bait, as soon as the mackerel is caught keep it cold, the flesh will start to deteriorate the longer it is left in the open... as fenitbob said the gut enzymes eat into the flesh..

as for packing, vacuum packing is the handiest as it takes up less space, wrapping in paper can be a pain in the rear when thawing the fish for use(paper gets everywhere, you know what i mean), wrapping in clingfilm seems to be a newer way of doing it, but you have to thaw the bait out a bit before you can fully unwrap it..

the ideal way of doing it is catching vacuum packing and in the freezer within 30min's, not possible in all cases though...

for some reason i find that breaking the neck( thumb in mouth and pulling up) the fish lasts a bit longer out in the open, dont know why but i presume its because there is a little blood loss in the process, which makes it harder for the gut enzymes to travel through the body(only a theory though)

another way, but kinda cruel is keep the mackerel alive as long as possible in a big bucket of water until the last minute.. i dont even do this .. its not fair on the fish, but i have seen it done...

but i cannot emphasize enough that if you are going to at any stage eat a mackerel, to fillet it on the spot and keep it separate from the whole mackerel, and dont eat a thawed frozen whole mackerel.. the consequences can be pretty bad :shock:


p.s. freezer burn is caused by loss of moisture from the fish, moisture will move to the coldest part of the freezer i.e. freezer walls and bottom..
to prevent this make sure that the mackerel is properly wrapped, this is why vacuum packing is the most recommended way of freezing meats and baits, and why cling film wrapping is a close second, paper wrapped baits can end up with freezer burn due to loss of moisture from the bait into the paper its self, if there is a build up of frost on a paper wrapped mackerel, chances re it has suffered freezer burn..


i hope this has cleared a few things up for people :wink:

ok.. here goes... if you are going to eat any of the mackerel at any time.. as fenitbob said, gut it straight away, but this is for consumption purposes only...

dont freeze a mackerel whole then later fillet it and eat it.. this could cause a serious case of deli belly... not good.. some bacteria can survive extreme low temperatures and survive being frozen and thawed..

for bait, as soon as the mackerel is caught keep it cold, the flesh will start to deteriorate the longer it is left in the open... as fenitbob said the gut enzymes eat into the flesh..

as for packing, vacuum packing is the handiest as it takes up less space, wrapping in paper can be a pain in the rear when thawing the fish for use(paper gets everywhere, you know what i mean), wrapping in clingfilm seems to be a newer way of doing it, but you have to thaw the bait out a bit before you can fully unwrap it..

the ideal way of doing it is catching vacuum packing and in the freezer within 30min's, not possible in all cases though...

for some reason i find that breaking the neck( thumb in mouth and pulling up) the fish lasts a bit longer out in the open, dont know why but i presume its because there is a little blood loss in the process, which makes it harder for the gut enzymes to travel through the body(only a theory though)

another way, but kinda cruel is keep the mackerel alive as long as possible in a big bucket of water until the last minute.. i dont even do this .. its not fair on the fish, but i have seen it done...

but i cannot emphasize enough that if you are going to at any stage eat a mackerel, to fillet it on the spot and keep it separate from the whole mackerel, and dont eat a thawed frozen whole mackerel.. the consequences can be pretty bad :shock:


p.s. freezer burn is caused by loss of moisture from the fish, moisture will move to the coldest part of the freezer i.e. freezer walls and bottom..
to prevent this make sure that the mackerel is properly wrapped, this is why vacuum packing is the most recommended way of freezing meats and baits, and why cling film wrapping is a close second, paper wrapped baits can end up with freezer burn due to loss of moisture from the bait into the paper its self, if there is a build up of frost on a paper wrapped mackerel, chances re it has suffered freezer burn..


i hope this has cleared a few things up for people :wink:

I think if you have a good enough chest freezer with a quick freeze compartment and enough common sense to know when something is not fit for consumption then you can also go with my method.