# Freezing fish



## pc farmer (Sep 17, 2022)

What's the best way to freeze fish.?  My son caught red drum and Spanish mackerel and I need to freeze some. He brought home a lot.  And best way to cook them.  We deep fried some tonight.


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## DougE (Sep 17, 2022)

I've always frozen fish in salt water. IMO, you get as close as possible to fresh fish when thawed and cooked.


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## jcam222 (Sep 17, 2022)

I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.


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## pushok2018 (Sep 17, 2022)

jcam222 said:


> I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.


This is how I freeze fish. Recently found piece of salmon in my freezer which was vac packed one and a half years ago - taste and texture was perfectly fine after I cooked it....


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## indaswamp (Sep 17, 2022)

jcam222 said:


> I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.


I'm with jcam. We process a lot of fish from what we catch offshore out of Venice, La. Towel dry the fillets with paper towels and vac seal dry. They should last 6 months. You can still eat them after that but the quality suffers.


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## indaswamp (Sep 17, 2022)

Also- might be little late for this tip, but we always leave the skin and scales on to freeze unless it is a pelagic fish. Helps protect the meat better.


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## chilerelleno (Sep 17, 2022)

I do the same, vac pack dry.
I do it mainly with large catches of Catfish, Spanish mack, Redfish and Sheepshead.
But fish doesn't last long enough in the freezer to test long term storage.


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## GonnaSmoke (Sep 18, 2022)

pc farmer said:


> What's the best way to freeze fish.?  My son caught red drum and Spanish mackerel and I need to freeze some. He brought home a lot.  And best way to cook them.  We deep fried some tonight.





jcam222 said:


> I prefer to freeze it dry in vacuum sealed bags. I feel like the meat maintains better texture that way.





indaswamp said:


> I'm with jcam. We process a lot of fish from what we catch offshore out of Venice, La. Towel dry the fillets with paper towels and vac seal dry. They should last 6 months. You can still eat them after that but the quality suffers.





chilerelleno said:


> I do the same, vac pack dry.
> I do it mainly with large catches of Catfish, Spanish mack, Redfish and Sheepshead.
> But fish doesn't last long enough in the freezer to test long term storage.


I do as Jeff, Keith, and John do. Sometimes I'll lay the fillets out flat on a baking sheet and partially freeze them and then vacuum seal...


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## BrianGSDTexoma (Sep 18, 2022)

I also just vacuum seal.  Be sure to clean the sealer after though.  I forgot one time.


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## cmayna (Sep 18, 2022)

Yes for dry vac as well.  Wife and I do a lot of  Salmon, rock cod, ling cod and Albacore fishing ending up with two stand up freezers in the garage full of fish.  Have had great success with dry vac product.  

Here freezer #1 -Salmon


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## Bearcarver (Sep 18, 2022)

I'm with the Flat & Dry Vac Packing gang:
Back in 2010, Bear Jr Vac Packed 18 Salmon fillets. They were all in the 30" to 36" length range, and he packed them individually. It took me about a year to get them all smoked, and they held up Fine that whole time. We didn't notice any loss of quality. These were from a Salmon run, but not a real long one, so they weren't in real bad shape to begin with.

Now years ago, in the days before Vac Packers, My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.

Bear


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## indaswamp (Sep 18, 2022)

Bearcarver said:


> Now years ago, in the days before Vac Packers, My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.
> 
> Bear


My grandpa did the same thing....he liked that they would fit nicely in the freezer with no wasted space.


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## tbern (Sep 18, 2022)

Bearcarver said:


> I'm with the Flat & Dry Vac Packing gang:
> Back in 2010, Bear Jr Vac Packed 18 Salmon fillets. They were all in the 30" to 36" length range, and he packed them individually. It took me about a year to get them all smoked, and they held up Fine that whole time. We didn't notice any loss of quality. These were from a Salmon run, but not a real long one, so they weren't in real bad shape to begin with.
> 
> Now years ago, in the days before Vac Packers, My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.
> ...





indaswamp said:


> My grandpa did the same thing....he liked that they would fit nicely in the freezer with no wasted space.


i also remember my grandparents using this method, seemed to work very well.


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## chopsaw (Sep 18, 2022)

Bearcarver said:


> My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.


Yup . That's how I always saw people do it . I'm a catch and release fisherman so never tried it myself .


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## sawhorseray (Sep 18, 2022)

indaswamp said:


> My grandpa did the same thing....he liked that they would fit nicely in the freezer with no wasted space.


I used to do that with ocean-caught smelt.! Yeah, I reckon that was 50 years ago now that I stop and think about it. RAY


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## HalfSmoked (Sep 18, 2022)

I'm with the help you eat them group

Warren


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## Buckeyedude (Sep 18, 2022)

HalfSmoked said:


> I'm with the help you eat them group
> 
> Warren


I'm in this guy's group!  Lol.  
We tend to freeze  in water in gallon bags, but most of what we freeze is walleye, pan fish and if lucky salmon!  The salmon we cut into 4" chunks and bag up meal size quantities.


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## pc farmer (Sep 18, 2022)

I ended up drying with paper towels and vac sealed.


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## WaterRat (Sep 18, 2022)

indaswamp said:


> I'm with jcam. We process a lot of fish from what we catch offshore out of Venice, La. Towel dry the fillets with paper towels and vac seal dry. They should last 6 months. You can still eat them after that but the quality suffers.


This. And if they get a touch dry/freezer burned - make chowder, you won’t know the difference.


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## Bearcarver (Sep 18, 2022)

chopsaw said:


> Yup . That's how I always saw people do it . I'm a catch and release fisherman so never tried it myself .


I was always "Catch & Release" too;
Catch them & release them into my gullet.

Bear


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## poacherjoe (Sep 18, 2022)

Pressure can it !! Lasts longer than freezing and vacuum pack what you can eat in 6 months.


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## pineywoods (Sep 18, 2022)

GonnaSmoke said:


> I do as Jeff, Keith, and John do. Sometimes I'll lay the fillets out flat on a baking sheet and partially freeze them and then vacuum seal...



I'm with Charles if you put them on a baking sheet and allow to partially freeze you get no liquids into the vacuum sealer makes for a much better clean up


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## pc farmer (Sep 18, 2022)

pineywoods said:


> I'm with Charles if you put them on a baking sheet and allow to partially freeze you get no liquids into the vacuum sealer makes for a much better clean up



That's what I was going to do but drying off with paper towels worked.  No liquid sucked up


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## PulledPorkSandwich (Sep 21, 2022)

Bearcarver said:


> Now years ago, in the days before Vac Packers, My Mother used to throw smaller fish fillets into wax coated square Milk Cartons. Then fill them with water, and freeze into a solid block.


I went out with a guide about 6 months ago and caught a bunch of crappie.  He recommended that we use effectively this approach but with plastic bags instead of milk cartons, making sure the fillets were completely covered with water.  

The resulting bags are irregularly shaped and take up a lot of space in the freezer, but the fish taste great when thawed and cooked.  We ate a bunch the day after we caught them and then finished them off 6 months later.  I couldn't taste any difference in flavor.

I don't have a vacuum sealer but I may end up getting one, in which case I'll try that approach.


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