Preserving in salt- backpacking

[Ben Guss]

Interested in your input.
Im going bsckpacking for one night this weekend if i catch a limit id like to bring em home. Im considering bringing a ziplock bag full of salt and packing the filets out. And snoking/ canning at home. This is how fish was preserved historically, but id hate to waste them.
Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[bennysbuddy]

Interested in your input.
Im going bsckpacking for one night this weekend if i catch a limit id like to bring em home. Im considering bringing a ziplock bag full of salt and packing the filets out. And snoking/ canning at home. This is how fish was preserved historically, but id hate to waste them.
Thanks for the thoughts!

i use to layer salmon & rock salt in a bucket with a lid on it for a month or more when I commercial fished Alaska for Smoking later in the winter. never had a problem

 

[Sportsman]

i use to layer salmon & rock salt in a bucket with a lid on it for a month or more when I commercial fished Alaska for Smoking later in the winter. never had a problem

Packing out 5 little cutties? Small zip lock and even smaller salt shaker.

 

[Sportsman]

Interested in your input.
Im going bsckpacking for one night this weekend if i catch a limit id like to bring em home. Im considering bringing a ziplock bag full of salt and packing the filets out. And snoking/ canning at home. This is how fish was preserved historically, but id hate to waste them.
Thanks for the thoughts!

Packing out 5 little cutties? Small salt shaker and a ziplock.

 

[Gyrfalcon2020]

Seal it good or you will have a swarm of yellow jackets and every bear within 10 miles following you home.

I catch and release trout then hit halibut at a restaurant and feel pretty good, but I am not a trout eating fan.

 

[cdnred]

Never really crossed my mind about using salt for preserving fish when hiking for a few days back to the car. Curious as to how the use of salt would affect the taste. Was there any hint of an unnatural salty taste to the fish later.? Once back home, do you need to soak the fillets in water for any extended period of time to remove the salty taste it acquired from the use of the salt..?

 

[John svah]

Subscribed...i have not yet figured this out myself!

 

[kmudgn]

Wow, have not thought about salting fish for years. When I was a kid I lived with my Great Uncle in Northern VT. He had electricity, but preferred to salt certain meats and fish. Sometimes he would just use salt and others salt first and then freeze. It has been a very long time, but this is what I remember about preserving the fish (which were either brook trout, or ll salmon):
1. Be sure to clean and wash fish to be sure to remove all guts
2. Remove from backbone so that salt can penetrate
3. Use large size salt grains ( I believe he used "Kosher" type salt, but suspect rock salt would be ok too)
4. After the initial salting, he would wait at least a day before removing. If I remember correctly, he would check to be sure that the fish was dry (flaky) all the way through before putting away

FYI: Salted fish is an "acquired" taste (I never liked it), but he really did

 

[Salmo_g]

Where ya' been Ben? Long time, no see.

If you're going backpacking for one night, you're not going to be very far in miles or very long in hours from your car. Forget the salt. Just double bag your fish in plastic zip lock bags. Then put them in your pack where they won't get smushed or absorb heat from your back. Hike back out to your car and put the fish in the cooler you left there, with some ice in it. You could always eat a couple trout for breakfast before hiking out too, for that matter.