Printable View
After cleaning and filleting crappie, how much do you rinse it before storing?
I've read differing advice. One says rinse it vigorously to make sure you've gotten off all the guts, organs, blood, etc. that can be harmful. The other says rinse as little as possible otherwise it will make it rubbery.
What say you?
I just put them in a bowl & rinse them all at once, changing the water in the bowl a couple times. Most of the time I freeze them (until I accumulate enough for a "fry") by putting them in a zip-lock baggie, filling with water, add salt, and burp all the air out. I've fried them over a year later....still taste like they were caught that day. Thaw them in the 'fridge, and brief rinse before prepping to fry.
I say rinse everything off with cold, cold water and then pat dry with paper towels as much as possible before freezing or preferably cooking the next day. If cooking keep in fridge covered. Main thing is get the fillets dry before freezing, storing or cooking. The sooner cooked the better and why freeze, they're a resource available all year.
NEVER!NEVER! rinse your fellets vigorously. You will force water into the flesh and it will be mushy. Use a gentle spray just long enough to get the surface crud off. If you still have a little blood on/in them, put then in a bowl of really cold water with a little salt for a couple hours. Good eating.
I prefer to completely cover my fillets in water prior to freezing, otherwise they'll freezer-burn.
I rinse all stuff off them, pat dry, and vacuum seal with no water.
x2Quote:
Originally Posted by MrPaulAR
What he said x2Quote:
Originally Posted by NeonMoon
I usually just rinse each fillet individually under running cold water to make sure an errant scale or two doesn't find its way into the freezer bag...then take the entire pan of fillets and run them under gently running cold water until the water running over the top is clear.
X2 That is how I do it as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by WiCrappie
wow!!!! so many ways to preserve...... guess the best way is to try each one and see which suits you best!!!!!!
Clean them good but in zip lock bag filled with water then burp the bag never leave air in the bag
Neon, I've always done it same as you. In KY when you have enough you got "a mess"! Got company, better lay out 2 messes!
Me, too.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrPaulAR
They last forever, you can pack em flat in layers, take out just as many fillets as you want, and reseal the rest without having to thaw anything or mess around with all the extra water. And you can get more fillets in the same area of your freezer too. Wash well in cold water not just to clean off any scales or slime but also to wash out any remnants of blood AND to firm up the fillet to remove any residual body heat. A stack of unwashed fillets on the corner of the cleaning table will heat up, and you can feel it. That destroys the meat quality as much as anything else. You tend to get mushy fillets if the fish have been dead and warm too long before going to the knife. Best to butcher while still alive. Our fillets go right into a pan with cold water running through it right after the ribs and skin is removed. We do not get mushy fillets, except from long dead fish. As far as I am concerned they aren't worth trying to salvage for the table in the first place.
If you haven't tried vacuum sealing, you owe it to yourself to do so. One step before the sealer, though, and that is to layer the fillets flat between wax paper on a cookie sheet in the freezer to firm them up or you end up sucking juice.
For those who are required to transport fillets with a patch of skin on like we do for some species here in Minnesota, the vacuum sealed flat bags make that very easy to display that patch without having to keep the packed frozen fillets off the ice any longer than necessary.
Vacuum sealer is what I want for x-mas. LOL But, I have always just washed them in cold water (right after filleting, I put them in a pan of cold water also) and then dump into a freezer zip-loc. Never worried about adding water, just get the air out. Never had any freezer burn.
We normally just rinse them quickly and put them in the ziplock bags, fill with water and freeze them as quickly as possible. I always go over them very closely once they are thawed out before I cook them.
Never had a problem doing it this way in all the years I have been fishing.
I rinse fillets after cleaning,then put them in a ziplock full of water and burp the air out of the bag. Its a no brainer
what dose the salt do.
I drop my just cleaned filets into icy salt water. The salt will remove any blood remaining. Then I pour off the salt water, one quick rinse, and dry on papertowels before frying or vacumn freezing.
:hesaidQuote:
Originally Posted by wheels70
I tried the vacuum seal and I lost a lot of good crappie fillets when I got them out to cook. They were all dried out. I had to throw them away. Has any one got a fix for that I just put them in a freezer bag and burp the air out and stick them in the freezer seems to work.Farmer 1940
I freeze my crappie after lightly rinsing and inspect and clean well after thawing them out