RE: pickling northern pike
Cut the fillet into bite size pieces or about 1 1/2 inch chunks. Soak in the starting brine which is just pickling salt and water at the mix of one cup per guart of water. The reciepe says soak in the fridge for exactly two days.
Drain the fish but do not rinse. place it in the second brine which is just white viniger for 24 hours.
remove fish but don't rinse. The final brine is four cups of white viniger, 3 cups of sugar, heat this enough to disolve the sugar. Let it cool. add one cup white cooking wine. One fourth cup of picling spice. Let cool completly and put it on the fish. Add Onions and or peppers as you wish. Or just fish. Place in the fridge for one week before eating. Five days minimum. They will keep for several months in the fridge. This is an easy one and boy is it good. Enjoy.
Pickled Herring
Recipe from The Taste of Gloucester: A Fisherman's Wife Cooks, by The Fishermen's Wives of Gloucester, The Cape Ann League of Women Voters, published by Gloucester Cookbook Committee, 1976
1 pound fresh filleted herring, skin off (about 6)
1 cup salt
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup sugar
3 large onions, thinly sliced
3 cups white vinegar
3 bay leaves
Dash black pepper
Put some salt in bottom of small bowl. Place fish skin down. Continue layering fish and salt finishing with a layer of salt. Put weight (dish or plate) on top and refrigerate for 4 to 5 days. Wash herring well and skin. Soak in cold water 1 hour, changing 3 to 4 times. Cut in 1-inch pieces. Drain and pat dry. Boil 3 tablespoons water with 1 teaspoon allspice. Add sugar, vinegar, bay leaves and pepper. Mix until sugar is dissolved. In a one quart jar put 2 cups pickling solution, some onions and herring pieces, laying them and topping with onions. Fill to top with solution. Keep in tightly closed jar in refrigerator 2 to 3 days until ready to serve.
Yield: 1 pound
Pickled Fish
Skinned them and rinsed in salted water. The fillets were cut into bite sized pieces and placed in a glass bowl with brine solution. I made it with a cup of Kosher salt to a gallon of water. After 24 hours I drained and rebrined for another 24 hours. For the pickling solution I put a quart and a half of white vinegar and a cup of white sugar in a stainless pot and brought to a simmer. I added some coriander seeds, peppercorns and cloves (a few). (this was a feel thing, but I think it was about a teaspoon each of peppercorn and coriander with just a few cloves (cloves get overpowering really fast) and 2 large bay leaves. I turned off the heat and added a bunch of sliced Vidalia onion and let cool to room temp. Tossed the pickling solution into the fridge to chill and added the (drained) fish. Topped off with a bit of water and a bit more vinegar to cover (careful not to dilute the stuff too much!!) and let soak for a couple of weeks (tasted great after a few days, but got better with time) and added some sour cream to some of it (drained again) and devoured. Really good stuff. I think next time, I might add a bit of rice vinegar to the mix to mellow the sour flavor some
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