Mackerel for winter with vegetables, fish salad

Step-by-step cooking

1. Step 1:

   

   How to choose the right mackerel? Freshly frozen or fresh fish is suitable for canning. When buying, pay attention to its appearance. The carcass should be an even silver color, with dark stripes, without damage and yellowish spots. How to defrost freshly frozen fish? Put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator in advance. Do not defrost completely. Frozen mackerel will be more convenient to cut.

2. Step 2:

   

   The recipe indicates the weight of peeled vegetables. Wash ripe and juicy tomatoes, dry them. Grate on a coarse grater (or grind through a meat grinder or in a combine), remove the skin. Or make cross-shaped incisions on the fruits, lower them into boiling water for 1-2 minutes, easily remove the skin. Grind in a blender. Wash and peel the onions. Cut into half rings. Clean the carrots with a knife or a vegetable peeler. Grate on a coarse grater or a Korean grater.

3. Step 3:

   

   How to clean mackerel properly? Wash the fish. Cut off the tail, fins, head. Cut and gut. Remove the black film from the inside, as it is bitter. Do not remove the skin. Cut the carcass along the spine to the spine. Turn it on its side. With a sharp knife, cut the meat from the backbone bone. Turn the fish over, cut the fillet from the other side. Rinse it out. Cut the fillet into pieces of the same size (about 3-5 pieces). The weight of the fillet for the recipe is 4 kg.

4. Step 4:

   

   Put the grated tomatoes, carrots and chopped onions in a saucepan. Add salt, sugar, refined sunflower oil.

5. Step 5:

   

   Mix the vegetable mass. Put it on medium heat. When it boils, reduce the heat to minimum and simmer for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

6. Step 6:

   

   The vegetables will boil and turn into a rather thick sauce.

8. Step 7:

   

   Add bay leaf and peppercorns.

9. Step 8:

   

   Send the fish fillet to the vegetable mass. Gently mix the contents and leave to simmer under the lid for another 40 minutes. Stir from time to time.

10. Step 9:

    

    Pour vinegar into a saucepan and stir the contents. Taste it. If you think it's necessary, add a little more salt, vinegar and spices. Simmer for another 10 minutes and turn off.

11. Step 10:

    

    Prepare jars (500 ml). Wash them well with baking soda. Place in a cold oven upside down and heat for 15 minutes at a temperature of 120 degrees. Cool it down. Containers can be sterilized not only in the oven, but in the microwave or over steam. Arrange the boiling fish salad in jars.

12. Step 11:

    

    Wash the metal lids with soda. Boil them for 10 minutes. Drain the water, let them cool down a little. Roll up the jars with lids. Turn it over. Wrap up with a blanket and leave (for about a day) until completely cooled.

13. Step 12:

    

    Canned fish salad should be stored in a cold place (cellar or refrigerator). Preservation is good as an addition to mashed potatoes. It can also be used to make delicious soup, filling for pancakes, pies. But it will also be delicious with bread. Enjoy your meal!