Lesson 5.1 Cookery 10

Lesson 5 .
1: Preserving Fish
2. Quick Freezing- This is cooling he fish from a temperature of 0°C to -5°C in less than 2
hours. The fish is kept in the freezer until it’s temperatures reaches -20°C or lower.
Freezing fish in 2 hours or less is done as follows:
a. Direct immersion in arefrigerant where as is done when fish is immersed in a brine
solution.
b. Indirect contact with a refrigerant where fsh or fish package is placed between two
freezer plates in which refrigerant flows at -17.8°C to -45°C.
c. Air blast freezing, where frigid air at -17.8°C to -45°C is blown across the materials
being frozen . This is in contrast to slow or sharp freezing.
Quick-freezing has advantages over slow
freezing which are as follows:
 A. There is less destruction of the fish flesh because of the small ice crystals formed around
the fish.
 The fish body solidifies fast, leaving little time for soluble materials to diffuse.
 Enzymatic actionin fish which causes deterioration is slowed down rapidly.
 Bacteris do not have time to multiply when thefish is frozen quickly.
D. Salting- This preservation method uses salt (sodium Chloride) as preservation medium.
When salt is applied on fish, it lowers the water content of the fish to the point where bacteria
cannot live and grow when fish is covered with salt, water oozes out of the fish in a matter of
time. The water passes out of the fish tissues, as salt penetrates into the tissues until it comes
to a point that no more interchange of salt and water takes place. As this occurs , the liquid in
the tissues becomes a concentrated salt solution. This is called osmosis.
Fish and it’s Parts:
John Frazier (1978) explains further the preservative action of salt.
1. Salt ionizes and yield chlorine which is harmful to the micro organisms.
2. It reduces the solubility of oxygen in the solution and deprives aerobic organisms of this
needed oxygen.
Saturation of fish with salt can be done by these methods:

1. Kench salting or dry salting- Split fish are salted then arranged in layers in a jar or pot
allowing the liquid to drain freely from the fish. After draining resalting and restocking
may be required.
2. Brine Salting- This involves the immersion of cleaned fish on a brine solution. The fish
are place in a container with weight on top to keep fish completely immersed. The brine
may be stirred once in a while , then more salt is added to keep salt concentration at
about 25%.
E. Drying and Dehydration
Drying is the removal of water from the fish either by sun (as in sun drying) or wind ( as
wind drying). Dehydration is also the removal of water from the fish through the use of
artificially heated air as in the use of oven or machines called mechanical driers.
Three factors that affect the rate of drying and dehydration.
*Temperature
*Humidity
*Movement of air
The safe moisture content of fish is 20%. To obtain the 20% , do the following:
1. Weigh the fish before drying. This is the original weight.
2. Get 20% of the original weight of the fish. This does not change even after drying.
3.After drying, weigh the fish again,. This is the total dried weight.
4. Subtract 20% of the original weights to the total dried weight.
5.The difference represents the remaining water in the fish after drying.
Multiply the difference with 100 to get the percentage of moisture content.
Dehydration, on the other hand, is drying using artificially heated air, which is done in a mechanical drier.
F. Smoke Curing
This preservation method involves four interrelated processes namely: salting, drying, heat treatment , and smoking.
1. Salting- The fish is immersed in brine solution.
2. Drying-The fish is dried either through artificial or natural means.
3. Hot treatment- The fish is subjected to temperature of 29°C to 32.2 °C with the smoking process done
intermittently.
4. Smoking- The fish is subjected to smoke to impact the desired flavor and color of the fish.
G. Pickling and Spicing
This is a method where fish is treated with vinegar, condiment and spices to improve its flavor and lengthen its shelf life
Vinegar is acetic acid which prevents the growth of bacteria. The additional use of salt and sugar further preserves the fish as
these are preservatives also.
Spices commonly used:
Pepper (ground or whole, or partially whole)
Laurel or bay leaf
Cinnamon or kanela
Clover or clavas de corner
Oregano
Ginger
Garlic
Onion
H. Fermentation
Fish fermentation is the hydrolization of proteins in the tissues of fish . The process is facilitated by the
presence of salt which helps in the microbial and enzymatic action in the fish. Salt-fish proportion recommended
is 2% of the weight of fish.
Example of product of the fermentation process:
Bagoong
Patis

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Lesson 5 .

Saturation of fish with salt can be done by these methods:

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