Pickled Fish Recepe

I went to Alaska several times camping and fishing as far north as the Arctic Ocean. The fishing was tremendous but what to do with all that fish? I couldn't justify having it frozen and shipped back to Florida so we kept what we could eat and threw the rest back. Upon returning to Florida I began serching for ways to preserve the fish and found several ways to preserve the fish but the following discovery is now one of my favorite fish dishes. While it may not sound too good, you will be surprized by just how good it is. No slimy, fishy, yucky flavors here. This appetizer is a favorite for all those folks that show up at my place for a cookout of a potluck.

Pat's Pickled Fish

• Buy the freshest fish possible. Get enough to fill a quart-sized jar when cut up into bite sized pieces (1 1/2 pounds). Boneless/Skinless fish!

Cut the fish up into large-bite sized-pieces (They'll Shrink in the brine) and put it in a clean quart mason jar. Pour 5/8 cup of pickling salt over the fish and fill the jar with white vinegar. Put the top on the jar and shake it up to dissolve the salt as best you can. Then put it in the refrigerator. Every day for 5 days, shake the jar up and turn it over (upside down) to ensure the salt and vinegar get all around all the pieces of fish.

On the fifth day (a few extra days or even weeks won't hurt), bring 2 1/2 cups of white vinegar to a boil, add 1 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon of pickling spice to the vinegar and bring it back to a boil. If the sugar is not all dissolved, stir it a little. Take it off the stove once the sugar is completely dissolved. Put it in the refrigerator to cool.

When the vinegar/sugar mixture has cooled, take the fish out of the refrigerator, pour off the vinegar salt mixture and rinse the fish in cold water to get the salt brine off the fish (rinse for at least a couple minutes). Put the fish back in the jar one layer at a time with a thin slice of onion between (don't worry too much about placement, just get some onions in the jar!). Pour the cooled mixture of vinegar, sugar and pickling spices over the fish and onions till it covers all the fish and put the lid on it. Put it in the refrigerator and store it there. The fish will be ready in a few days and will keep almost indefinitely but will be less tasty after a couple months!