[Sca-cooks] Best fishes for dried fish

[Stefan li Rous]

Sharon asked:
 >>>
Any famous last words for experimenting with drying fish at home?  This
seems like a good outdoor experiment :-).
<<<

Take care that the fish doesn't spoil before it has completely dried  
out. This is why drying fish, using no other preservatives, was done  
only in particular areas and only with some fish and not others. When  
you are salting fish, unless you are actually brining them, the salt  
is there to keep the fish from spoiling as it dries out. And the  
reason that the large flakes of sea salt were preferred in the Middle  
Ages for salting fish. Not only was this the cheaper salt, but using  
salt obtained by boiling brine over fires which had smaller grains,  
could get also get your rotten fish. The finer grains end up sealing  
the outside of the fish before the salt has penetrated into the  
inside to preserve it. Thus the outside looks good, but the inside rots.

If you are drying your fish in an oven, rather than just hanging it  
in the sun, it should dry quickly enough.

Anyway, check this Florilegium file for more details on drying fish.
stockfish-msg     (98K) 10/15/04    Period preserved fish. Dried,  
smoked and
                                        salted fish. Recipes.

I think this file in the COMMERCE section has more on the particular  
types of salt desired for salting fish. More can be found in "COD -  
The fish which changed the World". (I think that is the title).
salt-msg          (47K)  9/ 4/04    Medieval salt production and use.

This file in the FOOD section has some info on techniques to dry  
foods at home, although not specifically on fish.
drying-foods-msg  (55K)  9/16/02    Drying foods in period and for  
the SCA.

In a later message, Maire commented:
 >>>
I've seen dried herring, locally, but not the others.  Had planned on
purchasing some for Lent, maybe, especially after I find out how to
use it.
<<<

Maire, check the stockfish-msg file mentioned above for some  
preparation info and recipes. The book on codfish also has a number  
of stockfish/salted fish recipes, although I can't remember if any of  
the ones given were documentably period.

Stefan
Oh, and if you are going to smoke your fish, you want to make sure it  
is completely dried out as it is otherwise hard to keep it lit. :-)
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****