Freezing your fish

I posted this over on ifish for some guys who were discussing the best way to freeze halibut. Most of this holds true for all species of fish.

Here is my $.02 on freezing fish.

Most of my experience has been on the commercial side of the halibut world. I am the Production Manager for a secondary seafood processing company that specializes in net weight portion products. We do a couple million pounds of halibut portions annually.

Here are a few tips that I have taken from industrial processing that carries over to the sporties side of the world.

- If you are going to leave the skin on wash and scrub the fish to remove slime. Industry standards for slime allowance is 2%, so a 50 pound fish is expected to have a full pound of slime. Use lots of water and course bristled hand brush. I like the cheap rectangular ones.

- Keep your portions small! This is most critical for those of us freezing at home.

- If you can vacuum seal all the better, but ensure that your bag is 100% sealed if it is not your shelf life goes to hell!

- If you don't have a sealer put a good glaze on your fish. Freeze your portions unbagged, on a cookie sheet or rack. Once they are fully frozen dip each portion in very cold water and put it back in the freezer. This will put a 3-6% water glaze on the outside of the fish. This will protect the meat very well if left alone.

- Do not use your kitchen freezer for holding fish for extended time. These freezers are weak and are often opened. As soon as they are opened all the cold air is dumped out and the freezer has to start all over cooling the air. VERY inefficient. The best we can do at home is a QUALITY chest freezer.

- Don't open your freezer more than you have to. A commercial cold storage is held at -20 to 0. +20 is not cold enough. Keep an accurate thermometer in the freezer so you can monitor temps. Much better to catch a broken freezer at +25 than at +50 when you have to throw everything away.

- When you are freezing, freeze as fast as possible. Don't overload your freezer with warm fish. Freeze in batches, only what you can lay flat with good air circulation. Slow freezing fish is the number one killer of sport caught fish. The slower the freezing the more cells will burst. The more cells that burst the poorer quality product you will get out. That is what makes fish have that cardboardy dry texture. Burst cells don't hold moisture. When we freeze fish we use a blast freezer that run fans to move air at -30 to -50. The colder and faster the better.

- Date and rotate your fish. It is simple to do and will help you move through fish.

- Eat as much fresh as you can. Fresh fish has a better shelf life than most people think. If you keep a halibut whole, headed and gutted, on ice in a cooler 3-5 days will not harm the fish at all and will actually give you a better tasting fish in most cases. In the filleted form you have an additional 3-5 days. Keep the meat cool and dry and it will hold very well.

Personally I don't freeze any of my sport caught fish anymore. I keep what I can eat fresh and give the rest a way, but I also have access to frozen fish any time I want it.....

If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Thanks guys,
~Bill

I might add ...

If you're going to keep the skin on, scrub the slime off when the fish is still whole.  Reduce the amount of fresh water that directly touches the flesh.  Fresh water is bad for salt water fish flesh.

If you're going skin off, trim any excess bloodline, fatty flesh (near the fins), or bits of skins still attached to the flesh.  These "fishy parts" only become fishier when freezing.

I wrap my fish to be frozen in paper towel and let it sit overnight in the fridge to draw out excess moisture before freezing.

Defrost slowly in the fridge.  Remove from vacuum pack and wrap in paper towel, again to draw away excess moisture.

-Allen

Great info, thnks

Any truth to using a vinegar and (salt)water solution to neutralize the slime to aid in easier removal?

Thanks for the tips. I've used a vacum sealer for yrs but guess what? I forgot how to remove the skin. Help
please. Any tips or videos on how to fillet a Halibut?

you tube it
There are some good videos. Halibut are pretty easy to cut. Nice big bones.
I'll put on a fillet demo at ORC too

Great thread.  I vacuum seal most of my fish, but they go in a regular freezer for now. 
A few weeks back I froze some cabazon, when I defrosted it I released a lot of water and smelled a bit funky.  Is it just that Cabbies don't freeze well?  Anyway it is now crab  bait. 

i never ever ever leave the skin on halibut. why? that is some vile sheet. after commercial fishing a few openers in ak  i had to through away my clothes after each trip. the smell still makes me gag.

Great thread.  I vacuum seal most of my fish, but they go in a regular freezer for now. 
A few weeks back I froze some cabazon, when I defrosted it I released a lot of water and smelled a bit funky.  Is it just that Cabbies don't freeze well?  Anyway it is now crab  bait.

That's exactly why I use paper towels before freezing and while defrosting.

BTW, a short soak in a brine can "refresh" those smelly fillets.

-Allen

In one of my bait fridges I used the freezer portion solely to freeze fish.  I took a big rubbermaid tote and filled it with a salt brine and put it in the freezer.  I think it was 13-14 lbs salt for 8 gallons of water.  It is still liquid at 8-10 deg.  I just dropped almost 20 lbs of fresh caught springer meal sized portions into it and it all should be frozen rock solid in about 40min.  I wipe the brine off the vac pac packages with a damp towel and put them in my regular freezer.  Works great and keeps the freeze thaw load off my "food storage" freezer..  I deal with salmon slime with a high pressure hose before I cut them up..

Excellent thread guys!  I end up freezing a lot of fish and it's great to get all this info. in one spot.

-Spot-

In one of my bait fridges I used the freezer portion solely to freeze fish.  I took a big rubbermaid tote and filled it with a salt brine and put it in the freezer.  I think it was 13-14 lbs salt for 8 gallons of water.  It is still liquid at 8-10 deg.  I just dropped almost 20 lbs of fresh caught springer meal sized portions into it and it all should be frozen rock solid in about 40min.  I wipe the brine off the vac pac packages with a damp towel and put them in my regular freezer.  Works great and keeps the freeze thaw load off my "food storage" freezer..  I deal with salmon slime with a high pressure hose before I cut them up..

I didn't think anyone else did the brine trick too.  I think I mentioned it in another thread somewhere.  IT WORKS GREAT!!!

-Allen

The faster the freeze, the better the product...

A few years ago a coworker of mine joined me on an expedition to Neah Bay. His most dramatic catch was a big octopus, which was plenty slimy. When we got to the Hobuck Beach campground, the woman at the site next to ours showed us how to use salt to cut through the slime. It worked great and though I haven't ried it, I bet it would work on fish slime, too.

The heavy saline solution is a great idea- I'm going to have to try that.

Love this thread - thanks FG! (I'm always picking FG's brain on such topics)

I am pretty close to pulling the trigger on a separate freezer.  Does anyone have any recs on what a good one is? I don't have the space for a full-size chest freezer...nor do I need that much capacity.