Cured fish

Cured fish is fish which has been

According to Binkerd and Kolari (1975), the practice of preserving meat by salting it originated in Asian deserts.

Salt (sodium chloride) is a primary ingredient used to cure fish and other foods.^[5] Removal of water and addition of salt to fish creates a solute-rich environment where osmotic pressure draws water out of microorganisms, retarding their growth.^[5][6] Doing this requires a concentration of salt of nearly 20%.^[6] Iodized table salt may be used, but the iodine generally causes a dark end product and a bitter taste. Non-iodized salts like those used for canning and pickling foods and sea salt are the preferred types of salt to use for curing meats.

Sugar curing

Sugar is sometimes added when curing fish, particularly salmon. The sugar can take many forms, including honey, corn syrup solids, and maple syrup.^[7] Adding sugar alleviates the harsh flavor of the salt.^[5] It also contributes to the growth of beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus by feeding them.^[8]

Nitrates and nitrites

Fish can also be preserved by smoking, which is drying the fish with smoke from burning or smoldering plant materials, usually wood. Smoking helps seal the outer layer of the food being cured, making it more difficult for bacteria to enter. It can be done in combination with other curing methods such as salting. Common smoking styles include hot smoking, smoke roasting and cold smoking. Smoke roasting and hot smoking cook the fish while cold smoking does not. If the fish is cold smoked, it should be dried quickly to limit bacterial growth during the critical period where the fish is not yet dry. This can be achieved by drying thin slices of fish.

Cured fish dishes

Europe

• Arbroath smokie (Scotland) - Haddock salted, dried, and then smoked over hardwood
• Bacalhau (Portugal and Spain) - cod cured in salt, then dried. It needs to be re-hydrated and de-salted before use.
• Mediterranean
  ) - salted and cured fish roe.
• Dried cod (Norway and Italy) - Dried, fermented cod. The cod is soaked before use.
• Finnan haddie (Scotland) - Cold-smoked haddock
• Gravlax (Scandinavia) - Raw salmon cured with sugar, salt, and spices
• Hákarl (Iceland) - Greenland or basking shark which has been cured with a particular fermentation process and hung to dry.
• Kipper (United Kingdom, Ireland) - Whole herring or a small, oily fish, that has been split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering wood chips.
• Lakerda (Balkans, Middle East) - Bonito soaked in brine and salted then stored in olive oil.
• Lox (Europe) - Cured salmon fillet
• Lutefisk (Nordic countries) - Dried whitefish that is prepared for eating by soaking in a lye solution for several days, soaking in plain water for several additional days to remove the lye, then cooked.
• The Netherlands) or Soused herring
  (Eastern England) - Raw herring soaked in a mild preserving liquid. It can be raw herring in a mild vinegar pickle or Dutch brined herring.
• Pickled herring (Europe, especially Scandinavia, Poland, North Germany and the Baltic) - Herring cured with salt; then the salt is removed and the herring is brined in a vinegar, salt, and sugar solution with spices.
• Rollmops (Europe) - Pickled herring fillets rolled around sliced onion and cucumber.
• Smoked salmon (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland and Scotland) - A preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and then hot or cold smoked.
• Spekesild (Norway) - Atlantic herring soaked in brine