(This one goes out to Mike & Shawn – one will laugh with me, the other will laugh at me)
In a previous post, I mentioned spearing a mullet, cooking it over a fire, and eating it. And enjoying it, much to the humor (and horror) of my friends that witnessed it.
Not being one to care much about what others think of me, I want to try more mullet. Since I like eating sardines (YUM!) I’ve been talking with Blue Tang about trying to catch and can my own sardines, and every time we get started talking about it, the subject of mullet comes 
up. I’ve learned that BT grew up in Martin county, and some years were good, but others were lean as a kid, but his parents always made sure there was food, even if it was mullet. He’s eaten his share, and even raved about the mullet he smoked in January 2012. And I know he has discerning taste, even he laughs at some of my food ideas.
But not canned fish. He wants to try it too. But like most of the ideas he plants in my head, he wants me to try it first, just to see how it goes. If it works, he has no problem following my lead and profiting from my efforts, he just doesn’t want to be the guinea pig for finding out how to do it and *IF* it will work. Fine by me, since I return the favor all the time back to him. *coughjalapenocheddarporksausagewiththatporkshoulderIdroppedoffthisweekcough*
We’ll see how that goes…
Back to the canned mullet.
I’ve researched the snot out of canning sardines, a with very little productive findings 
specific to catching and canning my own. With over 20 different species of fish labeled “Sardines”, you’d think I’d have found something…not yet. This morning I woke up having dreamed of mullet in jars. Honestly, all I recall was I saw mullet in jars. So I jumped out of bed, and googled “canned mullet” and wonder of wonders, almost immediately came up with this recipe (found here):
Man that is some good stuff! Mullet seems to work the best! Everyone I give it to loves it! It’s a lot of work but well worth it. It keeps for months and can be eaten right out of the jar without heating it or anything.
Interested? I’ve canned Mullet, Mingo, Cobia, King, Tuna, Wahoo, Dolphin and Red Snapper. The best to me is Mullet.
Requires a pressure cooker. The bigger the better!
Cut up the fish into chunk 1″ or so and the thickness of the filet. If a larger fish, you may want to split. 1/4″ or so works well. Put on ice…
Chop up a good onion or a few depending on your batch. Put in a bowl.
Get some sliced Jalapinpos and place in a bowl.
Get some whole bay leaves and place in a bowl.
I like the pint jars because they are just enough but any would work. Wash well and boil the tops to get the seal to get sticky.
Lay out fish on wax paper or whatever and sprinkle with Tony’s, Garlic Salt and whatever else you want. I usually only do those two.
Remove all water from jars and load with fish, onions, pepers and repeat until 1/4″ from the top. Place a bay leaf on top and hand tighten the lid on.
Repeat until you have filled the pressure cooker and put on heat with water in the cooker. Amount of water depends on size of cooker but put enough to last 90 minutes. Set on 10PSI and cook for 90 minutes once the pressure valve jiggles.
Let cool, open and remove the jars. Wait an hour and check the lids to make sure they sealed. If not, eat at once or discard.
The others will have about 1/2 liquid in the jar… this is normal. Put up and eat on a ritz! I’ve eaten it 9 months later and didn’t get sick!
Try it, you will love it!
Here is the Ball Book of Canning guideline:
CANNING FISH (except tuna)Eviscerate fish within 2 hours after they are caught. Keep cleaned fish on ice until ready to can.
Raw pack — Remove head, tail, fins and scales. Wash and remove all blood. Split fish length-wise, if desired. Cut cleaned fish into 3-1/2-inch lengths. Fill hot, pint jars, skin side next to glass, leaving 1-inch headspace. Add 1 teaspoon of salt per pint, if desired. Do not add liquid.
Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids and process in a pressure canner.Recommended processing time in a pressure canner:
Process in a Dial Gauge Pressure Canner at 11 pounds pressure OR in a Weighted Gauge Pressure Canner at 10 pounds pressure:
Pints — 100 minutesThe processing times given are for altitudes of 0-1000 feet. If you are canning at a higher altitude, the processing times stay the same, but you must make the following adjustments.In a Dial Gauge Pressure Canner
* At altitudes of 1001-2000 feet, the pressure is not increased; process at 11 pounds pressure.
* At altitudes of 2001-4000 feet, process at 12 pounds pressure.
* At altitudes of 4001-6000 feet, process at 13 pounds pressure.
* At altitudes of 6001-8000 feet, process at 14 pounds pressure.In a Weighted Gauge Pressure Canner
* At altitudes above 1000 feet, process at 15 pounds pressure.
- Catch mullet, put them on ice.
- Remove head, tail, fins, and scales
- Wash away all blood.
- Split lengthwise
- Cut into 3 1/2 inch length (jar height)
- Place in hot, sterile jars with skin next to glass.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt per jar
- For some jars, add either 1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard or 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
- Remove air bubbles, wipe jars, add lids and bands, then process for 100 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure
All I need now is to start step #1 🙂
Hillbilly,
Keep me posted on this project. I’m really interested in seeing how the Mullet turns out. I might even try a taste. We canned some meat last year but haven’t tried fish yet.
Ridgerunner
I pressure canned some boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I found on sale, ended up with 11 pints. Gave one to Blue Tang to test, and he LOVED it, and is working towards doing his own.
Of the remaining 10, I’ve eaten about 4 of them for breakfast, and a couple others for various snacks, each time I ate it right out of the jar.
It was so simple, and the results were so good, I’m annoyed at myself for not doing it sooner.
I’m not sure why, but I was always told that silver mullet are for bait and black mullet are for eating. I never considered eating one … until now. See here: http://www.snookfoundation.org/news/fishing/134-catching-the-lowly-mullet.html and http://web.tcpalm.com/sports/areafish/slvmult.htm
The one I ate was silver, and I had no issue with it, other than wanting more. 🙂
Haven’t tried mullet or canning meat, yet. We do want to get into canning meat, however. We do eat bluefish (not sure if the taste would be comparable to mullet). It’s delicious smoked. We make a dip with smoked bluefish, cream cheese, and green onions that very yummy 🙂
tell me how to smoke it in my oven at home! :p
I’ll see what I can do, however, anything done in an oven is NOT real smoking…just sayin’ And to be honest, learning an “in-oven” pseudo-smoking technique sort of flies in the face of what I’m trying to do here…but I’ll see about a method for the elusive apartment-dwelling smoked fish eaters 🙂
LOL Bro! That chicken was to die for, period. The pork shoulders ya brought over merged with more and turned into smoked sausage. I think you will like. Please hurry up on the canned mullet!
The first batch of mullet is done. I”m sure you’ll get a taste or two. I did the first batch in 4 oz jelly jars so it’ll be like eating a small can of sardines. We’ll see…might not want any more than that 🙁
Here’s hoping! They look VERY tasty, as far as fish in a jar can look good. Ill prolly wait til you & I get together to taste it..so I can get your opinion while I give mine…and document it all 🙂
Hello,
You will love your canned mullet! I have been canning them for quite a few years and my family and I love them. Mullet are a very sustainable food source, they also have very low levels of mercury and PCBs. Here’s a little hint for your next batch. Prepare your mullet however you like, I usually use fillets for this one. Sprinkle with sea salt or your favorite spice blend and Smoke them at a low temp, low 100’s works good if you can pull it off. I usually do a good couple hours. You want to be careful not to dry them out. If you do dry them out you can add a small amount of water/olive oil to each jar to re hydrate while processing. Ideally you want the fish to retain all of its moisture while applying the smokey flavor. Obviously it will get cooked during canning. I can at 11# pressure for 100min. You’ll never can fish without a little smoke again.
I’ll give that a try if I do it again. I wasn’t overly excited about the end results, though I’m always willing for a new angle.
Thanks for the advice!
db
I am 65 y/o and have eaten canned mullet all my life. YummmOh. However, having lived coast to coast I have learned that not all areas produce good tasting mullet. The ones from the gulf coast of Florida are hands down the best. The worse ones were from Redondo Beach, Calif. and areas of New Orleans. What they feed on really changes their flavor. One area near me has a grassy mud hole area and that makes the mullet taste very strongly of the muddy grass. Once the mullet get back into the bays or the Gulf they loose that bad flavor and become mild, sweet and slightly fishy.
Thanks for the input…I need to catch some mullet the next time on on the west coast of Florida to compare them to the ones we get here on the east coast.