MILD CURING OF SALMON IN CALIFORNIA^ 



By W. L. ScoFiELD 



Assistant, Department of Commercial Fisheries, 

 Fish and Game Commission of California 



CONTENTS 



rage 



Process in brief 1 



Other methods 1 



History of mild cure 2 



Clpaning loss 3 



Heading and cleaziing '. 3 



Scoring' , 3 



Splitting 4 



Sliming 4 



CTiilling tank 4 



Draining 5 



Salting 5 



Size of crew 6 



Tieroesi . 7 



Curing 7 



Page 



Variation in curing method 8 



T( mperature for curing 8 



Weight changes while curing 8 



Sunburn 9 



Bellv burn , 9 



Broken fish 10 



R'emoval of fins 10 



(xrading on the Columbia 11 



Grading in California 11 



Sale of cured fish 12 



Smoking 12 



Sale after smoking 13 



Ocean and river fish 13 



Color and fat variation 13 



PROCESS IN BRIEF = 



Only one species of salmon, variously known as king, chinook, 

 quinnat, Sacramento, and spring {Oncorhynchus tscfiawytscha) ^ is 

 mild cured. This type of curing is distinctly a west-coast process, 

 being practiced from Monterey to Alaska. 



The salmon are gutted, headed, and the sides split from the back- 

 bone. The " sides " are then scraped or " slimed " and placed in a 

 chilling bath of salted and iced water. They are then drained, 

 given a coating of dry salt, packed in barrels or " tierces," mild brine 

 is added, and the tierce is kept in cold storage for a few weeks. The 

 sides are then taken out, graded, and " repacked " in tierces, brine 

 added, and the tierces shipped in refrigerator cars. They may then 

 be remov; d, washed, given a light smoking, and sold to the retail 

 trade. The " curing " is accomplished in the first brine (before the 

 repack), the mild cure in brine giving the name to the process in 

 distinction to " hard " or " dry " salting, smoking, or kippering. 



OTHER METHODS 



A variety of curing methods have been used, smoking and sun- 

 drying having been practiced by the Indians before white men came 

 to California. Small quantities of salmon are salted down in barrels. 



1 Appendix I to the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1925. B. F. 

 Doc. 983. 



2 Unless otherwise stated, all descriptions of methods refer to mild cure practice In 1920. 



