50 BULLETIN 908, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table 22. — Distribution of salt in uncut fish. 



Contained in— 



Water. 



Fat. 



Salt. 



Salt 

 (water 

 and fat 



free 

 basis). 



Loss. 



Skin . 



Per cent. 

 63.70 

 70.76 



56.03 

 50.41 



Per cent. 

 14.62 

 3.56 



21.98 

 28.09 



Per cent. 

 4.05 

 1.79 



4.26 

 2.15 



Per cent. 

 18.59 

 6.97 



19.37 

 10.00 



Per cent. 



Flesh 





Skin: 







9.37 







The skin contained four times the amuam. of fat or oil, and nearly 

 two and one-half times the quantity of salt found in the flesh. The 

 fact that one-half the amount of salt present in the skin was lost 

 during the steaming process explains the removal of the large per- 

 centage of the salt contained in the fish shown in Table 19. 



Percentage of Salt in F'^ines. 



To obtain an idea of the length of time necessary for fish to remain 

 in pickle to attain the proper salt flavor, a number of samples from 

 the foregoing experiments (Table 21) were submitted to an impartial 

 jury with no knowledge of the way the products had been prepared. 

 Of the uneviscerated fish, the pack composed of fish which had been 

 three hours in pickle was judged the best, while in the case of the 

 eviscerated fish, the majority favored the packs which had been in 

 pickle for from one to two hours. 



Of the packs which were regarded favorably, the uneviscerated 

 fish contained 3.22 per cent of salt, and the eviscerated fish 2.27 and 

 2.87 per cent. This discrepancy may be explained by the fact that 

 the viscera of uncut fish which have been held hi pickle or salt contain 

 a higher percentage of salt than does the flesh which was the part 

 tested. 



While the question of the best flavor is a matter of individual taste 

 for which no hard and fast rule may be made, an average of 3 per 

 cent of salt may be considered the most satisfactory. At all events, 

 an amount varying from 2.5 to 3.5 per cent hi the finished product 

 would prove satisfactory to the majority of people. It would seem 

 wise to undersalt rather than oversalt the fish. 



FLAKING the fish. 



The purpose of flaking is to distribute the fish evenly on flakes, or 

 wire-meshed rectangular frames, so that the drying medium can 

 reach them all uniformly when the flakes are taken into the drying 

 room. This purpose seemed to have been entirely forgotten in the 

 many instances where the fish were found piled high up on the 

 flakes, that thereby became containers of fish rather than drying 



