Sous Vide Pickled Mackerel

Continuing the sous vide cooking experiment, I tried letting Kameko-san (the sous vide cooker) have some pickled mackerel intended for sashimi. The mackerel was perfectly fine raw, but I wanted to save half for lunch the next day, and eating raw fish that, by that time, would have been sitting out for 5 or 6 hours, struck me as a poor idea. Even Mr. Bento has his limits.

So I carefully slid the frozen mackerel out from its package so its seaweed topper would stay in place, slid it into a vacuum bag and sealed it, and put it, frozen, into the sous vide for 30 minutes.

The result was incredible. I will not be giving up sushi or sashimi any time soon, but this treatment, while completely different in taste, was on a par in quality and an absolutely acceptable substitute. The mackerel retained the fat taste within its muscle, as opposed to as a juice or coating, and the taste of the pickling wasn't lost.

I am left wanting to give Kameko-san some scallops.