Aging halibut

Do any of you age halibut in the fridge before eating it? I read that it makes the meat taste better to let it sit for 3-4 days before eating. I got one yesterday, so I took out the gills and guts and rinsed it out. Left the head, skin and slime on and left it wrapped up in a plastic garbage bag in the fridge. Does that sound right? Does this work when only eating it fresh or does it make a difference if I was going to freeze it after it's done aging?

Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.

I have not done it but usually the skin, head, and slime of fish tend to have a lot of bacteria and thats where the fishy smell comes from.
Just worried that the bacteria will slowly eats into the flesh, even in the fridge.

Why did you leave the skin and slime? I get rid of the skin asap due to the slime, pat the fillet dry, then leave it in the fridge for up to a day before freezing. Don't know if that counts as aging, though.

Josh Niland's books go in depth on fish aging so if you are interested in that check them out. There is a lot of info online too that he goes over.

His process is bled, ike jime, remove scales using Sukibiki technique, and hang dry in fridge for 4-7 days.

He is pretty adamant about never rinsing fish with fresh water and using Sukibiki over scraping the scales off.

I haven't done it myself yet but was planning on trying it over the winter starting with perch as I think they could benefit from it.

No plastic bag, either.
There is good info on  dry aging on YouTube

Check this thread out on this forum
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=92949.msg1050789#msg1050789

Why did you leave the skin and slime? I get rid of the skin asap due to the slime, pat the fillet dry, then leave it in the fridge for up to a day before freezing. Don't know if that counts as aging, though.

I've read that the slime and skin actually protect the fish from bacteria, which is why I left it on

https://youtube.com/c/%E5%9C%A8%E5%AE%B6%E5%81%9A%E7%94%9F%E9%AD%9A%E7%89%87Makingsashimiathome

This YouTube channel is one of my recent faves.
He is very specific as to bleeding, aging and preparing certain fishes for different dishes

all good answers. there is more than 1 way to skin a cat. you dont need to keep the head and tail on. most important things are spike, bleed well hold fish upside down, gut on the water, halibut are very easy to gut and gill on the water, scale fish. rinse and dry fish, keep dry wrap with paper towels. meat is firmer freezes better.

aging salmon is a must do if eating raw / vaccuum sealing. the meat firms up and the flavor gets significantly better. all sushi is aged.

Ive been experiment with this a lot lately. I’ve been doing it with striped bass. I’ve done anywhere from 1-6 days in the refrigerator. I like striped bass fresh but found that aging it creates more intense natural flavors and improves the texture without the extra moisture that tends to give the fish a watered down/watery flavor and texture. My process is learned from watching several YouTube videos and personal experiments. First, I like to scale the fish (although sukibiki would be preferable because striped bass skin is rather thick), then gut and remove all the blood. Afterwards i pat it as dry as possible and then I put the whole fish in the refrigerator on a rack that allows thorough circulation, completely uncovered. You’ll notice after the first day everything gets a bit dryer,  That’s day one. To avoid making the skin too hard and dry, the second day and everyday thereafter I keep it covered with paper towels to keep it from getting overly dry or trapping too much moisture. At this point I just want the fish to age and dry from the inside out instead of the outside in. I find for striper if eatin day 1-2 there still is too much moisture content to make much of a difference. Day 3-5 is my favorite, at this point the flavors of the fish come into play and the meat firms up because it’s now “dryer” and the natural oils are more infused into the meat creating a tasty deliciousness without being too spongy/flaky. Prepared just simply cooked skin side over heat with a little bit of salt. There is no fishyness to it until after day five. It’s personally one of my preferred methods now!

I find that the older they are, the bigger they get.  Only eat them fresh, however!

Bouché

Interesting concept, never thought about aging fish, especially striper. Will have to try that sometime.

Taking this concept and thinking about grocery store fish, I wonder if the nitrogen they pump into meat blister packs has any impact on this process?

Ive been experiment with this a lot lately. I’ve been doing it with striped bass. I’ve done anywhere from 1-6 days in the refrigerator. I like striped bass fresh but found that aging it creates more intense natural flavors and improves the texture without the extra moisture that tends to give the fish a watered down/watery flavor and texture. My process is learned from watching several YouTube videos and personal experiments. First, I like to scale the fish (although sukibiki would be preferable because striped bass skin is rather thick), then gut and remove all the blood. Afterwards i pat it as dry as possible and then I put the whole fish in the refrigerator on a rack that allows thorough circulation, completely uncovered. You’ll notice after the first day everything gets a bit dryer,  That’s day one. To avoid making the skin too hard and dry, the second day and everyday thereafter I keep it covered with paper towels to keep it from getting overly dry or trapping too much moisture. At this point I just want the fish to age and dry from the inside out instead of the outside in. I find for striper if eatin day 1-2 there still is too much moisture content to make much of a difference. Day 3-5 is my favorite, at this point the flavors of the fish come into play and the meat firms up because it’s now “dryer” and the natural oils are more infused into the meat creating a tasty deliciousness without being too spongy/flaky. Prepared just simply cooked skin side over heat with a little bit of salt. There is no fishyness to it until after day five. It’s personally one of my preferred methods now!

NCKA Gold right here.  Thank you for this.   

It’s been 2 days. Skin is getting leathery. No smell at all. The small amount of exposed meat looks fine. [/img]

A thing of beauty , Token.