How to salt Skipjack tuna

Ingredients:

• Skipjack tuna. In general, it is not very important, fresh or frozen tuna will be used for this recipe, but personally, I do recommend to use frozen fish. Frozen fish is easier to fillet, during its defrosting, and secondly, the frozen tuna usually much fresher, rather than fresh one.
• Salt, 4% of the weight of the tuna fillet.

To cut this fish, it is necessary to have very strong, sharp and long knife. Start cutting this fish, when it partially defrosted, or, by other words, when the meat is still solid, but suitable for cutting. Chop off the tail and the fish head with pectoral fin. This tail of gilled head, together with spine bone will be nice base for the light fish-stock. Remove the large scales from the tuna skin.

Cut the tuna body from the back, near the spine bone, parallel to dorsal fin and neural spine. Cut through the ribs, but do not cut trough the stomach muscles.

Do the same cut from the other side of the dorsal fin. Remove the spine bone with dorsal fin. Clean off the stomach content.

Cut off the darkest central bit of the fish body, known as horizontal septum with lateral line, the part between Upper and Ventral masses. In tuna, this small piece of meat is full of bones. Remove all ribs and check for other bones in the fillet. Ideally, after this step, all tuna fillets will be free of bones.

Cut off the stomach wall.

Sprinkle all the tuna fillet with the salt and wrap into a clean linen or cotton cloth. Store in the container in the fridge for 4-5 days. During this time the salt will be spreaded through the fish flesh evenly.

Slice and serve.