Salted tuna – just one of those things that stand the test of time. All you need to do is get some fresh tuna, add salt, and you have salted tuna. It lasts forever. We use the salted tuna to put in our Maltese pumpkin pie (torta tal-qara ahmar).
We used to keep our salted tuna in the pantry back in Agnes banks, Australia. We had jars of them stored in the cupboard. My dad loved fishing and I clearly remember him bringing home a few foam boxes filled with tuna he had caught with some friends that day. I can’t remember which beach he had gone to but he usually went along the north coast – Palm beach or somewhere near Gosford. The joy in his face is still ingrained in my mind. Of course, we had to drop everything and help him put the tuna in jars of salt. He wanted to be involved from start to finish. We would have baked two for dinner, frozen a few and anything remaining was salted.
I made the first batch back on the 11th July 2015. We will be making our pumpkin pie at the end of August (just before my mum leaves) and so the tuna would have been salted for over a month. The longer you leave the tuna in salt, the better.
When the tuna is curing you will notice liquid in the container forming. This means that the curing process is working. You eventually are left with tuna in a salt liquid, if left long enough.
Something important to note is that when you put the tuna in a jar or container, you must make sure that there is no metal anywhere on the lid or container. It rusts and if it gets into the tuna, well, you just don’t have any salted tuna anymore….
- 375 grams piece of tuna
- 1.5 kilograms rock salt
- Medium sized container or jar with no metal lid.
- Cut the tuna into slices reasonably thin.
- Place some rock salt into the bottom of the container or jar. Make sure that the bottom of the jar is covered.
- Place one piece of tuna and lightly cover with rock salt.
- Continue to do this with the remaining pieces of tuna and place a small layer of salt on top of the last piece of tuna.
- Put the lid on the container/jar and store away in a cupboard or fridge.
- The tuna should be ready after two weeks (the longer the better).