Learn A Quick & Easy Way To Preserve Cured Eggs

By: Mike Ainsworth

There’s nothing worse that pulling eggs out of the freezer and them having freezer burn on them. Freezer burn is common when anglers throw eggs directly into a plastic bag and freeze them for storage.

Here’s a quick and easy way to help preserve your precious eggs.

I have been curing salmon eggs for a long time and like many of you I have ruined eggs in the past. These few easy steps can help you save space and eggs while in the in the freezer. These days eggs are more limited and we all want to be able to use every last one of them. Let’s focus on how to make sure your eggs will be usable after freezing them.

Step 1:

Once you have cured your eggs with your favorite Pautzke recipe it’s time to lay out the paper towels. What I like to do it layer the paper towel, placing two vertically and two more on top of those horizontally. Grab your cured or uncured eggs and place them in the center of the paper towels.

Step 2:

With your eggs in the center of the paper towels wrap them so none of the eggs are exposed. This prevents freezer burn. When wrapping the egg I put as much as I think I will use per angler, per day. This makes it simple to pull out and reseal what you need without defrosting a large quantity and reducing wasted eggs.

Step 3:

I also label the bags with dates, species type, and berrie size so there is no guessing what’s inside or how old they are. You may ask why label berrie size? I like using larger berries for kings and dirtier water and smaller for steelhead and clear water.

Step 4:

Thawing eggs is a like a package of bacon. Pull them out the night prior and let them defrost at room temperature. It usually only takes a few hours. When thawed they are ready to be cured (if you haven’t cured them yet) or pre-cut for fishing.

Editor’s Note: Based in Washington, Mike Ainsworth operates First Light Guide Service. For more info on his guided salmon trips please visit http://www.firstlightguideservice.com.