My Mother’s homemade tuna in oil.
One of those “preserves” I cannot do without.
The procedure takes time but It’s worth it.
As for quantity, you can chose the weight of the piece you will prepare, just consider that for each litre of water, you will have to respect the proper quantity of salt and that, when you will boil it, water will have to cover it by 4-5 fingers.
Ingredients:
1 Tuna/1 slice
Sunflower oil
Extra virgin olive oil
1l water
120g fine salt
Juniper berries or pepper grains
Laurel leaves
– Rinse tuna in cold water and cut it into pieces.
– Put it into a saucepan with water and salt (for each litre of water 120g of salt -to preserve it for longer, otherwise 100g would be enough-). Water will always have to cover tuna by 4-5 fingers, whatever the quantity of fish is.
– Bring to boil and cook it for 3 hours.
– Drain it carefully and leave it over clean dish towels for 12 hours at least (if you make it in the evening, until the morning after).
– Clean pieces from blood eventually left and from spines.
– Put them into glass jars and fill them with half sunflower oil mixed with half light olive oil, leaving 1 inch empty from the jar border.
– Before closing the tuna in oil, season with laurel leaves, juniper berries or pepper grains, to your own taste.
– Close jars and sterilize them in a bain-marie for 15 minutes.
– Let them cool down in the same saucepan and store them.
– Consume tuna in oil within a couple of month after preparation.
