1. Cutting: According to the size of fish, back cutting, belly cutting and belly edge cutting are adopted respectively. Dorsal node, generally used for fish with thick meat. When cutting, the knife enters from the second scale under the dorsal fin of the fish. When the knife reaches the skull of the fish, cut it slightly in the middle of the skull. Remove internal organs and dents, and gently scrape off blood stains on the spine and black mucosa on the abdomen with a blade. If the fish is large, separate the swallowing knife, clamping knife and slicing knife under the back bone and at the other side of the meat thickness, so that the salt water can easily penetrate. If the fish is small and thin, an abdominal incision can be used. That is, the knife enters the middle of the fish belly and the two pieces are cut symmetrically. If you cut the abdomen, you can cut it below the midline of the fish, up to the periphery of the fish eye and down to the tail anus. After incision, take out the internal organs.
2. Rinse: After incision, before blood coagulation, wash blood stains and mucus one by one in clear water with a brush, put them in a basket, dry the water drops, and then marinate them. You can also put the washed fish in the prepared salt water, soak it for 3-5 hours, take out the dripping salt water, and then pickle it.
3. Pickling: The amount of salt depends on the size of the fish. Generally, every 100 kg of fish uses 18 ~ 24 kg of salt. Less in winter and spring and more in summer and autumn. When salting, spread the salt evenly on the fish body, cheeks, swallowing knives, eyeballs and fish holes. Then put it in a salting pool, with the meat facing up, the fish scales facing down, the fish head slightly lower and the fish tail obliquely upward. When the pile reaches the tank mouth, it can continue to pile beyond the tank mouth 10 ~ 15 cm. After 4 ~ 5 hours, when the fish shrinks to be flush with the pond mouth, sprinkle a layer of sealing salt, cover the surface with bamboo pieces and press the stone. Immerse the fish in salt water to fully absorb salt and remove water. In summer, it can also prevent flies from getting maggots on fish.
4. Sun drying: When the fish comes out of salt water, wash the fish body with salt water once to remove the polluted dirt, drip the salt water and discharge it on the fish drying curtain. Scale up, after 1 ~ 2 hours of sun exposure, turn the fish upside down. When the fish is exposed to the sun until noon, put the fish indoors or lift the bamboo curtain at both ends to cover the fish, let it cool until 3 ~ 4 pm, and then expose it to the sun in weak light. After 2 ~ 3 days in the sun, the fish belly and gills will dry if they can't squeeze out water.