Further Food preservation (by vacuuming)

by Charles
(Malta (Europe))

My friends, further to the preservation of foods by vacuuming. I have mentioned nuts and dry fruits. However I thought of something else that may have already came to your mind. Well here it is.
remember my grandmother recounting stories of how they survived the 2nd world war along with her family. She used to tell us of how her father(my great grandpa) was a partime fisherman. He used to bring some of the fish home and since electricity had not been invented then, he opted on preserving some of the fish he produced for his family. So he used to scale and gut the fish, pass a string through their gills and hang them in a net covered box in the sun for a few weeks, (to keep flies off. Meanwhile grandma used to prepare a mid sized clean oak barrel,with bay leaves at the bottom and about an inch of sea salt on top of the leaves. Then grandpa would lay the filleted semi dry fish on top of the salt n the barrel. When a layer was done, grandma would add more salt and cover the first layer and this procedure would keep on until the barrel was full. ending in a layer of salt and then sealed it with wax.
I remember my grandma saying that two barrels lasted them for a year. Now today we have vacuuming so instead of using a barrel we can vacuum the salted semi dried fish which will have a very very long shelf life) This can also apply for certain meats like beef. but for pork and chicken they need to be cooked first(either boiled or grilled)
The most idealistic fish for preservation is the mid water fish (much better than bottom dwelling fish) Well I have tried this and it works, but (warning) you would have to rinse the fish in fresh water before eating (too salty) so no good for people with high blood pressure.
If for any reason any reader does not understand something please let me know.
Thank you