Bark tanning salmon skins

Bark tanned salmon skin

I've been experimenting with bark tanning salmon skins for the past couple of months now. The main trick is to be able to remove enough membrane without weakening the skin while allowing the tannin solution to penetrate easily and quickly. Here I'll cover the options of both a more "risky" but quick job and a safer but longer one.

Using a more abrading tool like a toothed butter knife will remove more membrane and allow better penetration of the solution but will make it more likely to tear holes in the skin. Using the side of a spoon will not remove any membrane and therefore somewhat hinder the tanning process but there's less risk of damaging the skin. Either way, the final product is of the same quality: a surprisingly nice, beautiful leathery skin!








Here's the process.

First, get the largest uncooked salmon filet you can find or you may just end up with a tiny bit of skin you may not know what to do with.

Separate the skin from the flesh by pulling on it. You can use a dull knife to scrape off some clingy flesh but don't slice the skin! I find it easier to do this when the salmon is still slightly frozen.









If you're busy cooking the salmon and can't deal with the skin immediately you can fold it flesh side to flesh side and bag it before putting it in the freezer. Make sure there's no air in the bag or there could be some freezer burns. When you're ready to work the skin, remove it from the freezer and let it thaw a bit before unfolding it.

A scraped skin

Use the side of a spoon to clean out the remaining flesh and fat from the skin. Anything that the spoon can remove should be removed. If you're opting for the safer membraning option you can now proceed to the scaling part. If you're using a toothed butter knife or something similar make sure that the teeth are blunt and that you don't dig them perpendicularly into the skin. Instead, hold the knife at an angle and scrape the skin gently while holding it firmly with the palm of your other hand. The problem is that there's no real end to the membrane so it's a judgment call as to when you should stop. The first time I did this I removed a whole sheet of membrane and ended up tearing the skin. Since then I've just abraded it a bit without forcing it.

Scales on

Flip the skin over and remove the scales. The frozen filets I get have scales that slip off very easily so I just use the side of a spoon to do it. It may be harder to remove scales from a fresh fish.




After the scales are removed you'll still see the textured skin where the scales used to be, as shown in the picture below. It will make a very nice pattern in the final tanned skin.

Scales off

Rinse the skin in lukewarm water to get rid of residual scales as well as the sliminess.

Tannin solution diluted 1 to 5

Make some bark tea as described in my bark tanning post. It's not a good idea to start with a full-strength solution as it tends to tighten the outside fibers of the skin and prevent the tannins from getting further inside. Instead, use a diluted solution first. If you used a spoon to scrape the skin I recommend using a 1 to 10 solution: 1 pint of full-strength tea in 10 pints of water in a bucket. If you used a more abrading tool a 1 to 5 solution should work just as well.

Solution after about a week

Cover the bucket and check on the skin every other day or so, moving the skin around a bit to make sure it tans uniformly. You'll notice that the solution gets lighter and lighter while the skin takes on more and more of the color. Don't let the solution get too weak or the skin could start going bad. You'd be able to tell by the smell. You may notice some effervescence in the bucket. That's a normal reaction as the sugars in the tea start fermenting!

Scraping off the colored membrane

After about a week, if not enough membrane was removed at the beginning you'll see that some parts of the skin are colored and sort of peeling off while other parts remain fairly white.

Scrape off the colored membrane with the side of a spoon to remove it. It generally comes off as one thin sheet.

Then put the skin back into the tannin solution until it's uniformly colored.

Skins that were thoroughly membraned at the beginning should not need an additional scraping and should tan uniformly right away.

Uniformly tanned skins

At that point, get rid of the old solution and put the skin in a full-strength tannin solution for about another week. Move the skin around every day for best results. After that the skin should feel very thick and leathery. If so, it's ready. Otherwise, keep it in the solution until it does. Again, make sure the solution never gets too weak.

Rinse the skin with lukewarm water, getting rid of as many unfixed tannins as possible (ideally it should be rinsed until the water runs clear but I've never had enough patience to reach that point and I've never had any problems so don't sweat it too much).

Wring the skin gently and hang it to dry out of the sun. To speed up the process I sometimes wave it in front of the wood stove.

When the skin is just damp, rub some oil into it. I've used bear fat and coconut oil and they both work great. Start with a small amount of oil as it tends to go a long way. Rub it in both sides of the skin and remove any excess oil with a rag.

Let the skin dry a bit until it's just damp again then pull it width-wise by hand gently. Then pull it length-wise. Then return it to a neutral position (not stretched one way or another) so that it doesn't dry with big wavy sides. I generally do this by smoothing the skin out on a flat surface.

Hang the skin again for a few minutes then pull it both directions again. Repeat the whole process until the skin is completely dry (the skin will bounce back when pulled instead of remaining in a pucker).

Finished flesh side

Finished scale side

And there you have it. I'm sure you'll be surprised at how leathery the skin will feel!

For ideas on what to do with the skin check out books by Lotta Rahme. Most of them are in Swedish but a picture is worth a thousand words!

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