Corpusfishing.com

[Gib]

Not including filleting, what are methods for getting more flesh off a fish and whatever method and cooking procedure that does not give fish a "fishy" taste; how ironic. Grilling or baking with skin on and raking meat off after cooking for sure, but does this leave that strong fishy taste? Some people like it; I personally do not care for it.

For example: I read of someone scaling a fish and frying it whole. It seems to me that leaving skin on would give it a very strong fishy taste.

Not interested in fish soup, but other ideas, methods, recipes, etc. would be great.

I heard of people keeping 1 to 3 pound Jacks, cutting tail off, and pushing meat through end, making patties, and frying.

I heard of ribbon fish being cooked like an onion ring.

Perhaps it is like the old days that I remember, skinning or scaling fish, frying, and eat away. What fish would be easy to sking or has anyone tried?

[Uncle D]

Eat flounder.

[Gib]

My examples are not that great for my intended question.

Those examples were things I heard that got me to thinking about getting the most out of flounder, trout, reds, pomps, etc.

Uncle D, believe you me, I eat a lot of flounder, and you are right, I can pretty much fillet every last bit of meat off those things.

Anyone ever skin trout?

[ziacatcher]

Try them on a smoker. Smoke them until skin starts to separate from the flesh.

[ironmanstan]

frying smaller fish with the skin on is awesome and not fishy. Love them crispy tails.
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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[Gib]

I will give the smoker a try and see how that turns out.

I guess smoking the fish dries it out a little and allows for the separation.

IMS, fried tail is one of my favorites, and I will try with skin on smaller ones.

[HRod2222]

I use ginger ale (canada Dry) to remove fishy taste, especially kings. I let them soak for 30-45 min then marinade. thanks to the florida fishermen out of Destin for sharing that technique with me. It really works!
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"Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun And you might meet'em both if you show up here not welcome son" -Josh Thompson

[Squidder542]

I don't eat fish personally, but I've heard people soaking fish in milk for a few hours? I have no idea what it does though. Someone please enlighten me!
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-Fred-

[JDS]

I you have fish that a bit old, or smell fishy, coat them in regular mustard, batter and fry. You will not taste the mustard, and the fish taste fresh with no fishy taste at all. It works, promise.

[BobBobber]

Taste is very important to us also. Mild taste or we'll eat chicken instead. We do not want fish that require the covering of tartar sauce before eaten.

When we filet our fish, we also never let the skin touch the flesh. Filet it and toss skin into the garbage immediately. Filet the next one on a clean surface free of the slime from the last filet.

That's why we never buy fish at the market, because they stack fish with skin on which remains in contact with the flesh of the other filets. Skin has oils and slime that we do not want in contact with flesh, for flavor and for nasty germs and bacteria.

We always clean our fish at home away from the contaminated public cleaning stations.

Some beef eaters thought that our not letting fish flesh touch skin was silly until I asked them if their steaks were stacked in the market with hairy cow hides touching their porterhouse.

We also put fish immediately on ice when we catch them. Never on stringers or 5 gal buckets. And we put ice in the water bowl with the fresh filets where we toss them before final rinsing. Rinse water from the tap here in TX is hot, so we chill the fish immediately after rinsing.

Preparation before the cooking process is important to preserving the delicate flavors and textures of fish.

As to one question posted about skin on or off, flounder seems OK if baked with the skin on. It remains mild. That's about the only fish we do not completely filet.

[MakoJJ]

[Texican]

As I get older, I am becoming more and more concerned with waste.
I used to just happily fillet away and not think about what I was throwing away. Now that I'm catching larger fish, I look at the remains after filleting as potential sources of extra meat.
Of course there is the redfish throat. Many consider that a prized section.
On reds and larger trout, the ribs make a fine meal. Yes there are bones, but you can work around them and pull out the larger ones after cooking.
While the carcass can be used to make stock, if you're not going to be making soup, stew or gumbo there's not much else that I know of that you can do with it. So now, A lot of times I will take the carcass, throw a little seasoning on both sides, and bake them in the oven for a few minutes. Then I will sit down and happily flake off all the remaining meat from the bones with a fork and eat it. Good stuff! Just watch out for the tiny bones that along the dorsal fin section.
THE HEAD

If Asian cultures cook with and eat the head, I figures why not give it a try.
Again, with larger redfish I saved a few heads, removed as many of the scales as I could and baked them. After they were done, I peeled off the skin and started working the heads over with a crab fork.
There is a SURPRISING amount of meat hidden away in little pockets and channels in a fish's head. Some of it great (CHEEKS!), some, a little stronger and fishy tasting, but not bad. You will still get a few scales in your mouth, but if you're a bird hunter, it's no different than finding the odd shot or pellet in the flesh.
After I started doing this, I became much more aware of how much people will just cast off.
I was recently at a fish cleaning station and a guy there was unaware of how, or unable, to clean some NICE slot reds he had. Another guy stepped up and said he would do it for him. He plunged his electric fillet knife into the section just behind the ribs and removed the back portion of the fillet.
After doing this on both sides, he threw the rest down the hole into the trash can.
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"Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail." - Kinky Friedman

PS: Screw you Photobucket!

[BALZTOWAL]

Dang, Bob the bobber is making me nervous.

[BobBobber]

Right you are Texican. To many Oriental people, when Anglos filet fish, they throw away the tasty stuff.

My Chinese friends tell me I throw away the best parts. In their opinion the entire fish gives each variety of fish its own unique flavor.

However, I do like eating unbattered fried shrimp, shells and all. Buffet King on Ayres does that right. The little legs add crunch too. Tastes great. My wife thinks I've gone off the deep end on this one however.

I had seen Japanese people munch on the entire shrimp long ago, but this is the first year I was adventurous enough to try it.

[Texican]

EXACTLY Bob!
That is a great story.
Most chefs know that the majority of a shrimp's flavor is in the shell and will cook them shell on.

It is very difficult now to find shrimp for sale with the heads on. I usually have to go to small independent shrimp houses to find them. The heads make the BEST shrimp stock for gumbo.
And if you were at the first Breakaway fishing tournament, then you have probably tasted my gumbo.
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"Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail." - Kinky Friedman

PS: Screw you Photobucket!