Whats your best Tailor recipes

[Noelm]

fully agree, I used to always keep a tailor or two when I got them as a "by catch" and have them next night for tea, about as good is it gets I reckon, nice and fresh, bit of salt and salad and chips, hhmm umm.

[bondy99]

No offence guys but I dont agree with the statements,

It's all to do with preparation.

I've had tailor frozen for 6 months and tasted as good as caught same day and have compared both together at the same time, i.e. fresh and frozen.

Every person has different tastes and values and accustomed to certain qualities. The old saying is true one man's junk is another man's treasure.

For me personally I find barramundi overrated and have tasted it as well as pearl perch, they are both overrated and crap. Both species are soft flesh and mushy.

I would trade pearl perch for a nice snapper or leather jacket any day.

But that's me.

Peter

[Noelm]

except for the Leatherjacket bit I agree, there is a lot better fish to eat than Barra, about as good a frozen Basa I reckon!! although Pearl Perch are good I reckon, and freezing fish is a tricky one, the fish needs to be fresh when frozen, no use keeping it in the sun all day, then freezing it and expecting it to be Ok when defrosted (although I am not a fan of frozen Tailor) they do freeze OK, but I would not be bothered to do so, rather eat a couple fresh and freeze something else for later on.

[bondy99]

Thats true what you say about the forzen v fresh.

I prefer fresh to frozen any day. Pearl Perch are ok but I have caught a lot of them and have reached a stage where I end up swapping or giving them away. Bara does seem like Basa.

Love to catch some good size squid and blackfish for a change. Blackfish is good when bled and put in sea ice slurry upon capture. Might go down to Boyds Brisge and give it a go, Shit, need a NSW Fisheries Licence first.

Peter

[sleepygreg]

I wouldnt say Barramundi (salties) are crap, and the pearlies I have eaten fresh are certainly ok, but there are many other fish I prefer to eat. I was raised on the southern esturine species.....bream, tailor, luderick, flathead, whiting.....and my all time favourite eating fish is the black drummer, closely followed by mulloway. But then I like most fish ....I even have some recipes that make Australian Salmon palatable. As long as its fresh and well looked after post capture it is usually good eating....and as for leatherjackets.....love em (the fanbellied and chinamen varieties that is).

Greg

[deepfried]

I only ever keep enough tailor for a feed and the rest go back. Have never tried freezing them for later on as i have no need. I live about two minutes from a gun tailor spot. I think i am the same as you Greg in that i like most fish. I would be interested in any recipes you want to share for aust salmon as i tend to get a few of those as well and have only smoked them or used them for bait in the past.

Peter i will swap you a black fish for any pearlies you dont want any time. I rate them as one of my favourites.

Noelm i also rate the leather jacket and they are a breeze to clean as well which is handy.

Thanks for all the replies everyone

[two dogs]

I have posted this recipe once before but I like it so much I will put it up again. Its best with smoked tailor but can also be done with store bought smoke salmon

In a non-stick pan melt a lil butter over a very low heat, add some smoked tailor and heat just to warm through. If you like you can add a few capers to the pan too.

meanwhile poach an egg and toast a nice think piece of bread or bagel.

to serve, place some rocket on the toast and top with the fish and some of the melted butter/capers. gently place egg on top. add plenty of cracked pepper on top of the egg because egg loves it and serve.

i recomend breaking the egg as your first step in eating to allow the yolk to come out and sauce the fish

cant wait for them to run

[Noelm]

I don't mind the taste of Leatherjackets. but over the years I have seen so many with ugly, alien looking Parasites that have eaten all the flesh, leaving just a swimming skin and bones, that I have vowed never to eat one ever again, plus they are in plague proportions here at the moment and it is almost impossible to fish for anything else because they snip off your hook, sinker the lot!!! bloody shits of things!

[Noelm]

Aussie Salmon are fine to eat, as long as you keep them fresh, like bled and chilled after capture, then clean and fillet, removing all the blood meat and skin, a bit of egg and breadcrumbs and your set, do not over cook though.

[deepfried]

Cheers two dogs, i have got some smoked tailor that needs eating so i think that one will be the first i try. Sounds good.

Noelm i have heard that leather jacket school up in plague proportions. A mate gets outside a fair bit and he hates it when they turn up. He reckons you have a hard time getting bait down to the bottom and then if you do and hook a snapper etc by the time you pull it up through the jackets it is chewed to bits. He calls them piranhas of the sea. maybe the pros should hit them a bit harder and thin the numbers down.

[deepfried]

Just a bit of a side question. When smoking tailor i have used about 9 heat beads each side of the webber ( sometimes more ). How many do you use. I was thinking of dropping that back a bit more and smoking them for longer, kind of half way between hot and cold smoking.What would be the minimum and how much longer would they need to be smoked for.

[sleepygreg]

I havent smoked tailor for years (been 'off the scene' so to speak), but i used to use one of those small smoker ovens that used a metho fuelled burner and the various flavoured wood chips. secret is to slow cook it.....if it cooks too fast it has a 'burnt' flavour to it.

I will dig out some of my Salmon recipes and post em. May take a while as I have to raid my storage unit and find my logs. Unless the grey matter decides to delve into the depths and reveal its secrets. Sh$t...I even think there is a couple of recipes in there that make Carp edible :S (thanks to my mate John McConkey).

Cheers
Greg

[bondy99]

What I use to do and still plan to do when I convert the stainless steel keg into fish smoker is to soak the fillets in sugar and salt (about equal portions) and place in fridge for a few hours to marinate or saturate through.

I use to have a webber type of appliance in the past and also used those lucifer figher starters to get the beads hot. When the white ash is on the beads I tend to chuck in about 7 or 8. On top of that I throw on water soaked blocks of wood such as Jarrah, Ironbark or other hardwood and let it smoke for 3 hours or so depending on the temperature.

I do however take the lid of on occassions to check for colour of flesh and to make sure the white froth has bubbled out from the flesh. The coating colour is usually orangey or golden yellow / honey appearance.

Taste beautiful and nice aroma when done and lasts a few weeks in the fridge, problem with that it tends to infiltrate other foods. so I keep it in a separate container to minimise the spread.

I dont have a boat but if someone is catching heaps of leatherjackets I'd be willing to go with them and contribute towards fuel and bait.

Peter

[bondy99]

I havent smoked tailor for years (been 'off the scene' so to speak), but i used to use one of those small smoker ovens that used a metho fuelled burner and the various flavoured wood chips. secret is to slow cook it.....if it cooks too fast it has a 'burnt' flavour to it.

I will dig out some of my Salmon recipes and post em. May take a while as I have to raid my storage unit and find my logs. Unless the grey matter decides to delve into the depths and reveal its secrets. Sh$t...I even think there is a couple of recipes in there that make Carp edible :S (thanks to my mate John McConkey).

Cheers
Greg

Hi Greg,

Mate, would like to get that salmon recipe of you. Carp, hmmm never caught any but I'll give it a go.

Peter

[deepfried]

Thanks Peter. I normaly soak mine in a brine of sugar and salt as well but do it for about 12 hours using 250g salt with 5L of water . This was taught to me over in Austria and does a great job. I have done it other ways but when i have time this is the method i prefer. Do you use 7 or 8 beads on each side or is that in total and what is your cooking time. When i use a total of about 20 beads i smoke them for about 40 minutes plus.

Looking forward to your salmon recipes Greg