Turning the Less desireables into Delicacies

[sleepygreg]

Now we all have fish that we consider 'vermin' or 'undesireable'. Though many others both here and across the globe consider the same or equivalent fish staple fare, or even delicacies. 30 years ago the average Aussie fisho would not have entertained the idea of eating squid or occie, let alone yakkas, carp, bonito, etc.

Many here bemoan the eating qualities of Slatey Bream (MIL Fish, Morwong), Y/Tail Kingfish, Amberjack, Trevally (most of em), Carp, Freshwater Barra, and I am sure many other fringe species.

This thread is put up for those that have managed to turn the 'undesireables' into 'delicacies' to share their recipes/methods.

Please....we have all read the boil until tender then throw away the fish and eat the rock/boot methods and similar. Save those ones for the jokes thread.

I believe Chris (Flybloke) has a MIL Fish one to kick us off. Who else has a recipe or method of turning the 'chaff into hay'.

Greg

[trueblue]

My belief is to always try different fish instead of just believing a common mindset about edibility.

There have been lots of fish that different people have told me to throw back, where I thought it was ok to eat.

If you don't try, you don't know. Trying once doesn't hurt anything.

cheers

Mick

[Benno1]

i once turned a slatey bream into a curry...came up a treat. Just one of those Pataks in the jar curries...i cubed (small) up the SB...lightly floured it and quickly fried...then just as quickly added the rest of the ingredients. Onions carrots beans...i didnt let the fish cook for too long tho as it gets to soft.
We liked it...the cat packed the shits tho (if we catch any SB she usually gets it)

Mrs Benno1
Sunny

[Noelm]

kind of funny how rubbish fish are now a prize, I can remember when Kingfish was all but unsalable in the markets, now it commands a high price, lots of fish are not eaten just because thats the way it has been for years, and I guess in the coming years people will talk about their bag limit of (say) grinners and a ripper Slatey Bream, I have eaten plenty of Australian Salmon, kept cool after capture, filleted and skinned with the blood meat removed, they are quite good, but most would not even take them home because they are rubbish, but they have never ever eaten them.

[BGG]

Greg
Here's a couple that the boss (SWMBO) posted some time ago.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...d.php?t=100780
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=100781

[sleepygreg]

Noelm, In my formative fishing years, Y/Tail Kingies were our staple fare.....used to catch em at 'The Peak', 'Bandit', round the coal loader, and many other places from Sydney Harbour to Narooma. Have never considered them anything but nice table fare.....and cooked them just about anyway possible ( that was before the floating traps all but wiped em out). That was in the 70's and 80's, which is when my 'non english speaking background' (not allowed to say Wog....though thats what they referred to themselves as) mates started edumicating me in preparing and eating all sorts of things from the sea (still reticent to try beche de mer though). I remember seeing Silver Trevally in the markets for under $1 a kilo, yet a Pommie girlfriend I had at the time went absolutely nuts when I brought home a couple of 3kg fish from a - what I considered at the time - crappy trip (I didnt really like her parents that much so i thought I would give them the fish). She cooked em up and they tasted brilliant....for the time I was going with her, whenever I went fishing they expected a feed of blurters (local name for em down south)....didnt want the snapper, kingies, john dory, blue morwong that I caught.....just the bloody Silver Trevally.....go figure.

Anyway.....will go and keep digging for the Carp recipe that John McConkey does...if i cant find it will have to ring the old fart and get him to send it to me.

Greg

[Noelm]

I was pretty much the same, but coming from a long line of fishermen (no not long liners) when I was a little tacker I can remember doing trips in an old "putt putt" and various bigger boats, and anywhere we went there was always a "spinner" out the back, usually a Smith Jig, or some sort of feather thing, anytime we would come across a big school of Kingies, I was told to bring in the lines untill we got through them, "waste of time" my father would yell out, "bloody things, take 10 minutes to pull in for nothing!" and indeed Blurters were common fare on our table, funny huh!

[Noelm]

haha, I just remembered a sort of funny story, when I was a lot younger, it was very common for a lot of beaches to have a resident crew of beach haulers stationed at the end of a beach (when the weather was right) and one time down in Jervis Bay there was a crew on target beach, the lookout jumped up all excited and waved his raincoat (no mobile phones or two way radios then) the guys in the netboat started to row out from the beach to await his next signal to start to round the school, the raincoat waved again and the rowed around a big black mass of fish (you need to remember these guys were experts on fish school species and the amount in them) after the end came ashore, the lookout was on the beach to help hand haul the net in, I heard things like "don't know what they are" and "500 boxes" well bugger me, when they got the net in, it was a school of Kingies about 20KG each, they must have kicked a hole in the sand 5 foot deep, there was sand going as high as any wind storm could do, you could not open your eyes,all the time these guys were trying to get the things out of the net and sand and back into the water, they gave one to me and I nearly killed myself carrying back to the car through the bush!

[myusernam]

It took me a long time to really learn this but a lot of 'ordinary' fish can come up real well when cooked FRESH. Still use the various methods i.e. curries, sauces etc but next time you get a mixed bag try freezing the good stuff and having the poorer eating fish with a coconut curry or similar. Most people are surprised when they are tucking in saying how nice it is when i tell them the fish it was.

that said my mums cat only ate coral trout (trimmings). super spoilt

[trymyluck]

Funny how we tag certain fish as mil fish on someones say so, take slatey bream for instance, everyone I know bags them but a couple of weeks ago we caught a couple and cooked fresh in a beer batter came better then any of the frozen so called fish in the supermarkets.
Had a mate who had never eaten tailor, couldn't believe that it is one of the best table fish if done fresh. Once he had tried it he was hooked.
Last weekend out with Newby and Justin his 9yo son reeled in a stonker of a spanish mackeral. Now Newby wasn't a big fan of Spanish decided to give it a go beer battered and even he was impressed. I guess it comes down to the fact that you have to treat each fish differently.

Mark

[FNQCairns]

Almost too easy but I find simple deep frying with whatever coating suits, does a great job of raising the taste of less than wonderful eating fish.

We have an aversion to the stronger tasting fish species here but when cooked in the DF no-one complains.

cheers fnq

[sandbankmagnet]

Yep, deep fried in beer batter will make anything tast ok. I've done heaps of tailor out of the freezer this way and it's great. Best one though is flathead I reckon.

[flybloke]

Lay out 3 x sheets of X wide foil, First Shiny side down, Next shiny side up. Next shiny side down. Ask Harro why? I don't have a clue
Place flaky type crap fish (Carp, Old man Snapper, etc), onto the foil and make a boat to hold liquids.

Ingredients;
1 can light coconut cream (Or full cream if your heart is good)
1 TBsp Fish sauce
1 Heaped TBsp Brown sugar (or palm sugar)
1 TBsp Lime juice
1 pinch salt (to cut sugar or add more fish sauce)
2 heap TBsp green curry paste (Or to taste)
1 Fine chopped chilly (Optional)

Method;
Mix all ingredients into a bowl and then pour this over your MIL fish.
Add a few slices of lime and a few Kaffir lime leaves (Or one or the other)

Close up your fish but leave an open air pocket above the fish (Don't wrap tight)
seal it all up so that liquid is held in.
Stick only two skewer holes in the top.

Place onto hot BBQ or Oven and close lid.
Cook with out turning or opening lid for 20min depending on size of crook fish.

serve whole and unopened in middle of dinning table while every one gets there rice in order. Then open bag in front of all to delight in the aroma filled steam.

Enjoy

Warning, This will be crap with soft flesh fish like Kingies, Tailor and stuff.
Trevs go great,

[flybloke]

Another way you can improve strong tasting fish is to brine it.
Brining is osmosis and draws out the natural liquid from the cells and replaces it with your brine. AND whatever other flavour you put in the brine.
A brine need not be too salty, Just one level TBLs per Litre of water.
Add Garlic, Chives, Fennel, or what ever and those flavours will be infused right into the flesh.

Fillet and skin fish, Make brine and place fish in it.
Because its osmosis, ALL the fish must be fully submerged (You hearing this you smoker box guys?)
Keep the flesh down and submerged with a plate or something.
The average 8" x 1" thick piece of fish should take 6- 10 hours to brine.

After brining, Rinse fish out well with fresh water and towel dry well.
Then cook it how you would a prime piece of fish.

[Apollo]

Couple of years ago, I caught a fair size silver trev. Those on the boat said it was only good as a MIL fish, so next time the Monster In Law was over, I beer battered it and served it up. She loved it! Guess it was a MIL fish!!!!

We grew up in Lake Macquarie and easily could access mullet. Ate heaps of it BBQed or grilled fresh. Still eat it occasionally if I can get sea run mullet fresh.

Steve