Batter recipies and freezing Tailor

[MudRiverDan]

Also any good recipes for Tailor that has been frozen (or fresh).
I recently cooked up some Tailor fresh and it was very tasty, but when I cooked some more a few days later of the frozen fillet, it was dry and chewy.

[Noelm]

Tailor is not a good freezing fish (in my opinion) although the freezer brigade at Frazer Island might disagree, tailor need to be eaten nice and fresh and cooked very simply, I usually just flour and fry in hot oil,(skin still on) or a dab of butter and some salt and pepper and under the grill for a bit.

[sleepygreg]

I am not in the least bit interested in frozen tailor..................in my humble opinion...they do not freeze at all well. Maybe if you put the fillets into a brine mix and froze them in blocks it might work.

Fresh tailor are one of my favourite eating fish.....grilled and basted with a mix of soy,sesame oil, ginger and garlic......breakfast of champions.

[trymyluck]

Years ago we tried freezing tailor and the only way we could do it and still be ok was to partially cook it first. Still not as good as fresh.

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi
think the opinion will be that Tailor needs to be eaten fresh.

Batter recipe--Flour, water and a little bi carb soda. Flour ,water and egg. Flour and a stubby of beer works best of all.
Other than that Mrs macs batter is good. Available from the supermarket and easy as.

Ronnie

[sleepygreg]

agree with the mrs macs batter........takes all the guess work out of it and works a treat.

[Toddy_again]

Mrs Macs batter is the go.
I keep one or two packets in the cupboard all the time.

Toddy

[tunaticer]

Mrs Mac's is the go but use icy cold lemonade instead of water, a very nice touch indeed.

As for freezing tailor, the only way that I have found to be able to eat it afterwards is to fish finger it and roll in light batter and cornflake crumbs then freezing with greaseproof paper woven between the fingers. This way you can place the fingers directly to the hotplate still frozen and they do not dry out too much with the fast cook they get. BTW, cook the fingers in oil about half the thickness of the fingers rather than just a dribble in the pan, this gets the heat in fast and cleanly from all sides and the crisp off better.

Also, the tailor needs to be very fresh to do this effectively, so bleed them immediately then ice them down as soon after they are bled and finger them within about 6 hours.

[krusey]

in my opinion i would smoke frozen tailor and put it on jats with beer, it is bloody good like that

[Just_chips]

Turn your frozen tailor into fish cakes and cook these in the deep fryer.

If you have a vacsealer you can then vacseal the fishcakes and freeze these. To reheat them I drop them still in the vacsealed bag straight into boiling water and it more or less steams the fishcakes when recooking them to illiminate double cooking in oil.

Kev

[hunter44]

Guys, I know nothing about a fish called tailor, however, from Eastern Canada, we fish Cod. When I catch fresh Cod myself, I have good fresh cod for weeks. Clean, filet, skin and bone it, and place in a ziploc bag, squeeze out all the air. Place it in the fridge in a stainless steel bowl on ice with ice on top. it will stay fresh for weeks as its just a degree above freezing point. Try to use it within 15- 20 days, replace ice as necessary every few days. If you like deep frying, mix 1 C flour with 1/2 C corn starch, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 your favorite beer. Stir well, let sit for 1 hour, should be very thick at this point. Heat oil to 375 degrees, check batter and add enough water to make a good thick batter, dip small piecies of fich in batter and deep fry till done. 8 - 10. Enjoy.