Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Cooking Forum => Topic started by: JoJoDapyro on July 10, 2014, 09:38:21 am
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I am interested if anyone here has a recipe for Common Carp? I am serious here, they are very abundant, and large. Thanks for all the replies in advance.
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Funny how that fish is the most commonly raised domestic animal on the planet, bar none, and somehow Americans are afraid of it as if it were poison!
Bring on the recipes! As long as it ain't lima beans, I'm cool! (It's a textural thin, lima beans don't taste that bad.)
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Watched Andrew Zimmern on bizarre foods in St. Louis and they were commercial fishing for Asian carp. They filleted them and fried them like any other white fish you find in restaurants and claimed it was delicious. Solution to invasive species taking over, eat them ;D
Tracy
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I saw somewhere, I think Chicago, that a meat processor was making asian carp into hotdogs and bologna. I'll have to see if i can dig up a link or something to that.
EDIT: It's a place called Schafer Fisheries. Google it for more info!
EDIT2: There is a field and stream article that has the video I saw, check that out.
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I've never tried it but I've heard of people canning carp. They say it's good....?
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I want to spear some with my home made bamboo harpoon. And then enjoy my catch. Why buy fish that you have no idea how they were raised when you can catch ones from waters that you already eat fish from?
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I have worked in aquaculture, JoJo. I say gimme that carp and keep the tilapia.
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I've heard of folks making fish cakes from carp but I haven't tried the cakes or carp. Just never had the opportunity.
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Are we talking the European carp which has been here for a while? Or these crazy Asian invasives that jump and hit you in the face? Or does it matter?
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We don't have the crazy face smashing carp here yet. The ones that made their way across Europe, and eventually to the US. Common Carp as I call them.
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The common carp was introduced in North America by settlers as a GAME FISH and for food!
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And for years there was a famous restuarant in Omaha called Joe Tesses that served the best fish sandwich you ever set your teeth into. You could either have white or dark fish and you guessed it, Carp.
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Oh man, I have heard of those sandwiches. Apparently they were legendary!
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JW, located close to and caught fresh daily out of the Missouri River. It's been years since I've been there. A friend of mine told me a few years back that another restuarant in the vicinity served up one just as good if not better. Haven't been there to try it but if I happen to Omaha I'll make it a point to stop in.
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Well, I've had few...ok maybe a lot of carp filets in my day. Back in college, me and a buddy would eat them on the regular. We would filet them, leave the skin on, and grill like any other grilled fish. From my experience its best to eat the small ones early in the spring when the water is still good and cold. The big ones tend to be kinda mushy, and once the water temps get up there, they all are a little mushy. It's been a long while, but we fed a lot of college kids carp, and every darn one of them loved it. Of course we didn't tell half of them it was carp. Good eatin as far as I'm concerned.
Tattoo Dave
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Dave, I have had the same experience with Venison, Duck, Goose, Moose, pretty much you name it, and people will say they hate it and yet eat 2 servings. Channel Catfish is another that you have to fib on what they are eating. I can't say as I blame them, If you want me to try something new, just tell me to eat it. Then tell me what it is after.
Do you have any special details for grilling? Thanks for all the replies.
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Dave, I have had the same experience with Venison, Duck, Goose, Moose, pretty much you name it, and people will say they hate it and yet eat 2 servings. Channel Catfish is another that you have to fib on what they are eating. I can't say as I blame them, If you want me to try something new, just tell me to eat it. Then tell me what it is after.
Do you have any special details for grilling? Thanks for all the replies.
I went to a First Nations Game Feed once up in Canada, near The Pas, Manitoba. This was long before Andrew Zimmern was laying down his tag line..."if it looks good, eat it!" It was also long before the US military edict of don't ask don't tell. Those were the two guiding principals I went by and they served me well. Everything was good, most of it was cooked in a manner I had not tried, and I had happy tummy syndrome before it was all finished.
The only thing I really had a clear picture on ingredients was the soup at the end of the line. There was this 6'4" Native that must have weighed all of a hundred twenty pounds and wearing a huge grin on his face as he saw me approach. He swirled the ladle in that big old pot and said with glee, "RAT SOUP!" I stuck out the bowl and said fill'er up! He said again, "RAT SOUP!" I grinned like Dan'l Boone shinin' a possum out of a tree and said, "Gimme some of that!"
Poor feller, I stole his fun. His grin collapsed and he muttered, "Aw, it's only muskrat and cattail roots." Sweeter than cottontail, nowhere near as stringy as jackrabbit, and the earthy starchiness of the cattail roots blended perfectly in the rich broth. Delicious.
Now enough chewing around the bull, make with the recipes, JoJo!
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Here is a simple recipe I have used many times.
Sprinkle the fillets with lemon/pepper and grill in butter. Carp has a soft flesh so I find it's best to grill them till they squeal for mercy. They're also full of bones so watch out
I have also put the fillets through a meat grinder and made cakes, you don't have to worry about the bones then. Cook with salt and pepper and serve as a sandwich with your favorite condiment or with veggies and potatoes
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OK, I'm gonna go in the morning and do it. Wish me luck. Photos to follow.
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I have eaten them several ways, fried, pressure cooked, grilled and baked. I would say that pressure cooked and made into patties just like you would make salmon patties is my favorite. And if you don't want to cook them, just cut them into about 1" cubes and freeze them. They make awesome bait, one of the biggest flathead acts I ever caught on my jugs was on a carp nugget. He weighed 74lbs! And I know they are awesome to eat.
As far as the carp goes, when you clean them try to cut out the red streak in the filet, it's really fishy tasting. Good luck! Patrick
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I will eat and enjoy most kinds of fish, such as gar and others that many folks won't, but I just can't like carp. Too strong of a fishy taste for me, and a soft texture. There are way too many good eating fish in America to be eatin' carp.
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Dave, I have had the same experience with Venison, Duck, Goose, Moose, pretty much you name it, and people will say they hate it and yet eat 2 servings. Channel Catfish is another that you have to fib on what they are eating. I can't say as I blame them, If you want me to try something new, just tell me to eat it. Then tell me what it is after.
Do you have any special details for grilling? Thanks for all the replies.
Catfish? Really? I don't think I've ever met anybody in my life who didn't love fried channel cats?
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Dave, I have had the same experience with Venison, Duck, Goose, Moose, pretty much you name it, and people will say they hate it and yet eat 2 servings. Channel Catfish is another that you have to fib on what they are eating. I can't say as I blame them, If you want me to try something new, just tell me to eat it. Then tell me what it is after.
Do you have any special details for grilling? Thanks for all the replies.
Catfish? Really? I don't think I've ever met anybody in my life who didn't love fried channel cats?
I have had so much soft, mushy, flaccid, greasy, muddy, crap-toast catfish that for years I thought of them as trash fish. I worked in aquaculture and was fed some of the "best" farm raised cats cooked by Michelin starred chefs and frankly I think the plate it was served on was better. I have been served fresh caught from Mississippi and Louisiana and Tennessee and it was all the same. Tasted like the mud the cat swam over.
Then I tasted the cats out of the coldwater gates below Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota. Those Missouri River cats live in cold water all their lives, they live in heavy current and are bull-strong and razorback-ornery. Three pounds of that on the end of a line is like hooking into a15 lbs of fresh sea-run steelhead, just without the jumps! And when filleted, the meat is paper white, firm, and nicely flavored.
Just leaves me scratching my head why so much catfish being served is all but inedible???
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I personally love catfish! I only eat what I catch and almost never from a restaurant. Most of the cats I catch are in lake pom de teere in Missouri. We jug fish, trout line, and pole fish. All of our fish are purged in fresh water until the water runs clear for 24 hours.
We fill a stock tank with fresh water and put our days catch in it. The stock tank is on a bit of an incline so the water will run over the edge on one side. We put our fish in and leave the hose running slowly so that it just skims over the down hill edge. The first day the water is almost dark brown and after about 4 or 5 day's the water is crystal clear and about 75 degrees the night before we clean them we put about 50lbs of ice in the water and turn the hose off. We clean them first thing in the morning. Most of the time we will have about 30 plus fish when we do this. If we only have a few we don't do the ice thing. The fish taste awesome and the meat is white and stiff and cooks up really fluffy. A lot of work but it's well worth it. Patrick
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I agree on the farm raised cats tasting like crap. I had never bought farm raised, I only caught them. I did buy farm raised a few times, and all of them tasted like crap.
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Absolutely dead-on about the catfish. There are few fish better than wild-caught catfish. There are few fish worse than farm-raised catfish. farm-raised catfish taste like carp.
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I guess I need to take a step back in what I said. My Grandparents live near a Catfish farm in Nevada. I have caught them out of those ponds and they were great. Maybe the time between catch and table? I know that freezing doesn't really matter in fish. In fact, most great sushi places use frozen fish, as just like other meat, it needs to cure before it is at its peak flavor. Maybe Catfish are better fresh? Who knows, I can only say I have never enjoyed store bought catfish. I was lazy today and yesterday and didn't get up to go chuck some spears. Maybe tonight.
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My favorite catfish are about 4" to 6" long, skinned, gutted, rolled in seasoned flour and cornmeal and dropped in hot grease. Right out of the river is best. Served with hush puppies, coleslaw and extra cold beer. ;)
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Man Pat, that sounds good! I haven't river fished for cats in years! The way I do them make them vast like they come out of the river!
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My favorite catfish are about 4" to 6" long, skinned, gutted, rolled in seasoned flour and cornmeal and dropped in hot grease. Right out of the river is best. Served with hush puppies, coleslaw and extra cold beer. ;)
I don't recall seeing you turn down or spit out any filleted, fried 15"-50" long catfish that we've fried up over the years, either. :D
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Pat, do you also eat them with Crystals hot sauce? I learned to love them from a man from Memphis. For the life of me I could never get Rodney to catch a trout though.
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JoJo, I usually soak my catfish fillets in a mixture of Crystal hot sauce and lemon juice before breading and frying them. Good stuff.
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Sounds awesome. I'll have to give that a try. Most of the people that would eat my cooking wouldn't be able to handle that, they have very tender pallets, Maybe the need to curse more like me to toughen them up!
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hey lets get back to the carp thing Ive had people sneek it in on me,,,,I dont remember how it was I think cubed mud vein removed and breaded in shore lunch corn meal and deep fried but I dont remember JeffW
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I've had it that way! It's ok, try soaking the filet in a brine them deep fry it in your favorite batter. Fish is just good to me. Remember to save those skins, remove the scales and scrape them good then tack them flat to dry. They make an awesome bow backing, like you would a snake skin! Patrick
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I actually saw a carp backed bow sunday, I was in love. I want to for sure, It's just a matter of getting my carcass out of bed at a decent time. I usually am out of bed by about 6 on weekends, not lately.
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I went tonight to find some Carp for meat and backing. No fish, all I saw was a bull frog. I did though find a new fishing hole. Walking along through the river I found a 8 foot deep hole. From knee deep, to 8 feet in a step. More than likely ruined my e-smoke, so there is $80 down the river. Luckily I had my phone in a ziplock bag. I keep the e-smoke in a top pouch of my camel back, but that went under right before my head did. Mostly the river is about 2 or 3 feet where I fish. To say the least it was a shock.
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Ya you need to ask the old t imers where the swimming holes are before you go trapsing down the river !
Carp in cold water is about tbe same as most fish, as the waters warm up it gets a bit soft thats when you fix it up like salmon from the can , if you can eat that salmon that comes in a can you will love carp
as for the cats good stuff for sure , till I had some fixed by a trottline fisherman
he ruined me on cats purty much served it up raw, hit the grease flip it over and hit the plate thats the way be loved it took him less time to cook it than you did to read it!
to each his own I reckon but sure fixed me !
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The funny part is, is that I grew up on that river. It moves a lot, even from one year to another. The ground is all clay, so in high years the river may move 50 feet. My old good hole is gone. Army corps of engineers came this last winter and took the S out of the river and made it straight, and killed my favorite carp hole.
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Even little old Rapid Creek in the Black Hills is ever-changing. I used to have a honey hole I called "Brownsville Station". You could count on hitting at least three of four brown trout from this tree overhung cutbank. At least one would be 16 inches or bigger. It was a great spot. Now it is a shallow gravel filled riffle when it was once 5 ft deep.
I am trying a new catfish hole tomorrow nite. This one is on private land and the landowner says he has not allowed anyone to fish that stretch for several years. The nearest public access is over 6 river miles away. I am quivering with excitement!
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Carp sounds like Gar and Mud fish in Florida. The old Crackers and myself have no problem eating either. Gar when cleaned has no bones, just two backstraps of nice, white, textured meat, like shrimp or lobster. The mudfish is a tough, prehistoric, ugly fish full of teeth that has nice, white, flaky, meat that has to be iced downed pretty quick, but is hard to tell the difference between Flounder. Ugly fish get no respect. :) Now we have the armored catfish, the ones you see suctioned on the side of your aquariums that dip sh*%s released that are just as tasty as their cousins.
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Eddie, I like me some gar, it gets a bad rap for sure. Carp still tastes like carp, though. :)
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My favorite catfish are about 4" to 6" long, skinned, gutted, rolled in seasoned flour and cornmeal and dropped in hot grease. Right out of the river is best. Served with hush puppies, coleslaw and extra cold beer. ;)
Pat, that's how I like em too :) most of the fish I eat is just from little ponds though so I get some small cats, panfish, and rock bass. Wish the family liked fish more or i'd be doing it now.