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Seen a man down at the river today, he had a stringer full of carp. I was always told that fish that come from warm water are "wormy" and never really thought much about it after that. What's the deal with eating carp and warm water fish and 'worms'?
Thanks a lot,
Shane
Don't know about worms but here in KY the Carp from warm water have a muddy taste. I mean they taste AWFUL, Make you want to kiss the south end of a north bound skunk just to get the bad taste out of your mouth :shock: . Cold water caught Carp can be real fine for the table , I like to smoke them myself.
Nouveau cuisine? Never tried it.
Joe
I have eaten them in China but naturally i think they had a team of people working on them to make them edible... it was in like fish mince things and they were quite nice. I wouldn't just fillet one and toss it on the barby and expect to eat it though. I have read about how you can keep them in clean water for a while and then prepare them to eat... supposedly grilled they are ok I believe if treated right. Some central European residents of Australia are keen on them to eat. Personally a jam sandwich is more appealing.
Carp are a important food fish in other countries, but thank heaven not here!
I do have a more open mind about people fishing for them, than I used to.
Doug
Greetings from river country. I eat a lot of carp. "Carp fries" are still a common fund raiser around here. I've helped fry anywhere up to 400 pounds of fish many times.
I agree with Mark that "slough" carp - what we call fish from warm, shallow muddy water are beyond poor as table fare. I'll bet you that fish from Ontario waters would be excellent. I have never seen a "worm" in a carp.
How you handle the fish from the time you catch it until you eat it is a big factor. I've been meaning to put together a pictorial on how we clean carp (gotta get that done ;)). If you'd like to try it - here's a quick rundown.
First - stay with the females. They will be a thicker, deeper fish and the males tend to be long and skinny. If you fillet a fish and it is mostly all red - you probably have a male. Some guys eat them - I personally steer clear, they tend to be strong. A good fish to 'steak' is around 4 to not over 10 pounds.
Take a live fish - give it a quick whack on the head and cut the tail off. This will bleed the fish and make for better (whiter) meat. Takes just a couple minutes to bleed out.
'Scaling' the fish is a little tricky but easy to get onto with a little practice. Slide your knife forward between scales and skin. You are in reality cutting the scales off. With practice you can take pretty much the whole side off in one chunk. Then fillet the fish like any other.
Now, it gets a little tricky again. You are going to "score" the carp. Make vertical slices down though the meat and bone to the skin. You will feel the knife cutting through bone. Make sure you get clear to the skin. If you cut clear through a few times don't worry about it. You just want the chunks to hang together. You want these cuts to be *not more than a quarter inch apart*. Less is more here. Cut the scored fillets into chunks about 4 inches wide. Now wash it well and soak it in saltwater, in the fridge, overnight. I usually change the water on it at least once.
A carp lends itself well to the 'seasoned' breadings but I often just use flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. The act of 'breading' is another important factor. Divide each slice of the meat and make sure you get the breading down in there. Shake off the excess.
Deep fry at 375 and enjoy. If you did a good job of scoring the bones will fry up. Now, I'm not going to tell you it tastes like bluegill or walleye - but what does? Personally I like it fine. If you like to 'dip' - tarter sauce or Miracle Whip and horseradish mixed are good.
Carp can also be canned and and I like carp smoked as well as most any fish.
Try it - bet you'll be pleasantly surprised.
When I lived in Germany I caught a bunch of small carp. I thought my German neighbors were going to fight over who got them. They really appreciated the fish.
I have eaten carp both smoked and canned. and found them tasty - but then I am a big fish eater.
In response to HideHunter's comment about scoring the fillet and deep fat frying. I read about this technique quite some time ago. I tried it on some bony pickeral and it really does the trick.
Tim
I've eaten my share, either smoked or canned then used like you would canned tuna in casseroles and such. The thing about clean water versus dirty water affecting the taste is true, but it's true for any species of fish, you just don't notice it in fish like walleye and trout because you don't find them in poor water like you will carp, catfish, bass and such adaptable critters. Warmwater species are also prone to parasites, but that is also a matter of water quality. I fish in a few ponds around here where the water is stagnant and snail larva and other parasites are indeed an issue when the water reaches a certain temperature. I don't eat fish out of those ponds (don't wade or tube in them either). I have no problem keeping and eating those same species out of good clean water, and find them quite tasty. A warning: clear water isn't necessarily clean water.
There is a restraunt in South Omaha Nebraska, "Joe Tess's" that sells cooks and serves Catfish and CARP to standing room only crowds every day. Like everything else, properly prepared it is darn good eats...
on the other hand, I did try to cook a carp I caught once... the cat wouldn't even eat it.
ED 8)
I hear it taste a lot like chicken :D
As I've heard before, in some places of the world carp are considered a delicacy. And, it's also my understanding that carp are not native to North America but were also one of those species that were "introduced" into our waters in the 1800's.
Those that I know of who have eaten them (out of good water), told me they skinned them and then removed a mud vein that runs the length of the body on each side of the fish just under the skin. Have also been told that cleaned and cut-up carp have found their way into some questionable resturants to be served up as a special "fish and chips" offering! Ah, yes, maybe some of us have dined on carp and did not know the difference!(LOL)
One time at a place we were vacationing when I was a boy, a fisherman came in off the lake and threw a good sized capr into a brush fire that someone had burning while cleaning off his lot right there on the beach. Later we boys went by the fire as it had almost burned out and we could smell this cooked fish ... so we got a stick and pushed it out of the coals and split it open and walla! ... steaming hot fish fillet ... and it tasted pretty good!
Dale
I ate a lot of carp in my youth.
We would head to Fishing river (its real name) in a 1940 chevy with cane poles tied across the roof to the front and back bumper. A package of homade dough bait (Wheaties and beer or strawberry pop) hand carved bobbers, huge hooks....maybe 4/0 or bigger.
Catch a mess of carp and have a fish fry. Dad would build a fire under an old cast iron kettle (he called it the fish pot) fill it up with lard....when it got really hot, throw the carp in breaded with corn meal. It would sink in the hot lard...when it floated it was done.
That was the boniest, nastiest fish I've ever eaten....It will never pass my lips again.
The old method to 'freshen' carp from muddy waters (or duck) is to soak them overnight in a container of water with a handful of baking soda and a handful of salt. That is called sal-soda. Rinse and cook. Smoked carp can be a real treat.
they litter the shore here at lakes folks dont throw back and don't seem to take home,
pastor ed. cat here wont eat anything but cat food . its the gfs food i don't eat
if i cook her someting and it aint on my plate . i get yelled at. if its me makeing faces and its gross
and its on her plate plate wil fly.
Reminds me of a local recipe for "native hen" which is a wiry little ground bird here... that is to put it in a pot of water with a dash of wine and a rock, simmer away until the rock goes soft, then eat the rock and chuck the bird away.
Someone earlier said they bet the carp from Ontario would be good to eat. Well...unless they came out of Georgian Bay or Lake Superiour....I wouldn't want to try it. There are enough nasty pollutants, chemicals and heavy metals in the little pan fish to make me think twice about eating any fish from around here, let along a big old bottom feeding boot like a carp. I love catching them on a fly rod, and for that, they get my respect, but the thought of eating one makes me shudder. I leave that to the 5 gl bucket brigade.
From the sounds of it I don't want to try eating carp haha. I gotta agree with Mato about the carp in Ontario. Most of our water, especially the Thames aren't that great untill you head away from London and surrounding area and get to the lakes. The Beer store always has a book on eating fish and how much of it from which waters are suggested eats. Never looked into it much, but it's worth a shot now.
Thanks a lot for all the replies, very informative. If I do try it, now I know what to do with them:)
Shane
We eat carp all the time (from very clean water).
in casserole just like tuna - precook it first and then crumble and remove the bones.
Filets on the grill - deep slice the meat (almost like cube steak) squeeze somw lemon juice on it put a bit of butter, wrap in non stick foil and grill for 15 minutes.
no matter the recepie the muddy taste comes from the red parts of the meat. Cut them out when cleaning the fish and the rest taste mighty good.
Bones are other problem. But if you know how to deal with them (same as with pickerel) you good to go.
ummmm...........
nope Never tried it and i really REALLY dont think i want to. :lol:
Have eaten them many times smoked. Bleed them out good and remove the dark blood line soak in mild salted water. Then put into your smoker. Let smoke until they are done. They will taste great. John
Living in the midwest I have had the occaision to see things that I had not grown up with.
One of them being folkes eating carp (oh HECK NO, NOT ME!). :shock:
As hide hunter describes ,preparation is every thing.
There is a local fellow just north of Kansas City that has a restaraunt and every time that he has a "Carp Fry" his place is standing room only. These are not cold water carp, they are all caught in warm water.
So there must be somthing to it.
Also some of my co-workers were raving about "Smoked carp" (retch ) the other day.
I do not advocate any of the activities or promote any of the same.(Hack,cough,yuck) :lol:
p.s I have not tasted carp, I just cant get past childhood training.
Mato
I have heard that they are really good smoked like how ?bassman? stated.
I will try almost anything once.
lol.. amazing the cultural (and geographical) differences isn't it?
Friend of mine from Mississippi has the usual disdain for carp.
Him, "It's horrible and boney and nasty and ... (I've cleaned this up considerably for this audience).
Me, "Ever try it?"
"Nope, ain't going to either."
So, in the classic "set-up" I asked him to help me with a fish fry. I always fry up a mess of bluegill and crappie when he's here. I cut through some scored pieces of carp steak and trimmed the skin, so they were about the size of a bluegill fillet. I had some breaded up and as soon as the grease got hot I dropped them in. Never said a word about what they were - just dropped them on the towels to cool and started another batch. As soon as they cooled a little I grabbed a piece and, of course, he did too. He knew immediately they weren't crappie or bluegill (let's not get stupid here) but he said, "that's not crappie - it's good but it's not crappie."
I made myself busy with the grease and he ate a couple more pieces. Finally he pinned me down and I had to tell him it was carp. Didn't know how he was going to react. Dang southerners can be testy. ;) :lol:
He reached over - got another piece and started eating. Course I had to say, "Thought you didn't like carp?"
His answer? "That ain't carp" - and I'm not sure I ever fully convinced him that it was. :lol:
Gonna have a carp casserole tonight. :D
My son worked for several years in the czech republic and he was surprised to find out that cooked carp was the traditional Christmas fare. He said there were carp vendors on street corners where live carp were kept in large tanks. People would buy them take them home in a garbage bag with a little bit of water in it and store the fish in the bathtub until christmas morning. Carp on christmas was kinda like ham or turkey over here.
I can't believe that Joe Tess's place is still around. I grew up in the big "O" and remember going there with my folks. If I recall correctly the food was quite good.
My grandfather out in central Nebraska used to smoke and can carp. I remember helping him catch them when the river level was low. We used pitch forks. No catch and release back then.
Kevin
When I was a boy, a fellow down the way had a homemade refrigerator smoker, and would put any fish you brought him, if you caught him when he was smoking a load. I have eaten carp , rock bass, sunfish, pickeral, northern pike, perch, walleye, smallmouth, largemouth, and suckers. A overnight ride in that old fridge could make anything edible. Hate to think of the mercury, and PCBs I likely injested. :shock:
Carp and Pike, cook, add some matzoh meal and voila its Gefilte fish, a cultural neessity ;)
jed
Quote:
Originally Posted by HideHunter
You just don't know how testy they can be. :shock:
And that ain't just a bunch of carp, either :lol:
Down here carp are a traditional form of fertilizer. When I was young, we were taught that removing all carp caught was good conservation. Things are changing, but there are still a lot of carp being hauled off to be eaten months later as corn-on-the-cob. When corn is planted in hills, I have heard that a number of people will use from 1 or 2 pounds up to 5 pounds of carp per hill, if it is available. (Note that most people who plant corn in hills now are planting only smallish patches, not acres.) If carp started bringing in tourist who bought our disgustly expensive nonresident fishing licenses, then carp would probably start getting better protection in the form of bag limits etc...
Ed
Sorry to say that I've never tried carp as table fare, mostly because my carp have come out of some pretty nasty water. If I could get a few carp out of a nice, clear, cold lake or stream, I might experiment a bit. Maybe :? . 8T :D
See - I rest my case. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by EdD
Believe me, I'm not looking for protection of carp on any level. I support fishing for them, bowfishing them, commercial netting them and using them for fertilizer or pet food. Now, there are people who will argue that they should be given gamefish status and they are welcome to argue.
My point is, once carp are established, the removal of one, or a ton, in hopes of controlling the population is an excercise in futility. There are areas that have paid netters to take out fish in large scale operations for *years* and haven't stemmed the tide.
So, two guys having a bloody, knock-down drag-out over whether one line-caught carp should be released are two guys arguing over whether they should be spitting in the ocean.
And, I do my part. I eat one every few weeks. ;)
There were a few tips in here that were especially timely
1. sal-soda soak (thanks LF)
2. cutting out the red meat
3. scoring the filets to break up bones
oh and not eating them if caught in nasty water. Guess that would go for any fish.
thank you all
_________________
RRhyne56
http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com
http://robinsrumination.blogspot.com
I regularly eat carp and have 100s of great recipes for them. Carp are a seriously over-looked resource. Properly prepared, they are as good as any other fish, and better than some. I believe there should be a commercial fishery for them, like in Europe. There is nothing wrong with carp. If more people would consider adding these fish to thier diets, the populations would be kept in check, and more people would be out having fun, which can't be a bad thing.
The problem is that most people in the US do not know how to properly prepare a carp. Even carp from muddy water are ok if you remove ALL the red meat. If in doubt, soaking overnight in salt water and baking soda water will remove any unpleasant tastes from the meat.
I guess one man's pest is another man's gift. I am happy to use rough species as a resource.
Carp Nutritional Highlights
Nutritional Highlights
Carp, 1 fillet (6 oz.) (169.8g) (cooked, dry heat)
Calories: 275
Protein: 38.9g
Carbohydrate: 0.0g
Total Fat: 12.2g
Fiber: 0.0g
*Excellent source of: Potassium (726mg), Selenium (27.5mcg), Vitamin B12 (2.5mcg), and Vitamin E (15.3 IU)
*Good source of: Magnesium (64.6mg)
*Foods that are an ?excellent source? of a particular nutrient provide 20% or more of the Recommended Daily Value, based upon United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines. Foods that are a ?good source? of a particular nutrient provide between 10 and 20% of the USDA Recommended Daily Value. Nutritional information and daily nutritional guidelines may vary in different countries. Please consult the appropriate organization in your country for specific nutritional values and the recommended daily guidelines.
When cooked (dry heat), carp provides 0.797 grams of omega-3 fatty acids derived from EPA (0.305g), DHA (0.146g), and ALA (0.346g), per 100 grams of carp.
From the USDA
Here are my instructions on how to handle a carp properly.
To de-bone a carp, there are 6 or 7 steps. It takes about 20 minutes. You only end up with about 25% of the fishes weight in meat, but off a 20 lb. carp, that's 5 pounds of meat at one time. That's a good yield in anyone's book.
1. Remove the fillets from the body of the carp as you would any other fish. Cut around the ribs, leaving them attached to the skeleton.
2. Lay the fillets skin side down on a cutting board and cut them in half lengthwise, cutting through the skin. Remove any fatty belly meat from the fillet. It has a strong flavor.
3. Skin the fillet halves by laying them skin side down on the cutting board and slicing the meat from the skin, starting at the tail section. An electric knife works especially well for this, but any sharp knife will do.
4. Remove and discard the dark red meat from the fillet halves.You now have delicious white meat, but there are still Y-shaped intramuscular bones hiding inside.
5. Cut the rib cage section off. It is now boneless so you can use it without further preparation.
6. The Y-bones lie lengthwise at an angle through the fillets. Slip the fillet knife in between the bones and cut strips that contain two or three bones, taking care to not cut any bones. It won't take long to understand exactly where the bones lie.
7. Now roll these fillets in cornmeal or your favorite breading and fry them as you would any fish. At the table, break the strip in half. The bones will stay in one half.You can eat the boneless half of the strip, then grab the Y-bones and pull them from the other half and eat it, too. It's a lot like eating hot wings, but not as messy.
If you want completely boneless meat, then:
1. Start with the top half of a fillet. Lay the fillet on your cutting board so that the outside of the fish is up.With your fingers, feel for a hard portion on the first inch of the filet.There are a couple of unusual pine cone-shaped bones in the first inch or so of the top half of the fillet.These make bone removal from that section impossible. Starting behind this hard section, holding your knife parallel to the cutting board, cut a long strip of meat from the top of the fillet, exposing the Y-bones.This will result in a boneless piece of meat about as thick as a crappie filet, but about two inches wide and very long.
2. Using shallow cuts, free the meat from above and below the exposed Y-bones
3. Turn the fillet over.You will see a row of white dots that indicate where the point of the Y-branch of the bone nears the cut surface of the fillet.Make a cut parallel to and right above the row of dots. Cut down until the knife contacts the main shaft of the Y-bone.Cut and scrape sideways with the knife to remove a long, rope-like piece of boneless meat.
4. Repeat step 3,making your cut just below the row of dots and removing the remainder of the usable meat from the top half of the fillet.
5. Now de-bone the bottom half of a filet.You have already de-boned the meat from the rib cage section when you left the ribs attached to the skeleton. Cut the ribcage section off and put it with your boneless meat. Now repeat steps 3 and 4 with the remaining portion of the bottom fillet. The bones lie very near the surface of the meat on the bottom half of the fillet, so there is no need to repeat steps 1 and 2.
6. Repeat above with the other side of the fish.
By all means, please experiment with the above techniques and enjoy! If you mess one or two up while learning, don't sweat it...it's just a carp. There are plenty of them. They need to be used.
Semper Fi!
Good post! I wonder, though if the level of Omega-3's declines when you cut out that oily red meat?
The figures are with the red meat cut out and the flesh dry cooked.
Gig