If your carp came from âquestionableâ water, you can allow them to clean themselves out for a few days before filleting them. I throw them in the bathtub (we have 2 bathrooms), and feed them Goldfish Pond Pellets for about 48 hours. You can use a # 10 washtub outside, if youâd rather. Change the water every few hours. Chlorinated water doesnât seem to hurt them any. You only need to do this if they came from really dirty water , such as a semi-stagnant pool, or a nasty swamp. From regular water, especially if it is cold, they are good-to-go.
Start out filleting them just as you would any other fish. If the fillets are too huge, simply cut them in half to make them easier to handle. Make sure you take off the skin. Use the entrails and leavings for fertilizer, or a cheap pet treat. If there are any egg cases in them, save them. They are wonderful fried intact, or made into caviar.
Next, cut out the red strip of meat that runs along the lateral line, and discard it. It is the famous âMud Vienâ.
Now, there are a line of Y-shaped bones that are at a 90 degree angle to the rest, running along the sides. You can feel the points of them sticking out. Once you have located them, there are 2 ways to deal with them. You can cut the entire section of meat loose lengthwise from above the Y-bones. This is a large boneless strip of meat, and is ready-to-go as-is.
Now for the bottom part, you can cut sections between every 3 or four bones. These can be fried and eaten much like hot wings, around the bones. Or, you can do what I do. Slice the meat loose from under the Y-bones a little at a time, until the fillet is free. Then discard the center section. Now, you have two large, long fillets from this side. repeat for the other side, and youâre done.
To make the meat milder-tasting, you can soak it for a few hours in salt water, buttermilk, or milk, but it is not really necesary. Carp are slightly milder and less oily than mackerel. They can be prepared the same way you would fresh mackerel, or bluefish, and are inter-changable in recipes. They make delicious Gefilte fish as well. Or you can just fry, bake or broil them with a little lemon juice. I also make a wonderful fish chowder out of them that everyone goes nuts over, even people who donât like fish. Another neat trick is to broil, or bake it, then let it cool. When you can handle it, break it up into flakes and use your favorite tuna salad recipe to make Carp SaladâŚfantastic on sandwiches. I could write an entire cook book just on carp recipesâŚ
When properly prepared, carp are as good as any other fishâŚand better than some.
Bon apetit.
On a good day you could see down 25â or better, and you wouldnât believe how many carp you could find on the bottom of a cove. Sometimes it looked like the lake bottom was moving! It was hard to miss a lot of the time if you could get within 10â of a group of them on the bottom.
