![]() (this drains the blood and keeps the meat cleaner tasting) Take a new razor blade and cut just below the skull bone all the way around the head (RUB the head hard with your finger, you'll feel the bone) make a slit at the dorsal fin and or break and remove the fin totally, grab the skin at the cut and pull down very hard while firmly holding the meat up behind the skin to keep from losing it pull the skin all the way down as if you are removing a sock. Grab the tail and cut it off completely at the end of the spine. For anyone reading this, get a metal coat hanger, a pair of needle nose vise grips if you do not have access to skinning pliers, run the coat hanger though the gills out the mouth, and hang him about eye level on something very sturdy. Caught a 40 pound flat and had him dressed and filleted in about 5 minutes course, Ive been doing it most of my life, and I do it for extra money, IE I sell fish at work, and typically cover the cost of my gear fuel etc and still put money in my pocket. I caught 80 something last weekend, shoot, i'da been cleaning for a week at his rate. Freeze the (cleaned and prepared) head in a dated bag until you're next ready to make stock.ĮXACTLY, man alive I'd hate to see this guy clean a mess of cats. Minus the bitter-tasting gills and washed free of residual guts, the heads can be used in making fish stock. If you live near an appropriate ocean, you can use the heads to bait your crab traps. What to do with the head and guts? You can bury them under some deserving plants in your yard, though make sure to dig deep enough to keep racoons from unearthing them. Give the fish a rinse to make sure you got it all. Try not to puncture the guts, as this will make more of a stinky mess. Scoop out all of the suspicious bits and pile them with the head. ![]() Once the head is gone, cut a slit along the belly of the fish all the way back to the anal fin at the rear of the stomach cavity. You can then get your knife between the vertebrae, and cut through any remaining neural or connective tissues to remove the head. If the vertebrae are too thick to cut through with the knife, cut through everything else then bend the head back against the body until the vertebrae separate. Locate the line you'd previously scored around the head for skinning, and cut through using a big knife. Note that "basa" is catfish from Thailand forcibly renamed by the US government. Sometimes they're even pre-skinned for you. Fishmongers and grocery stores standardly sell fillets, but good ones may sell you whole fish for waaaaay cheaper. This is a total cop-out, but sometimes the only option. I was in line behind a bunch of tiny asian grandmothers waiting to buy live catfish. This ~2.5lb fish came from the Old Oakland Farmers' Market. It's sad that you're missing out on a nice day at the lake or the river, but at least you have a live fish. If you have a good Chinatown, farmers' market, or live near a fish farm, this may be easy. Bass fishermen are great for this my uncle only keeps his fish when I come to visit. Get one from friends who fish, but usually catch-and-release because they're scared of cleaning fish. Each US state has its own report on this subject. Juglines/trotlines are a good way to catch these bottom-feeders just make sure you're not fishing in a polluted or heavy-metal laden waterway.
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