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Got a big ol' carp the other day to make me some kitty bait. Cut off the fillets & planned to scale them prior to cutting them into chunks. Scaling fillets aint easy. Being the lazy cuss I am I decided to find an easier way (think, think, brain strain, Eureka!) I'll see what my pressure washer will do. Hooked the tail end of the fillet into the clamp on my fillet board, fired up the pressure washer and MAN you oughta seen the scales fly. It worked beautifully but now the wife wants to murder me 'cause there's quarter sized carp scales all over the driveway and front lawn. Tried to convince her that the wind will blow them off the driveway and the lawn mower will suck up those on the lawn. She's still bent outta shape??? Can't figger out why.
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Tom that is funny. I can actually see the scales flying.[  ]
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[#0000FF]Good thinking. Right up to the point at which you actually did it. Some things sound a lot better than they actually turn out. Next time, just skin the fillets. The flesh is firm enough to hold together well without the skin attached.
You are lucky you didn't try putting the fish in your wife's washing machine...on spin cycle.
Heard tell about another guy who scaled the fish and tried washing those big old scales down the drain. The Roto Rooter guy was happy to help...for a price.
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Women......geez!
My dad had a great idea for peeling potatoes once that worked great. He skewered a potatoe on the end of a spade bit on his drill and turned it on while holding a potato peeler to it.......worked awesome till one of them flew off and made a mess of my mom's Christmas smorgasbord. She failed to see the brilliance in it!
Now maybe if you skewer a fish onto a drill bit...........
Mike
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Tom, thanks for the chuckle.[  ]
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When I was a kid my Dad gave me chores to do. One was trimming grass around the flower beds with a pair of shears. (long be fore weed eaters)
That method was too slow for me so I fixed a piece of wire to an electric motor from my Dads shop and it worked like a charm.
Dad came home from work and saw me using it and got mad and said I was going to put my eye out.
I could have been a millionaire.
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Is it just me or do those carp strips look tasty, In a strange way of course?
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It's the knife work... If it's done "too good" the bait starts to look appealing.
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[quote 1sthound]Is it just me or do those carp strips look tasty, In a strange way of course?[/quote]
[#0000FF]Carp are good eating. They are a prize food fish in many cultures...and even among a lot of USA folk. They have good firm flesh that is great for cooking or smoking.
The problem with Utah Lake carp is the PCB content. That, and the muddy environment. Water quality can ruin the delectability of any species...including trout, bass, bluegill, catfish, etc.
The other problem...for most folks...is the bony thing. Carp have a couple of rows of Y bones that must either be removed from the fillets before cooking or picked out after cooking. They may also be cooked in a way that renders the bones soft and edible...like pressure cooking, long slow baking or pickling.
Carp are ugly and scaly...and in their whole state they have a nasty "carpy" smell. But if you fillet and skin them the nasty smell goes away and they don't smell any worse than a filleted trout. And when cooked they don't have any kind of unique smell that would tell you they are carp.
I compare them to northern pike. Northerns are slimy and stinky when you first catch them. And they also have pestiferous Y bones in the flesh. But fillet and skin them...and remove the Y bones...and you end up with some incredibly edible flesh.
I have eaten carp prepared several ways. They are always as good as the recipe and the chef. They are especially good when smoked. When I lived in Sacramento...and usually had a supply of smoked salmon and steelhead...my buddies would always raid my stash when they came over. On one occasion I put out some smoked carp. They snarfed it down and proclaimed it to be the best smoked salmon I had ever made. Only one or two of them gagged when I divulged what it really was.
Howsomever, I usually have plenty of other more socially acceptable fish to dine upon so I seldom keep carp except as an enticement for kittyfish. But, as shown in the pics, I fillet and skin it before cutting it into bait strips and freezing it. Careful handling during the fillet and skinning process helps avoid the scale-snow factor all over the kitchen. Even better is to fillet and skin the carp elsewhere and to bring home only the skinned fillets.
There is one other note for processing carp for bait this way. That is to avoid rinsing the fillets. Leave all the blood and natural flavor in the flesh. Makes better bait. And I only put in a small amount of water in the plastic bags and squeeze out the excess...to help prevent freezer burn. Fresh tasty carp works well for cats. But even these gluttonous beasts sometimes turn up their noses at bait that has been in the freezer too long or has freezer burn.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Now that's some funny stuff right there. Read it to my bride and we both had a good laugh over it.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]As to carp being table fare, it is in most other areas of the globe. In fact, streams in Germany are leased specifically for carp fishing and it is a preferred fish for the table.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]It's funny that most Americans turn up their noses at carp (and suckers) because they don't look pretty enough to eat like trout, bass, bluegills, perch, etc. Carp fixed Asian or European style are in fact quite good to eat, but most of us can't get past how ugly they look and won't even try it as table fare.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]The very best pickled fish I've ever eaten was pickled sucker. The bones were either dissolved or crystalized in the pickling process and the flavor was par excellence.[/#800000][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
I'm 82 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
"Free men do not ask permission to bear arms."
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My parents always managed to put food on the table, and that sometimes meant it was carp. There were "pay to fish" lakes in Illinois back then stocked with nothing but carp. And they got lots of business.
Memories include making doughballs with cornmeal, strawberry Jello and garlic, specifically for carp outings.
Baked was how Mom fixed it, and I don't recall gagging over it. Rather the opposite.
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[#0000FF]Many European and Asian cultures prize carp above other species as table fare. I have had the good fortune to have known folks from Germany and from several Asian countries who have prepared carp for my dining enjoyment. Never met any carp I did not like...after cooking. Plenty of (formerly) live ones that aroused my displeasure...and suffered for it.
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Read the package on fish sticks and other such prepared fish. Many are carp. Carp were imported into the United States for food, they are not a native species here in the U.S. Can't say that I remember having eaten carp, but I remember several years ago there was a campaign by the Fish and Game promoting carp as a great fish for smoking. I have often considered it just for kicks and giggles, but to date, have not tried it. Tube Dude, post your smoking recipe and I will give one a try next time I catch one from clean water.
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[#0000FF]No specific recipe for smoking carp. But I have used pretty much the same system as I use for cats. See the attached PDF.
Like catfish, carp are best smoked after filleting and skinning...and trimming out any red flesh along the lateral line.
The tricky part is locating the rows of flesh bones and slicing them out to make strips of boneless fillets.
Like catfish, carp are firm fleshed and can take a lot of smoking/cooking.
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