Baked King Mackerel (and how to treat your catch as FOOD)

FinestKind

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I know a lot of you guys don't enjoy Kings, but it could be because they weren't PREPPED RIGHT.
If you are gonna keep the fish, you need to treat em like FOOD from the minute they come off the hook.

If you throw em still alive into a fish box, and allow them to thrash about and suffocate in the air your end product will be oily, bloody and smelly with soft flabby flesh that falls apart. Maybe good enough for smoking but that's about it.

But if you TRY the following "IKE JIMI" procedure you might agree that Kings ARE delicious.

Right after that pic was taken, I stuck a spike in his brain, cut his gills, sliced into his tail bone, stuck a wire up along his spine, bled him out for 15 mins then put him in an ice/saltwater slurry.

Back at the dock, filleted, skinned and removed lateral line. Cut into serving sized chunks. No fresh water touched the meat (that will ruin it). Big fish yielded so much I gave away 18 servings and kept 2 for me an wifey.

Back home, I blotted moisture off the fillets and wrapped in clean paper towels. Wrapped paper towel packages in foil and aged the fish in the fridge 24 hours so it would develop umami.

Next day in the kitchen, removed paper towels, placed in dish and seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, oregano and olive oil. Allowed fish to marinate in that mix for a half hour while the oven preheated to 425.
Placed fish in baking pan, coated with thin layer of bread crumbs and popped in oven.
Baked for 8 mins, then squeezed juice of half lemon and a drizzle of EVOO over fish. Turned oven up to broil and put fish back in for a minute until bread crumbs browned a bit.

That's it! Served with tomato salad, French fries some crispy bread and Chianti.....GOOD EATS!

Len
Finest Kind

will's dad

Looks good, thanks for sharing!

jcanracer

I'm with you, I enjoy every kingfish that I bring home (and no, I do not smoke them).
Mackerel too, but I can understand why some people draw the line there...

trousertroutman

Looks great Len, just a curiousity question. I understood when fish is emmersed into salty ice slush while it is stil alive the blood will leave the meat and go to its vital organs as a survival reaction, and that way the fillets are clean. I was wondering if that is more effective than bleeding as is sure to get the blood out of the meat where if bled, there may still be some left in the meat near the wounds as result of the flow, or areas that the blood could not be pumped out of the body due to distance form the wound once the heart stops? Any help would be great,

FinestKind

trousertroutman wrote: »

Looks great Len, just a curiousity question. I understood when fish is emmersed into salty ice slush while it is stil alive the blood will leave the meat and go to its vital organs as a survival reaction, and that way the fillets are clean. I was wondering if that is more effective than bleeding as is sure to get the blood out of the meat where if bled, there may still be some left in the meat near the wounds as result of the flow, or areas that the blood could not be pumped out of the body due to distance form the wound once the heart stops? Any help would be great,

I believe it is essential to bleed the fish and don't think the quality of the flesh will be anywhere near as good if it is not bled.
My "fish for the table" prep steps are based on the traditional Japanese "Iki Jimi" procedure. Iki Jimi has been practiced in Japan for over 400 years. Recent university studies support those Iki Jimi traditional methods based on scientific fact.

Basic steps:
1) Need to kill the fish quickly, don't allow it to suffocate in the air or die slowly in a slurry. When it dies a panicked, slow death enzymes and lactic acid are produced which enter and ruin the flesh.

2) Get the blood out. Blood harbors bacteria.

3) destroy the spinal column and nervous system. Rigor mortis will be delayed.

4) ice it down. Gut and/or fillet back at the dock. DO NOT let fresh water touch the flesh once the fish is cut open. Bring back a bucket of sea water to rinse off your fillets. DRY the fillets and wrap in clean paper towels before you store them in the fridge.

5) AGE the fish for a day or more so that it's flavors and texture develops.

Fascinating articles by a Japanese angler about these steps here:
http://www.anglers-secrets.com/how-to-keep-fish-fresh/
and
http://www.anglers-secrets.com/what-closing-does-to-the-fish/

trousertroutman

thansk for the reply. i have heard the minerals in fresh water cause the flesh to get mushy, but never actually brought home salt water to rinse very cool idea. last question, do the paper towels not stick to the fillets? i have had problems just when padding them dry that the wet paper sticks to the fish. thanks again, TGIF!

capt louie

Interesting. Commercials chill kill the catch then gut and stack belly down in ice after rinsing in saltwater.
Guess it keeps freshwater out of the cavity that way ?

FinestKind

The ice commercial fishermen use is usually produced on board from salt water and/or the ice is mixed with seawater to form a slurry.

FinestKind

trousertroutman wrote: »

thansk for the reply. i have heard the minerals in fresh water cause the flesh to get mushy, but never actually brought home salt water to rinse very cool idea. last question, do the paper towels not stick to the fillets? i have had problems just when padding them dry that the wet paper sticks to the fish. thanks again, TGIF!

If you rinse the fillets in salt water then pat them DRY with paper towels then wrap them in clean paper towels before wrapping in foil, the paper won't stick. You do need to change the paper every day if you plan to age the fish for several days however.

conchydong

Great post. Looks very good.

trousertroutman

Awesome I am looking forward to trying this out, the salt water rinse bucket is a great idea, as I also noticed the the minerals in tap water makes the meat mushy but never thought about that. very cool!

trousertroutman

I tried to follow this advise and I patted the moisture off some redfish fillets and wrapped in parchment paper and put in the fridge over night. The next day the edges of the fillets were almost as hard as plastic, I cooked them and the hard edges fell off and were discarded. Is it possible I got them too dry?

Slo Poke1

I'm new to Kingfish, but caught some during the last run. They were bled, then placed in an saltwater ice bath. I smoked some and turned out great. For cooking, I simply patted them dry and pan-fried them in olive oil with salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice. Turned out great.

holymackerel

for sure,bleed out and ice quickly.I steak mine remove any trace of blood,medallions,marinade,grill.

FinestKind

trousertroutman wrote: »

I tried to follow this advise and I patted the moisture off some redfish fillets and wrapped in parchment paper and put in the fridge over night. The next day the edges of the fillets were almost as hard as plastic, I cooked them and the hard edges fell off and were discarded. Is it possible I got them too dry?

Yeah, I think the maybe edges got "fridge-burned" because the parchment paper didn't seal it well.

Next time wrap the fillets in regular paper towels to absorb the moisture, then wrap those paper towel packages in plastic wrap before putting them back in the fridge.
Open the packages and change-out the wet paper towels and re-wrap every day. You can store and age most fish to develop maximum Umami for several days this way.

trousertroutman

thanks Len; the paper towels dont stick to the fillets when you try to remove?

FinestKind

trousertroutman wrote: »

thanks Len; the paper towels dont stick to the fillets when you try to remove?

If you rinse off the fillets in clean sea-water, then pat them dry with paper towels before wrapping in a clean paper towel sheet, then wrap those paper towel packets in plastic wrap or foil before storing in the fridge, there will be nothing sticky on the surface of the meat.

The paper will get damp however from moisture leaching out of the flesh, which is why you want to unwrap the packages and change the paper wrapping every day (it will peel right off) if you are going to store fresh fillets for several days.

trousertroutman

ok great, and with the wire thing....looks very strange....do you feel it really improves the quality of the meat, it is supposed to kill the nerves and make the flesh more relaxed apposed to rigor mortis?

CaptJ

We used to catch a lot of Kingfish before the regs set in, and occasionally one would get it's tail removed by a Cuda. That's the one we would take home. The flesh would be snow white. We used a brine slurry (still do) and all of our fish would be pristine. I fish mainly for reef fish now, and when filleting them place the fillets in a brine slurry (mostly brine - seawater). They come out chilled and looking like what a picture of a perfectly preserved fillet should be. Been doing this for 40 years and people we feed can't believe how good the fish taste. Worth trying.

fish_stix

I was raised in a commercial fishing family and I'll tell right now the first thing you want to do as soon as possible is bleed and gut them. Then submerge them in a salt slush; pour a bucket of saltwater in the box along with the ice or pour in a box of Kosher salt on the ice. Before filleting them scrape all the slime and small scales off with your knife held perpendicular to the skin. The slime is not conducive to good taste in any fish! Then fillet and remove the dark red lateral line; this is crucial! The red meat is strong and nasty tasting; get it all out so you're left with only white meat. At that point I just smoke them; there are myriads of better tasting fish in the ocean. BTW, if you decide to freeze some then use it within 2-3 weeks or plan on using it for cut bait; oily fish like kings and mackeral don't freeze well

Australian angler

Nothing wrong with the old mackerel, we catch a fair few down here is Australia, great sport and great eating.

TerribleTed

To me there great. I generally only steak then about 2 inches thick. Roll them in olive oil drenched in it and lemon herb and Cajun seasoning and grill till they start to almost crumble. can also debone that steak and place hot on salad really good. otherwise garlic bread and coleslaw.

jaym

FinestKind,

What a great read. Do you cut between the 3rd and 4th gill or do you cut the throat?

grey2112

I have been getting into the habit of bleeding/gilling/gutting my fish now as soon as they come up.  Most of the time, especially the larger fish, are already dead since I spearfish mostly and I like to put a knife in their brain/spine while underwater.  I have noticed a definite change in the flavor.  Looking forward to trying this with AJ and Cobia, as I found them stronger than what I care for.

TerribleTed

I love king fish.

Dont remove the skin . Steak 1.5 to 2 inch thick soak in olive oil. Season with lemon herb and cajun. place on grill and slow- medium cook. When you flipp roll in oil again. Meat willo be firm white and flake apart.  king must be fresh.

grey2112

By the way, I have not been following the "don't rinse in fresh water" instructions and definitely want to get away from that.  It would be difficult for me to keep a bucket of seawater on the boat without it splashing out either when loading on to the trailer or driving back home.  So I did a little research on how to "make" my own seawater.

1 litre of water (about 1 quart) and add 35 grams (about 1/8 a cup) of salt.  Stir to dissolve. 

K-Dawg

grey2112 said:

By the way, I have not been following the "don't rinse in fresh water" instructions and definitely want to get away from that.  It would be difficult for me to keep a bucket of seawater on the boat without it splashing out either when loading on to the trailer or driving back home.  So I did a little research on how to "make" my own seawater.

1 litre of water (about 1 quart) and add 35 grams (about 1/8 a cup) of salt.  Stir to dissolve. 

Put a lid on your bucket?

grey2112

K-Dawg said:

grey2112 said:

By the way, I have not been following the "don't rinse in fresh water" instructions and definitely want to get away from that.  It would be difficult for me to keep a bucket of seawater on the boat without it splashing out either when loading on to the trailer or driving back home.  So I did a little research on how to "make" my own seawater.

1 litre of water (about 1 quart) and add 35 grams (about 1/8 a cup) of salt.  Stir to dissolve. 

Put a lid on your bucket?

ROFL - good Lord sometimes I can be dumb.  I'm so used to buckets never having lids on them that I didn't even think about that.  Brilliant!