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FinestKind
Posts: 175 Deckhand
Spanish Mackerel - good eats!
FinestKind
Posts: 175 Deckhand
Caught a couple Spanish Mackerel while drifting with live pilchards over the Haulover artificial reef, nice fight on light tackle!
As usual since I planned to eat the fish, I prepped them for the table. First a stab to the brain and then slit the gills and let them bleed out in the live well before icing them down.
Back at the dock, I cut off the heads, scraped off the slime (no scales on these fish) and filleted them leaving the skin on.
Back in the kitchen, wrapped two of the fillets in paper towels and wrapped the paper towels in foil and placed them in the fridge to "age" for a day. (As I usually do with most fish I catch)
The other two fillets were salted on both sides then placed skin side up on a rack with a pan underneath the catch any juices. The rack was placed in the fridge uncovered to "cure" for 24 hours.
This removes a lot of the moisture and firms up the flesh....changes the texture totally.
Its a traditional Japanese method as explained by this cutie here:
[video=youtube_share;D0OaknSxYNE]
http://youtu.be/D0OaknSxYNE[/video]
The next day, both fillets were arranged on a grill rack and broiled for 5 mins without turning the pieces.
Here is a pic before broiling, the "cured" pieces on the left were cooked as-is, the "normal" pieces on the right were rubbed with evoo, salt, pepper, sesame seeds and a bit of garlic powder.
I gotta say the traditional cured pieces done lovely Misa's way came out GREAT!
Wifey preferred the seasoned "normal" style however...but that's not the first time we disagreed about something...lol
I will be doing Spanish this way again for sure!
As usual since I planned to eat the fish, I prepped them for the table. First a stab to the brain and then slit the gills and let them bleed out in the live well before icing them down.
Back at the dock, I cut off the heads, scraped off the slime (no scales on these fish) and filleted them leaving the skin on.
Back in the kitchen, wrapped two of the fillets in paper towels and wrapped the paper towels in foil and placed them in the fridge to "age" for a day. (As I usually do with most fish I catch)
The other two fillets were salted on both sides then placed skin side up on a rack with a pan underneath the catch any juices. The rack was placed in the fridge uncovered to "cure" for 24 hours.
This removes a lot of the moisture and firms up the flesh....changes the texture totally.
Its a traditional Japanese method as explained by this cutie here:
[video=youtube_share;D0OaknSxYNE]
http://youtu.be/D0OaknSxYNE[/video]The next day, both fillets were arranged on a grill rack and broiled for 5 mins without turning the pieces.
Here is a pic before broiling, the "cured" pieces on the left were cooked as-is, the "normal" pieces on the right were rubbed with evoo, salt, pepper, sesame seeds and a bit of garlic powder.
I gotta say the traditional cured pieces done lovely Misa's way came out GREAT!
Wifey preferred the seasoned "normal" style however...but that's not the first time we disagreed about something...lol
I will be doing Spanish this way again for sure!
Len
Finest Kind
Finest Kind
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Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked. --- Lord Chesterfield
When we have gotten them, we have always cleaned and fried them the day we catch, and i thought flash is right, no difference to any other nice white fish like trout.
BUT, I recently surprised a fellow angler when I showed him how awesome Cero mackerel was as Sashimi! Both Cero and Spanish can be sushi/sashimi grade meat if you bleed them immediately and serve the same day. Trust me on this, I'll look for a picture to prove the point...
Yeah..our buddy who lives in marathon believes that too. He will bring a five gallon bucket offshore fishing and bring a full bucket of salt water back to aid in filleting the fish...no fresh water.
Just curious, anyone tried filtered, spring, or de-ionized water?
just curious as I heard tap water is bad for fillets because the(fluoride, chlorine, etc breaks down the meat).
I dont have access to salt water except muddy Jacksonville creek water and dont really wanna rinse with it LOL
On another note, I brought back some clams and have left (11 days) them in the salt water. They are still alive and kicking and demudded. Ready to eat.
There is much debate over using fresh water to rinse fillets when cleaning - in my oldth I'm beginning to believe temperature is more important than a brief rinse (not dunk) with fresh water - think cold, icy flesh coming in contact with tap water...or sitting around on the kitchen counter warming up. Mr gl does most of the cleaning - one fish at a time. I prepare a bowl of iced, salted tap water for him to put the fillets in immediately - not a lot of rinsing needed.
That said - Misa's dry aging process is something I would like to try!
One of my favorites. So versatile and tasty.