Eating carp...

[bingo]

Spotted this on TV last night. You can watch it on the BBC's website for the next week if you live in the UK and have broadband.

 

BBC iPlayer

 

I know this topic has been discussed to death but I thought it was worth highlighting. Who says the BBC doesn't show enough fishing?.............

[chesters1]

your not going to flush muddy taste away with spring water when dead i can assure you ,just hiding it behind strong flavouring hides the taste of the fish which is the taste you want otherwise just throw the fish away and eat the soup

freshwater fish has always been eaten by ethnic groups within britain but none taste like cod or haddock so they are welcome to them

Edited April 19, 2008 by chesters1

[bluerinse]

your not going to flush muddy taste away with spring water when dead i can assure you ,just hiding it behind strong flavouring hides the taste of the fish which is the taste you want otherwise just throw the fish away and eat the soup

freshwater fish has always been eaten by ethnic groups within britain but none taste like cod or haddock so they are welcome to them

[/quote

I have eaten smoked carp in Latvia, It was out of this world. Fantastic

Edited April 19, 2008 by bluerinse

[chesters1]

thats because they masked the taste by smoking it

if carp were that good we'd all have ponds full of them wouldn't we? expensive sea fish taste better if they didn't we wouldn't eat sea fish and home grown carp would be our favourite with chips , i expect the immigrant population cover them with exotic flavour masking gravy like all restaurants do when the foods bad or the cook is probably both

never caught a river carp but comparing river pike to pond pike they just may get away with 50% flavour masking gravy.

even pout are almost edible if you smoke them!

Edited April 19, 2008 by chesters1

[chavender]

I prefer to poach the flesh in milk ,to draw out the muddy taste ,salting the flesh overnight also works to remove the after taste of mud.But thats the problem with bottom feeders ,give me a nice big perch or pike ,Or treat me to zander any day !

[Guest tigger]

I gave a couple of m8's some Grayling caught out of the river Eaden (a very clean game river) and they both said they tasted earthy.........I'll stick to marine fish myself, at least you can eart them without covering them in something to disguise the taste.

[Rob J]

Carp have been eaten on the Continent for ever... France in particular... In Japan they are revered as a food fish. In the pioneer days of the United States they were imported from Europe as a food source, because of their abaililty to adapt to various waters.

 

True they can taste muddy if they are not cleaned probably but so can a lot of fish including the largemouth Bass. If you remove the skin after filleting the fish... there is a brown stain on the meat, along the fishes lateral line... take a filet knife and remove the brown flesh. No more muddy taste.

 

I love Cod and Haddock... but truth is if you don't have them cooked in batter and you just eat the meat baked... they are quite tasteless. There are other fish caught from the sea that do have very good taste to them including Tuna... Sole... Redfish ... Snapper etc... but I would hardly call Cod and Haddock the tastiest fish in the sea.

 

In the US freshwater fish are eaten as much if not more than sea fish. Walleye for one is very tasty and the meat nice and firm... Bluegill and Redear both have a nice sweet taste to them as does the Crappie... to say nothing of Catfish... an extremely popular fish for the table.

 

A lot can be done to remove the fishy/muddy taste from fishes in the cleaning and preparation of the meat... Very good for you and unless you eat it 3 times a day.. seven days a week... you don't have to worry too much about Mercury poisoning

 

Rob J

Palm Springs Ca.

Edited April 19, 2008 by Rob J

[chesters1]

but the muddy taste permeates the meat its not a surface thing removed with a knife ,a bit like fox the meat tastes like the smell

[wunnus]

I seem to remember somewhere that carp were introduced by monks in the middle ages to the British Isles as a source of food, kept in stock ponds.

 

I vaguely remember grans and aunts (victorian types) talking about flushing out fish with flouir in water, they were supposed to ingest the stuff. This was in association with live sea fish but I suspect that it was a practice that had arisen from that applied to all fish. Smoking, battering and etc are all ways to mask off flavours and the onset of decomposition. Personally anything properly smoked is worth it, even eel (as in Holland).

 

The recent programme "Compleat Angler" makes the point that fresh sea fish in London commanded a much higher price in tudor times than freshwater fish. 'Nuff said!

 

I am of the opinion that freshwater fish grown in the nitrogen rich water of East Anglia should best be given a wide berth, but if you must indulge then "bon appetite". If it ends up on my plate then copious amounts of vinegar and black pepper are the order for the day.

Thaks for reading my point

[nomadpaul]

The Organic farmed carp featured recently on Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's programme were moved from their lake location into freshwater tanks 5 or 6 weeks prior to being sold . This supposedly helped flush the fishes flesh/system out , removing a lot of the earthy tang .