I caught a small Sharpnose and decided to give it a try. Bled and gutted it immediately, then packed it in ice. Had it home within a couple of hours and filleted it. That’s when I noticed the really strong ammonia smell. Is that normal? It was such a strong smell I decided not to eat it.
We prefer to grill or bake our catch. Not a fan of deep frying fish. I’ve read that people soak shark in milk or buttermilk, is that just to make it palatable?
It seems if I have to soak it just to make it edible, maybe I need to leave that fish in the water. Did I get a bad fish or are all Sharpnose so ammoniated? Your thoughts or suggestions?
quote:It seems if I have to soak it just to make it edible, maybe I need to leave that fish in the water. Did I get a bad fish or are all Sharpnose so ammoniated
Most sharks are like that and I feel the same way. Leave them in the water. I don’t want them stinking up my fish box.
I caught a small Sharpnose and decided to give it a try. Bled and gutted it immediately, then packed it in ice. Had it home within a couple of hours and filleted it. That’s when I noticed the really strong ammonia smell. Is that normal? It was such a strong smell I decided not to eat it.
We prefer to grill or bake our catch. Not a fan of deep frying fish. I’ve read that people soak shark in milk or buttermilk, is that just to make it palatable?
It seems if I have to soak it just to make it edible, maybe I need to leave that fish in the water. Did I get a bad fish or are all Sharpnose so ammoniated? Your thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks in advance
Did you remove the urine track when you gutted it?
I have always done so, and never had a problem… My personal preference is to grill them… You can just steak them with the skin on and spine in… Once on the grill you can peel the skin off super easy and knock out the spine piece…
You’ll still notice the smell a bit, but after you fillet them and do a little cold water rinse on the meat it goes away. After cooking never could tell a bit. My wife is the a super picky eater and Shark of all fish is about her favorite.
If you are going to grill cut into round steaks leaving bone/cartilage in center and cut skin and any red meat off. Cutting through shark skin takes a good serrated knife. I have skinned them like a catfish before filleting or cutting into steaks. That tends to leave a lot of red and that white tough connective tissue stuff on the outer layer of the filets though.
Only shark I’ve noticed that does not have that noticeable ammonia smell is a Mako. Now that’s some good fish meat!
Only time I ever “soak” any fish in milk is right before I fry them. I use a little milk and egg for batter to stick to.
My buddy and I were having the “milk” soaking conversation. Everything has it’s own taste and soaking takes away the natural flavor. imo Take venison for instance. I know a lot that like to soak some in milk. I only like cold water to bleed it out a bit. I like the taste of it… along with a little garlic and pepper.
To each there own! I’ll eat a mudfish, out of running water .
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
Recently I caught a nice one out at the CHS60… you have to completely gut and bleed them out, cut at the tail and behind the head, get every thing out of the shark.
I fileted it, cut into nice 2" wide strips and deep fried… could not tell it wasn’t some really nice mahi or snapper… it was THAT good. My real preference is to cut the filets off as soon as you pull them out of the water, but we all know I’d never do that as it is illegal… hmmmmmmm…
