Caught a couple fair sized bonito last Sunday. Someone told me they were trash fish and they usually threw them back. I was thinking since it is a little tunny it ought to taste like tuna,or like chicken at least(kidding). I’m planning on throwing them on the grill this weekend with the usual lemon-butter-cajun seasoning mix on them. Any comments on this fish as far as taste? Am I wasting my time putting this in as the main course? I’ll probably have company, so hated to throw something to em that the dogs wouldn’t eat!
Only way IMO (In My opinion) that they are edible is if they are bled, cleaned and iced down immediatly after being caught and then cooked very fresh, as in same day as being caught. I’d go with chicken myself, even if the bonito were super fresh.
Dang…that bad eh? Oh well they’re fun to catch anyway. They did seem to have a lot of blood meat on them. I always trim all that off. Just the same I think I’ll pass on cooking those filets up for a crowd. I’ll break out the stash of spades instead…I know that’s some good stuff there!!
Spades, eh? Those defintely don’t rank up there with fabulous fish entrees, IMO. But, I did discover a way to prepare them such that they’re actually, pretty good. I’d not mess with them frozen, but if that’s what you have then go for it. We shot a few spades down in the Keys when we jumped into a monster school of them last month. I squeezed ALOT of fresh key lime juice over the filets after removing all the red meat (very important), marinated a couple of hours, sprinkled with lemon pepper on both sides and grilled. After they’d cooled to the touch, I shredded the filets and added chopped boiled egg, white wine vinegar, Duke’s mayo, relish and some more lemon pepper. Made a fish salad that looked more like the prettiest white chicken salad you’ve ever seen. You can spread the salad on a piece of oat grain bread topped with a romaine lettuce leaf and make sammiches for your company! ONLY way I’ll ever eat the stuff, and I’ve tried lots of ways to try to prepare edible spade. How do you prepare spadefish?
Hey H20…Man I got to say spade ranks up there as one of the best fish I ever ate.
You’re right about the blood meat, you got to get all that off to start with. We had 4 people over about 2 weeks ago and we broke out the spade fillets (from the freezer). All the wife did was rub them down with olive oil, sprinkle some “seafood and chicken seasoning” on them(bought at Dollar Tree), and cooked them on the George Foreman grill. It was quick and easy and everyone went back for seconds. I must admit that was some good eats. They are a good white meat fish with no fishy taste at all.
I will say the best fish I’ve eat from the big pond are Speckled Trout and Yellowfin. That tuna is hard to come by without buying them around here! I hear Cobia are a delicacy, but I’m still working on getting my 1st one of those.
What do think is the best to eat?
Long Enuff’s pics sure to make those spades look awfully tasty!
I’ll have to say my husband and I eat alot of fish, both inshore and offshore species. Neither of us are much into freshwater fishing, so what we catch and consume is all from salt water. Hands down, grouper is our favorite fish, followed by a close second of tuna - I’ll buy whole loins of wild caught tuna from Harris Teeter for us to eat for several days since there are no YFT to be had in these parts. Like everyone else, we USED to catch lots of YFT’s years ago.
We eat lots of mahi, snapper, trout, flounder and redfish (and crabs, shrimp and oysters!) If things get so bad with the economy that we can’t afford groceries, we’ll be fine with what we catch from the water and also with hat Jack hunts! I really do enjoy cooking and have been told I’m a good one, so I guess that helps. I can’t and won’t eat anything that’s too fishy or gamey although I know Jack tricks me into eating things I’d normally not eat.
I tried cobia for the first time in June - it doesn’t need much in terms of seasoning at all as it’s a mild fish to begin with. Or, we think so… Jack had a 30 pound plus ling to the boat on Sunday ready to gaff when the hook pulled. I was already tasting it too! You’ll get one!
Save the bonito you kept and use them for bottom fishing bait for your next trip. Use the skin and all. Big chunks for the big guys and little chunks for the triggers/b-liners. Makes GREAT bait.
2 fresh ripe peaches diced fine, or use frozen peaches if fresh are not available
½ cup finely diced red bell pepper
½ cup finely diced green bell pepper
¼ cup finely diced onion
1 small cucumber seeded and finely diced
1 jalapeno seeded and diced
½ cup malt or rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chili sauce
Pinch of garlic powder
Peaches - skinned and rough chopped
Red Onion - small to medium dice
Cilantro - rough chopped
Japaleno - seeded, diced fine
Fresh lime juice
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - high quality
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
remove the top loin of the bonita(no bloodline). Slice 1/4 inch thick. Marinate in lime juice, worchestershire sauce, onions and fresh green unpickled jalapeno pepper for 1 hour in a ziplock in an icy cooler.
