Fred67 was Right

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
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In response to a post, Fred67 suggested false albacore was better to eat than it is given credit. The times I tried false albacore in the past, it was lousy. Took Fred’s comment as a challenge and killed one false albacore on two separate trips. Also, did some looking online at ways to prepare.

As Fred67 suggested, killed the fish by penetrating the brain and then bled out in water. We use our live well for this instead of a bucket. Did not go full “ike jime” and run a wire down the spinal cord. Haven’t gotten comfortable trying to handle a long sharp wire on a bouncing boat.

Straight into ice combined with salt water. Filleted and skinned, leaving a bit of flesh on the skin to avoid the red meat right by the skin. This is what the fillets looked like when done.

CF FA Fillet
CF FA Fillet1920×933 95.2 KB

Nasty looking dark meat in the center. Trimmed to make certain no dark meat left at all. Needed good light and my cheaters to execute. See the results.

CF FA Loins
CF FA Loins1920×933 101 KB

No jokes about my knife work, please, I am no chef. Really tried to get every spec of dark meat off so a bit hacked up. Here’s the false albacore sashimi along with a few other types of fish.

CF Sashimi
CF Sashimi1920×933 219 KB

The false albacore is obvious here and looks a lot like tuna. Nice color and a bit of shine from the oil in the fish.

As Fred67 suggested, put some in ponzu sauce as well.

Did something I don’t normally do with fish and put some loins in weak brine overnight which pulled out even more blood. For the brined fish, seasoned and grilled or broiled.

CF FA Grilled
CF FA Grilled1920×933 235 KB

Conclusion. Much better than ok, the false albacore was really good for all of the preparations. Tasted like and had a texture like tuna - no fishiness or iron taste. The sashimi was excellent. The fish in ponzu sauce was good but the taste of the sauce was stronger than the taste of the fish.

The killing and bleeding is something we do for some fish anyway now, so not a big problem. The one downside is the waste but, as Barbawang pointed out in good post about cleaning sheepshead, yield can be pretty low with other fish too. FA’s are easy to fillet and give good size fillets to work with even from smaller fish.

Will put more false albacore in the box in future. Going catch some anyway.

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:point_up:

Fred knows stuff just like big turnips :rofl:

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Very nice. mmmmmmmmmm

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First thought on seeing that nasty blob of red meat is Just yuk, but it cleans up ok. You do loose a good bit in prep, but worth it.

Glad it worked out!! Next I’ll need to make you some mud fish patties. Better than salmon patties IMO. They are also very good fried if they come out of running water. One I want to try is Gar. Old boy “staleKracker” showed a preparation for them that looked really good.

I know not off shore… But really you need to google StaleKracker and watch some of his cooking videos. He is hilarious and makes so darn good looking stuff. His “two step” seasoning is jam up. A little like old bay, but better imo. “Put that on a cracker dude!”

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Heck if we’re going down that road, we need some gar balls at the next CF.com oyster roast! I read a recipe for them that started out with a hatchet or shears, then a spoon to scrape the meat off the inside of the skin… ain’t never been that hungry yet

seriously though, thanks for the report CY. I tried the same thing once, but I used a pretty big one and don’t think i did well bleeding it first. Ike jime is not something I’ve messed with yet either, but if a culture has been doing it for waaaay longer than white folks have been in North America, it’s probably worth trying. the sashimi plate is enough to make me wanna try them again!

We’ll try to keep the fishing stuff lively around here to give you something to read while you’re snowed in out there. If your motor has a few more hours on it when you get back, it wasn’t me and Fred.

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So, I’ve tried gar. Was talking to a Z-Man angler from LA at ICAST one year and he swore they were delicious, couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried it. So, a few years a go I kept one…

Definitely need shears to clip the shell in a pattern like the space shuttle bay doors, if you remember that. Cut down the middle then perpendicular at each end then open like the bay doors. To my surprise two beautiful white meat loins!

Cooked em up, and I gotta admit they tasted really good, BUT… the texture, was pretty hard to get over. Really(!) rubbery.

Once was enough for me :slight_smile:

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I’m inspired. Watched a few youtube videos on how to clean and cook. Will have to give it a try if I catch one and have a sharp set of tin snips.

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Alligator Gar catch, clean, and cook!!! - YouTube

Swamp People Season 2 - The Guist Brothers Gar Fish - YouTube

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I tell you a easy way to do them gars.Just lay a few whole ones over a medium size campfire until the skin starts to pop open.Then dig out some meat with your Barlow and put some Texas Pete on it.It’s better if you’re on the sandbar waiting to run the trot lines.Also it’s easier to shoot them than worry about catching them on a hook.They are running thick right now in the east branch between French quarter and Huger.

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thanks Dave!

that’s some old school S*** right there, S

dang dinosaur loin meat is da waterman’s treat

believe i’ve heard the term “poor man’s lobster” batted about when cooking those strips in salted water?

y’all know their roe is toxic?

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did not know that about the row. But After trying most all species I just don’t like it even wrapped in bacon. On that note, Dolphin roe was probably the better imo. Just don’t ever deep fry it! Young and dumb and grease all over the place.

On the poor man’s lobster. If you ever get a couple decent Rock fish, cut into 1 -2" squares, bring water to a boil and drop a few at a time in. Doesn’t take long and be careful not to break up when removing. Melted butter with lemon, parsley and a good dose of Old bay… dip em in and eat hot. Very good.