Big Bend Florida Sportsman Guide

Fish Cooking n Handling Tips

  Make sure your fish tastes fresh!

Author: Capt Ken Roy

 Like most of us, I usually come home and filet my fish, bag 'em up, and freeze, them. We will normally have a fish dinner within the next few days. Now for those of you that have not come in and cooked your fish "fresh" that same night.....you need to! I tried the technique that Capt Ken describes about "bleeding" the fish....and man does it make a difference! I always thought the fish we cooked at home was good, but also really never liked it as well as if I had gone to a good seafood restaraunt and ate it. Until now! On one particular trip, I caught only one keeper grouper and a bunch of grunts. I gutted the grouper immediatley and cut his gills, then put him on the ice. I filleted some of the grunts right then (no size limit) and put them on ice. I came home and put them in the fryer....wow...what a difference! The fish was so much better than our normal fish! The taste was just like what you'd expect at a fine seafood restaraunt! Try this if you have not, you guys that have tried it know what I'm talking about.

 If you like garlic, a baste for fish grilling

Author bottomfisher

If you like a nice garlic flavor to your grilled fish, take a bottle of olive oil, peel some fresh garlic, put garlic inside oil, let sit a week or so, lightly coat your fish as they are grilling. Not to bad.

 Addition by Capt Ken

 That is absoluely primo! One of my friends started doing it that way a year or so ago and it is FINE! Spanish Mackerel and Cobia really turn out good this way. Works good on steak and on grilled onion too.

 Keeping the juices in

Author The Warden

 No matter what the fish, put a light glaze of mayo on both sides of the meat. This will keep your fish from ever drying out during the cooking   process. Enjoy!

 Addition by BigWayne

 I do the same thing with melted butter sometimes when I just want to slap some grouper on the grill without getting out the cast iron pan.

Even simpler is to just use a Pam type of oil spray, preferably olive oil based. I pretty much will use the oil spray on any type of non-fatty meat on the grill, including skinless chicken, sirloin steak, pork tenderloin, etc.

Grill Buddies from Reynolds Wrap

Author Capt Ken

Handy and cheap little critters to use on the grill. Heavy aluminum foil sheets with slots. Food don't stick bad either. Works well for things that are prone to sticking.  Easier to turn stuff on than regular foil because it is about .006" thick and embossed.

 Very pretty finish makes nice bodies for epoxy flies.

Simple Coating for Frying Fish

Author GW 

I tried this mixture last week and it is super easy and quite tasty. Take saltine crackers and crumble them up as fine as possible. Add a lot of garlic salt and black pepper to the crumbs. Coat the fish and fry. We tried it on amberjack and everyone (16 people) liked it.

 A "whopper chopper" or nut chopper works great for making super fine cracker or bread crumbs.

S/W Sportsman tips for great tasting fish........

Author acc

The Feb issue of 'Saltwater Sportsman' has an article describing the best methods for preserving your catch here are some of the points.

 Retrieve the fish quickly....................lactic acid builds up

Bleed the fish...............................a la Capt. Ken

Ice the fish immediately.....................duh

Clean ASAP...................................duh, again

Have tools ready.............................don't leave it lying out

Keep fish cold...............................duh number 3

Wash & dry the dressed fish

For freezing, pack in a wrap then a thick freezer bag

Thaw in the frige............................slow thaw is more better

The best way I ve found to freeze fish

Author jerry

I know You guys that go fishing all the time don't need to freeze fish but maybe you can use this on something else. I go to the keys once a year. We always bring back some dolphin for the freezer. We have been doing this for years. The problem is freezer burn, I have tried all the freezing methods. Freezing it in water, the vac-pack Etc. We finally found a way that is great. We wrap it in plastic food wrap, Saran Etc. we wrap it in small portions as we wrap we squeeze the air out of the Plastic wrap. Then we put several small portions in the same zip-lock bag. They can be taken out one at at time, So you only use what you need.  I cooked some dolphin today for dinner, that we caught last June it was great.

 Cold water rinse the filet only, never tap water temp. Then wrap in saran wrap and then store in freezer type bag in the freezer. Never had any dolphin freezer burned that way, not saying it could not happen, but has not for me. I always try to bring enough back for several months with eating one meal of dolphin every couple weeks. Since I can't live there it's the next best thing! Love the Keys !!!

Cook 'em whole

Author pinksnappa

 Here's how I like to cook a small fish. My favorite's for this one are black seabass and mangrove snapper in the 12-14" range. The fish needs to be scaled and gutted, but leave the head on as there is some tasty meat around the neck and jaw. Then make diagonal cuts (scores) along both sides of the fish. Crush or pulverize a garlic  clove. Push some of the garlic into the cuts on both sides, sprinkle some adobo seasoning on fish, and roll in flour. refridgerate for an hour to allow flavor to penetrate the fish, heat skillet on medium and put a decent amount of butter or oil in the pan. Just pop those guys in the pan, usually one at a time, and cook 5 minutes on each side.

The basting sauce: 

While fish is cooking whip this up. Melt some butter, squeeze a whole lime into melted butter, mince fresh cilantro and add to sauce. This gets basted on your finished product.

 COBIA Handling for eating

 Cobia require a little special handling if you want good eating fish.  Always bleed them.Cool them quickly by covering them with ice because there is a lot of mass to cool. 

Gutting may be a good idea too but mighty messy.  Trim red meat off before cooking.   For frying, cut fillets into fingers.  For broiling, baking or grilling, marinate in Italian Salad Dressing with a little Soy Sauce.