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[cool][#0000ff]On a recent wiper-whacking trip, Flycasting wondered why I kept all the rib cages from the wipers...both his and mine. I told him I made "po' man's shrimp" outta them. He asked if I would post the recipe.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe and I caught five wipers between us on Monday and I did a pictorial on my recipe for turning otherwise discarded rib cages into delectable fish flesh. I have been doing this for quite a few years, starting back when I got a lot of stripers and large salt water rockfish in California. Hated to see so much visible good fish go to waste.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here in Utah any good sized fish with white flaky flesh works well for this...walleyes, wipers, stripers, etc. You can use the same recipe for small fillets off bluegill and perch, or you can even cook whole small skinned fish and strip the flesh off after cooking. The bones are easy to remove after about 4 or 5 minutes of "poaching" in the shrimp flavored liquid.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In addition to the narrated pictorial, I am attaching my Word doc recipe on "PSEUDO SHRIMP".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]1. Start by making a VERTICAL cut when removing the rib cage of a wiper. That insures that you cut out the short row of flesh bones that run at 90 degrees to the spine. More on removing the bones in step 4.[/#0000ff] [Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=17964;]
[#0000ff]2. Remove the rib cage and set aside for processing after you finish with the filleting.[/#0000ff] [Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=17965;]
[#0000ff]3. If the wipers are healthy, they will have a strip of body fat along the inside of the ribs. Slice it out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]4. Using a thin, sharp knife, slice out the short row of flesh bones. You can feel the tips in the red lateral line flesh. Cut inside them and remove the strip of flesh with them inside. That leaves only the large rib bones to strip later.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]5. Here is the trimmed and deboned rib cage.[/#0000ff] [Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=17968;]
[#0000ff]5-B. Here are the 10 prepared rib cages from 5 average wipers...a little less than 1 pound of material.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]6. This is a collection of seasonings to use in the poaching liquid...salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion flakes and shrimp flavoring.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]6-B. The shrimp flavoring comes in a powder (in a bottle) or in bouillon cubes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]7. Add the seasonings to a quart or so of water...enough to cover the fish. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]8. Turn up the heat to get the liquid boiling and add the fish. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]9. Boil about 4-5 minutes, or until the fish turns white and will separate from the bones easily.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]10. Use a slotted spoon or strainer to remove the fish from the liquid and let it drain and cool for a few minutes before handling.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]11. Using a fork and your fingers, you can easily strip the cooked fish from the large rib bones. There is very little waste. More than 80% of the rib cage is useable flesh.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]12. Here is the cleaned results from 10 wiper rib cages...about an ounce of tasty fishflesh per rib cage. Well worth the effort.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]13. To make "po' man's shrimp", melt some butter (more or less to taste) and add some minced garlic and a teaspoon or so of the powdered shrimp flavoring. Pour it over the fish flakes, reheat it in the microwave oven and stir it to coat all the pieces with the shrimp butter. Yum.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]NOTE: You can also use whole cooked fillets and use them in salads, rice, noodles or fish sandwiches. [/#0000ff]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I have no doubt that they must taste good but are you really that hungry? LOL![/size][/black][/font]
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[cool][#0000ff]Don'tcha know that it takes a lot of fuel to keep a big machine runnin'?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]So...if ya don't like the shrimp idea, could I interest you in some tacos? With cervezaritas?[/#0000ff]
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Tube Dude: Nice graphics TD! A picture is worth lots of words and you always do a class job - Thanks.
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[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]You should throw some of the cheek meat into the mix also. I think the cheek meat of bigger fish like walleyes and wipers are tasty. Lots of people forget about those too.[cool][/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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Sure gets the ol juices flowin' Pat. Another excellent tutorial, thanks.
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It got my juices flowin' so much i had to go buy some oil to cook the wipers and kitties i caught last night. More on this story at 10:00![cool]
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