Caught this pointer in the latest In-Fisherman. Not the first time they've brought up carp consumption. Another article talked about canning them in a tomatoe sauce.
I find these videos interesting, as they are also rather educational. I tossed these links out on TDs Bubble up post, but though them worth pulling out into their own post. Maybe it belongs on 'off topic'.
How about a Carp Taste Test? Some say they are better than Talapia or Catfish (Asian carp anyway). Check out "[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1NVUV8yhmU"]Flying Fish, Great Dish[/url]" ([url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB-fmA07gZ8"]part2[/url], [url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhGkjwxm_0o"]part3[/url]) - no seriously!
To me, they taste metallic and muddy. I stunk up the house cooking them. I have a copy of the book, Fishing for Buffalo, by Rob Buffler, a "trash fish" enthusiast. He has quite a few recipes for carp. I think it would be fun to have a carp taste test, but I'm not so adventurous as to eat one out of Utah Lake. Deer Creek, sure. And smoked.
Across the lake by the railroad tracks on DC, closer to the dam, thousands of them spawn near the end of April and early May. You can see them splashing around on the surface. That would be about the time to get them.
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Across the lake by the railroad tracks on DC, closer to the dam, thousands of them spawn near the end of April and early May. You can see them splashing around on the surface. That would be about the time to get them.[/quote]
Pregnant carp are tastier?
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Not a big fan of eating carp, I always had the mindset thats its a trash fish / bait fish and not a eating fish but Guy Fieri from Tripe D ( Diners Drive-ins and Dives ) reviewed a place in Omaha call Joe Tess place . People were raving about how great the fried carp was.....One guy said it was the best fish he ever tasted..... [unimpressed]
[url "http://joetessplace.com/go/home/"]http://joetessplace.com/go/home/[/url]
"The King Carp" $13.25
24oz whole carp hand breaded
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As they're fond of asking in Utah - "You want Fry Sauce with that"
They do point out in the first vid that the Asian Carp, Silver Carp have a more delicate "flavor" than your common carp (one can only hope so).
So if you add enough hot peppers, or chipotle - maybe you get it SO spicy that you burn your taste buds so much you don't realize WHAT you just ate!
Was funny - hit across a young gal filleting a carp for bait (with a butter knife?) and one of the comments was to the effect that "You do that in the UK and they'd kill ya!"
Or course they're a bunch of [url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga-igc83jkI&feature=related"]Chum-Masters [/url]too, boilies and corn. All for sport. Found a whole series of vids from Bob Nudd and others - Roach, Bream, Carp, Pike - it's a different approach alrighty!
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The silver carp are filter feeders, so I imagine they would have pretty tasty meat as they don't root around in the bottom. I would definitely give them a try if I had the chance.
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I had a friend that read about carp in "The Joy of Cooking" and really wanted to give them a try. I'm always up for a new adventure, so I went along with it. The first step was to catch the carp out of Bear Lake, which seemed like it would be a better option than the ones out of Cutler. Not sure if that made a difference or not, but I though they tasted just fine. My only complaint was how bony they were. Other than that, tasted just as good as catfish.
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World wide there is 1,500 species of carp. Let the reviews start!
I have only caught one and it was from Utah Lake. It smelled horriblev when I opened it up but go figure it was a Utah Lake carp and all. I would give a Pineview carp a chance though.
So when is the next BFT Carp party?
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My family is from the Czech. Republic ( Czechoslovakia ) and the traditional Christmas dinner is carp. People would sell them in huge 50-100 gallon barrels around Christmas for families. I remember catching them in rivers around the valley when I was younger for the Czech friends we had. I thought it tasted awesome. We got a bunch in flaming gorge. When we cut them up they were full of crawdads. Not slimy, firm and delicious.
Maybe carp from Utah Lake might not be the best option. But I'm sure one from the rivers or other reservoirs like FG or PV would be just fine. When the ice goes away I plan on getting one for my woman to try out.
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I ate lots of carp in Taiwan, and it's fine. I would pick a medium sized one out of a cleaner lake, like PV, and filet it, clean the red streak out well, and try an Asian prep, like hot and sour sauce..
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 tbls. rice or sushi vinegar.
Dried peppers (Japanese or Thai) to taste
White pepper.
Combine and simmer until syrup-y.
Batter is 1/4c :1/4c :1/4c :1, flour/cornstarch/water/egg with a pinch of salt, and a pinch of baking powder.
Batter and deep fry 1"x1"x2" strips, and drizzle with sauce. SMOKIN'!
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I just wanted to point something out as I think it is kind of funny. I keep reading and seeing the word "Smell" used for the reason people don't eat carp.....yet we will eat any other fish in the same water doing about the same thing. I would say CAT Fish look and smell just as bad as a carp. I'm betting it's more on how we are raised and what we hear then what we truly know. I myself have never tried carp but would give it a shot!!!! And in my younger days I would even tell people you don't eat carp because they taste bad and are TRASH FISH. Then I grew up a little traveled a bit and realized I had no idea if it was good or bad! UGLY? YES :-)
Does anyone agree with that? I grew up hearing "Trash fish" "Trash fish"
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i have ate smoked carp...hate to admit it....not bad
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[cool][#0000ff]Most Utah anglers over the age of 40 or 50 can remember when perch were considered "trash fish". The shores of Deer Creek were littered with dead perch tossed up on the bank to rot because they were "bony and terrible tasting". Kids brought up in angling families that believed that seldom had the guts to try eating perch...and some still do not even want to try them to this day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Yep...how we are brung up can have a lot of influence on our tastes and outlooks.[/#0000ff]
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Kind of what I figured TD. :-) CARP FRY...TD I know you got recipes.
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[quote 12inchlunker]Kind of what I figured TD. :-) CARP FRY...TD I know you got recipes.[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Over the course of my several decades of fishing, and eating fish, I have been "exposed" to the consumption of just about every species of fish you can imagine. Nay...I profess not to be the next "Bizarre Foods" program host. But I have eaten and enjoyed lotsa different finny goodies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Going back far enough, I caught and ate chubs as a kid in Idaho. Suckers too. Just about got disowned by my troutaholic family but I figured if I caught it I was gonna try it...and my mom was patient enough to cook it after I cleaned it. Also ate my first perch up there before age ten. So I had no foolish notions about them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As I have travelled around the country...for business and pleasure...I have had the good fortune to have known fellow anglers from many cultures and nationalities. As we have discussed on this board before, folks from other countries think we are nuts for turning up our noses at carp. Carp are a prized food fish...and game fish...in most other parts of the world. But we have become "programmed" to think of them as bottom dwelling, scum-sucking scavengers...like lawyers...errr catfish. And catfish are a good comparison. Still lots of folks who shudder at the thought of them, while countless others count them as their favorite fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I can personally testify that species of fish is often not as important as habitat and diet. I have eaten trout, bass and other highly touted fish that has been so muddy-tasting or mushy that it was inedible. Ditto for high priced salmon. Water chemistry, algae concentrations, food sources, spawn cycles and other factors all contribute to making otherwise good fish into something you wouldn't want to bury in your garden.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Some species naturally have objectionable tastes. Others are prone to developing poor quality flesh during certain times of the year...or under adverse water conditions. The same can be said of carp. If you harvest a medium sized carp from relatively clean water...in which they have a varied diet of plant, insect and fish life...they will likely have a mild flavor that is not unlike that of many other fresh water fish. And their firm flaky flesh holds up better in many recipes than more delicate fleshed fish such as trout.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are two things that turn most people off when they first take a shot at preparing carp. First, they do have a "characteristic" odor...but that comes from the protective slime layer. Once you fillet and skin the fish the flesh smells no different than most other fish. You wanna talk about stinky fish...try handling a northern pike and then sniff your hands. Peee yewww. And lots of other fish stink worse before skinning than after.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The second thing about carp that is a bummer are the bones. As members of the minnow family they have rows of fine bones in their flesh. But, guess what? So do trout, whitefish, pike and others. All you gotta do is learn to feel for the rows of bones and to slice them out...or cross score them so they are cooked enough to eat without problem.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have smoked carp and had it proclaimed "the best salmon" I ever did. I have also made "carp nuggets" from pieces of boneless strips. When breaded or battered and fried they turn out as good as many other fish...if not better.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Many European and Asian recipes call for steaming or slow baking carp. This either renders the bones soft enough to eat...or at least makes it easier to pick them out of the cooked flesh. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I would not eat a carp from Utah Lake, even though I do eat catfish from there. Silly me. But I do not think I would hesitate to eat them from Deer Creek, Starvation, Pineview or other lakes with relatively clean living conditions. If I did not always have ready access to prime fillets from my other favorite species I would probably be more inclined to put carp on the table...instead of cutting it up into strips for bait as in the picture below.[/#0000ff]
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[quote TubeDude][cool][#0000ff]Most Utah anglers over the age of 40 or 50 can remember when perch were considered "trash fish".
...and some still do not even want to try them to this day.[/#0000ff]
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I'm not that old. I still call them trash fish. Perch are good for nothing, 'cept bait -- and even then, they are still low on rankings....
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Speaking of Andrew, what the heck happened to my post?[cool]
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take a guess[
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I knew I shouldn't have used the S word. Sorry guys.
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Thanks for all the great "feedback".
I had a feeling that a topic such as this would elicit a mixed bag of responses, and thus it has. You all provide grate contributions.
One thing I appreciated about these vids was the fillet techniques employed, plus the animations showing the bone structures. Yeah they are going to be different from one fish to another, but these have some interesting structure. (though I still have a hard time thinking of a 30lb carp being a "minnow"!)
He goes through one method TD alludes to - of leave single bones in (carp wings) and cook them, then just break the bones out as you eat. Important note - don't cut THROUGH the bones as you fillet, so you some make them smaller.
The other involves a series of trims working around the Y-bones (reminds me of Pike fillet techniques) resulting in fully boneless fillets.
Smelly Fish: Always reminds me of the scene from Star Wars on the planet Hoth, where Luke is saved from freezing by the "scoundrel" - by cutting open that two legged riding creature - and his comment "and I thought they smelled bad on the outside"!
Trash Fish: If anyone has any trash perch they want to donate, I'll set up a drop box! Woot! I grew up with perch in the midwest, and have a long history or working through those little bony pups.
Cheers ya'll. And just remember - you are what you eat. Guess that goes for the fishes too.[
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