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Palatability Rating of Fish Caught around Sydney Waters under 100m deep


tld517

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This is my rating for common fish caught around Sydney waters. Any comments;

1. Red Morwong

2. Long Fin Perch

3. Whiting

4. Pig Fish

5. Black Drummer

6. Snapper

7. Flathead

8. Tarwine

9. King Fish

10 Groper

11 Jew Fish

12 Trag

13 Bream

14 Chinaman Leatherjacket, fantail leatherjacket

15 Rock Cord

16 Maori Wrasse

17 Blue Morwong

18 Trevally, yellow tail ( both very good for sashimi)

19 Bonito

20 Mullet

21 Sweep

22 Tailor

23 Ludwick

Unpalatable

24 Mac Tuna, Stripe tuna, ( Bland, meaty)

25 Six spine leatherjacket , (bland, tough)

26 Sargeant Baker(Bony)

27 Aus Salmon, ( strange sour taste, meaty)

28 Wirrah, (tough, slimmy) Kelp fish ( Bland)

29 Hawksbury cat fish ( bland, poisonous spine)

Edited by MCheng
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I like the idea and its worth expanding on with input from all the Raider Chefs out there
but its a little hard to read.

Lets work on this further. I have found that some of the fish that I found poor eating were a lot better with some tips from fellow raiders.

Cheers

Jim

Edited by fragmeister
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Yeah, what's the point ? Serious question by the way. It's a pretty subjective thing, one persons poison can be another's perfume. Take a fish like trevally, pretty OK as sashimi, pretty OK if chilled cooked and eaten quickly, but terrible if not handled well. How many of those fish have you personally caught and eaten in the last 12 months?

Matt

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Yeah, what's the point ? Serious question by the way. It's a pretty subjective thing, one persons poison can be another's perfume. Take a fish like trevally, pretty OK as sashimi, pretty OK if chilled cooked and eaten quickly, but terrible if not handled well. How many of those fish have you personally caught and eaten in the last 12 months?

Matt

I guess the point is that as you say, the quality of the fish on the plate can depend on how it's handled. For all those anglers who avoid certain fish because they had a bad experience this could be a very valuable thread. You just gave a classic example with the trevally. Another is the salmon. Treat it we'll and it's pretty good on the plate. I can see potential for a list if all fish and the best ways to handle them and serve them up.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited by fragmeister
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I'd find value in a thread like this. Several times I've caught a fish, not really known whether it's edible or not, so I give it the benefit of the doubt and throw it back in. There would be....less survivors if I knew they were edible.

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Good idea, yes completely subjective and depends on preparation but would be good to know what others think. Love my flathead and whiting is divine. Bream is another that's up there (mainly because I catch a few and they end up on the plate more often so I'm better at.prepping them) also on the controversial aussie salmon: my mate caught a stonker up at his shack on berowra and we bled and removed the red flesh instantly then into a batter as fish cocktails. Turned out pretty good! Snapper is another I've really enjoyed. Also leather jacket when done properly although I find them a bit hit and miss.

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Hi MCheng years ago there was a book with the charming title SEWER SURFING AND TOXIC FISHING when outfalls were close in.They warned against eating red mowie as it had the highest takeup of pollutants . Tailor is oily and excellent cooked fresh.blue mowie makes for great fish pies.maori wrasse has the best texture for fishballs for soup.cheers wizza

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I fish for Mullet to use as bait.My oldman loves them grilled.

I catch blackfish in winter and bleed, fillet and skin them and still don't "love" them but my missus and my mum do.

I would swap four mowies for one nannygai yet i have mates that love the mowie.

I dont care how well a salmon has been handled it wont end up on my plate yet many others regularly dish them up.

A list based on taste will not work. Maybe we should just have a list of fish that are just plain terrible and should be thrown back.

Dave

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Hi all,

Never posted before but have been around fishing my entire life.

Oily fish such as salmon (kahawai) trevally, tailor and the good old mullet are fantastic fish hot smoked. Just gut and butterfly the salmon (leave the head on as the cheeks are the best) rub in a bit of brown sugar and soak in a bit of brine for a few hours before smoking and it will come out beautiful.

Hot smoke for approx 40 min.

The oilier the fish the better it smokes.

Trevally & also young salmon make fantastic Ceviche when fresh, cured in lemon/lime juice with coconut milk and spanish onions.

I don't think it matters what the fish is so long as you treat it right.

Cheers,

Newport

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I've caught a few of those red Rock cod in the past ( most of us probably have). I've been told that they are quite nice to eat, but I treat those things with the utmost respect and return them back to the sea.( for those unaware, they have nasty venomous spikes) How would you anglers prepare these. I suppose if all else fails, lime juice and cracked pepper could be worth a shot.

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If they are big enough you can fillet and fry coated in a little flour, fry in butter with a little olive oil to stop it burning. Beautiful white flesh. We used to call "poor mans lobster".

Also good baked whole with your own choice of seasoning.

Just use a towel or gloves to handle as the spines can certainly hurt!!

Cheers,

Newport

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Red rock cod are described as the poor man's Lobster. Having eaten a few I wholeheartedly agree, and I would describe them as 'lobster on the fin'. You only get two small fillets but they are delicious!

Agree 100%, Boiled Red Rock Cod is first class but not if it is overcooked. Put it in the fridge to cool down and firm up, then eat it cold with a little mayonnaise and it does come close to Lobster.

Blackfish are good eating, Salmon are great for Fish Cakes, Yellowtail make great Sashimi, Bream are just ordinary, Sweep were always known as "Mother in Law" fish (ones you give to your Mother in Law). Mullet are fantastic done in a Tahitian Lime recipe, Flathead and Whiting are tops, King George Whiting is No 1, Groper is firm and very tasty but a shame to catch them, Red Morwong are as good as Flathead, Kingies are good, Leatherjackets are great if fried whole, Garfish butterflied and fried are very good.

Now I am hungry.

Cheers

Paikea

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mate i wouldn't rule out aus salmon, leather jackets and stipey and mac tuna all of these fish if taken care of and prepared right taste great

I've never heard ANYONE say Mac Tuna are any good to eat. :puke:

Great bait though.

Cheers,

Grant.

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Its certainly clear that tastes vary and its not likely some people would ever agree on the table quality of all fish.

My observations are...

1) All fish respond well to being bled immediately and put on ice.

2) All fish respond well to being gutted and gilled and having the blood line under the rib cage removed as soon as possible.

3) All fish are better to eat the day they are caught. ( some smoking and pickling methods excluded)

4) Some fish are good enough to eat with little of no seasoning or as sashimi.

5) Some fish are better heavily seasoned or smoked or grilled because their flavour or oil content respond to this well

6) Some fish are best in fishcakes

7) Very few fish cannot be eaten and be very satisfying if all the above is applied.

Cheers

Jim

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So basically a ranked list is a waste of time and probably couterproductive, actual information is far better and gives people a better indication of how to get the best from the fish that they are likely to regulary catch. Jim's post is probably a good summary of why a list isn't that helpful. BTW in 30 years of rock fishing I have never caught a red mowie, seen hundreds of them, are people all of a sudden catching a lot of them on rod and reel.

Matt

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So basically a ranked list is a waste of time and probably couterproductive, actual information is far better and gives people a better indication of how to get the best from the fish that they are likely to regulary catch. Jim's post is probably a good summary of why a list isn't that helpful. BTW in 30 years of rock fishing I have never caught a red mowie, seen hundreds of them, are people all of a sudden catching a lot of them on rod and reel.

Matt

My apologies in advance for the length of the post I am about to make!

I think a list of "My preferred fish on a scale of 1 to whatever" is too subjective but a guide to preparing various fish to get the best out of them is a different thing and very worthwhile particularly for fisho's who are not so good in the kitchen.

When someone comes to me and says Tailor is a great fish to eat when you add these 11 herbs and spices and top it with Venezuelan beaver cheese, I just think about a piece of seared Kingfish or Tuna with a little salt & pepper and I think that's the difference between an excellent table fish and and average one. In my view its all about how little you need to add to serve it up.

You can always find some people who don't like a certain kind of fish. If I was putting together a list of eating quality I would ask as many people as possible just three questions about the fish they eat. (If I want to know how to do something I always the people who get a good result rather than a bad result).

How you looked after the fish from catch to kitchen? - Very critical advice as we have discussed in this thread.

How you prepared and cook it? - Fried, baked, grilled herbs spices etc

How often you ate it ?- Was it good enough to do it again... that's the test!

Pull it all together as an ultimate list of who people who do eat each variety of fish and know how to prepare it well enough to want to eat it again.

There will be some common methods and those are the ones to try before writing off a fish based on one or two experiences.

Here is a possible answer for Blackfish. I am not saying it is perfect but it will give an excellent result.

Ignore some of these fish handling processes and you will see why some people think this wonderful fish is rubbish.

Keep the blackfish in a keeper net in cool water not in a luke warm shallow pool on the rocks in the sun.

When you have finished fishing take the fish out and bleed, gill and gut them.

Remove the black gut lining and the blood vein along the backbone.

Wash them out with salt water ... never use fresh water.

Put them on ice and take them home

Have them for dinner that night.

Fillet and skin them

Put the fillets on a paper towel and pat them dry.

Take them off the paper

Leave them for half an hour to come up to room temperature

Heat up a fry pan with a little extra virgin olive oil... enough to shallow fry if you like but I use very little oil.

The oil needs to very hot but not smoking

Make up a mixture of flour, salt, pepper and lemon zest.

Dip each fillet in milk, dust in the flour mixture

Place them in the hot oil and fry on each side for about 2 minutes only.

Take them out, drain on paper towel.

Eat them hot perhaps with more lemon juice if you like that.

Cheers,

Jim

Edited by fragmeister
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Thanks for all the comments.

I must stress that the list is a subjective personal ranking by simple comparision of apple to apple with fresh fish just cooked simply with salt as the only condiment.

The ranking is generally reflected by the value of the fish at fish shops.

Needless to say, one could have prepared the lower ranking fish with fancy methods like smoking, adding chicken powder or beef cubes, deep fried with spices etc.

Most important is never to overcook fish.

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Ranking by the value of fish at the shops doesn't tell the whole story either. Some fish keep better than others and don't travel to market well, but when caught by anglers and treated well its a completely different story. For others there isn't a commercial fishery, like your highly rated red morwong for example.

Matt

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