08-07-2003, 05:33 PM
[cool]If you have never tried to fillet a carp, you are in for a surprise. As members of the "minnow" family, they have a different bony structure than the bass, walleye, wipers and sunfish we might be more used to. Their flesh is full of small bones that must either be located and cut out in strips...or rendered edible through overcooking or dissolving. Overcooking is done in a pressure cooker or by "slowbaking" bor a long time in the oven...to steam the bones soft,..like canned sardines. Pickling is a way of chemically softening the bones.
If you want to smoke them, you can either brine and smoke the fish whole, and pick out the bones as you eat it...or, you can cut the fillets into strips, lengthwise, as you feel out the rows of bones and make cuts on each side of them to strip them out.
Trout have one row of small hairlike "flesh bones" along the center of their sides. Northern pike have a couple of rows of "Y" bones, that pike specialists learn to remove satisfactorily. Most European and Asian carp recipes rely on cooking the fish so thoroughly...or grinding it up...so that the fine bones are rendered harmless.
Smoked carp is very good. I used to keep some for those Monday night football games when "friends" would descend on my house to watch the game and eat up all my smoked salmon and steelhead. When served smoked carp, more than one "dimbulb" commented that it was the best smoked salmon I had done.
Carp meat is coarse, with large flakes. It takes a brine well...especially after being frozen and thawed. If you slice out the major part of the dark flesh along the sides, it is surprisingly mild, and absorbs the smoke flavoring very well. Try smoking it to a point of almost done, and then finishing it in a slow oven (150 degrees) until it is approaching "jerky". Thin slice it and serve it with cheese and crackers and you will amaze yourself.
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If you want to smoke them, you can either brine and smoke the fish whole, and pick out the bones as you eat it...or, you can cut the fillets into strips, lengthwise, as you feel out the rows of bones and make cuts on each side of them to strip them out.
Trout have one row of small hairlike "flesh bones" along the center of their sides. Northern pike have a couple of rows of "Y" bones, that pike specialists learn to remove satisfactorily. Most European and Asian carp recipes rely on cooking the fish so thoroughly...or grinding it up...so that the fine bones are rendered harmless.
Smoked carp is very good. I used to keep some for those Monday night football games when "friends" would descend on my house to watch the game and eat up all my smoked salmon and steelhead. When served smoked carp, more than one "dimbulb" commented that it was the best smoked salmon I had done.
Carp meat is coarse, with large flakes. It takes a brine well...especially after being frozen and thawed. If you slice out the major part of the dark flesh along the sides, it is surprisingly mild, and absorbs the smoke flavoring very well. Try smoking it to a point of almost done, and then finishing it in a slow oven (150 degrees) until it is approaching "jerky". Thin slice it and serve it with cheese and crackers and you will amaze yourself.
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