Carp: Good Or Bad Eatin?

[bsteele02]

I was always told Carp are nasty to eat.

But I have read some other reports that say they are decent if fried. I have caught some pretty decent sized ones before in Creve Coeur lake. Wouldn't mind catching some for dinner at some point as long as I hear they are decent to eat.

[laker67]

I was always told Carp are nasty to eat.

But I have read some other reports that say they are decent if fried. I have caught some pretty decent sized ones before in Creve Coeur lake. Wouldn't mind catching some for dinner at some point as long as I hear they are decent to eat.

You would have to make the comparison test. Compared to other fish, not so good. Compared to starving to death, maybe. Welcome to the web site.

[snagged in outlet 3]

This is a subject for Oneshot.

Pete

[Flysmallie]

This is a subject for Oneshot.

Pete

Now that made me laugh. Thanks, wrong, but true.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Like some other fish they have a strip of red meat that should be removed. They should be skinned rather than scaling because it's easier. Beyond that you can fry them like any other fish that has a lot of bones, cut slits to the backbone every 1/8", make sure you get flour in the cuts and fry them up crisp.

As far as taste goes, there's a successful restaurant in Omaha that specializes in carp. My great aunt used to bake them if they were about 12# or bigger and as I recall the bones, while plentiful, were too big to be dangerous.

[Kayser]

Cut the scales off the skin using a knife (known as fleecing), and fillet the fish. Then score the fillet (slits from top to bottom) starting at either the head or the tail, depends on your preference. Make sure to get these cuts all the way to the skin (almost cut through) in order to break apart all the bones. Slits should be about 1/8" apart. Bread the fillets, making sure to get breading into every slit in the fillet so the oil can get to all the meat. Fry it hot, get it fairly crispy to make sure the bones fry out. Not as good as buffalo or other suckers, but still tasty.

Rob

[exiledguide]

Cut the scales off the skin using a knife (known as fleecing), and fillet the fish. Then score the fillet (slits from top to bottom) starting at either the head or the tail, depends on your preference. Make sure to get these cuts all the way to the skin (almost cut through) in order to break apart all the bones. Slits should be about 1/8" apart. Bread the fillets, making sure to get breading into every slit in the fillet so the oil can get to all the meat. Fry it hot, get it fairly crispy to make sure the bones fry out. Not as good as buffalo or other suckers, but still tasty.

Rob

That's pretty much the recipe I've got used it once fish tasted really good. I think the most important thing you can do is keep the fish cool until you kill it. The Fin Inn in Grafton ,IL used to have folks lined up around the parking lot to eat carp and buffalo when I lived in St Louis, of course that was a while back.

[Kayser]

"River fish" is buffalo, but sometimes they sneak a carp to people who can't tell the difference. And buffalo is one of my favorite fish to eat.

Rob

[bsteele02]

"River fish" is buffalo, but sometimes they sneak a carp to people who can't tell the difference. And buffalo is one of my favorite fish to eat.

Rob

I have had buffalo before and it was darn good. Thanks for the filleting advice.

[frozennortherner]

I saw an interesting method on tv once. Briefly boil and peel off the partially cooked meat from the bones. Then form them the meat into burger like patties, bread and fry (I forget if it was in a pan or deep fat). Have never tried this because no stores around here want fish with lots of bones taking up space.

This could be a way of lessening the blow of the silver/Asian carp that seem to be everywhere in huge numbers. Easy to catch but easy to spook as far as I have been told.

I have heard of expensive restraunts advertizing carp on tv. In some areas they are a delicacy and in many parts of Asia they actually have overfishing problems with them because so many people eat them. Perhaps we may be thinking of different carp than the rest of the posters though.

Carp and catfish are popular as eating fish in new england because they have less toxins in their flesh. They owe this to eating plankton and little shards of plant matter hanging in the water instead of other animals, heeping them from being badly effected by biomagnification in the unsanitary rivers near industrial towns.