Surf gummy

[Cuda]

Thanks guys. As I had never cooked flake myself, I kept it and must say I was a bit disappointed with the taste. Bled it right away, taken the fins off, filleted and put into the esky with some ice bricks on top of the fillets. Skinned it at home.
The wife corn-floured and fried it a couple of hours later, and it was a bit bitter tasting. The flesh nice and white, but the taste wasn't the best.
She put the other fillet in the freezer, which I defrosted the next day for dinner. That came up a bit nicer, but with heaps of lemon, parsley, garlic and olive oil marinade.
I felt I had to kill much of its taste with the marinade to be able to enjoy it.

[Mong]

This is just my opinion, but I think that most edible fish taste better than flake. I think the perception of it as a good "eating fish" is kinda skewed by it being commonplace in the fish and chip shop, but really, anything will taste okay once it's been battered and deep fried. It's got good characteristics for that kind of cooking, reasonably firm and white, but it'll never come close to stuff like whiting or flatties for flavour.

If you're interested, I had some success with flake using a cajun inspired recipe. Flour the fillet, dip it quickly in egg, and then toss it through a mixture of:

Panko bread crumbs, smoky paprika, oregano, salt, pepper (cayenne if you like spicy) and a little garlic powder. Get your skillet or frying pan smoking hot and use more oil than usual (I like grapeseed). The goal here isn't to cook the **** out of the flake, but instead, to give it a really flavoursome crust that keeps the inner flesh tender and moist. That way, you can enjoy the taste of the fish, and the strong flavours of the crust will mask any bitterness or blandness you experience. Gotta be quick in the pan though, it's easy to burn.

It's a bit of an experiment getting the quantities of spice and time in the pan right, but when you do, you can use it for any firm fish fillet and usually people who don't like fish much will eat it too.

Congrats on the nice gummy regardless! :thumbsup:

[Redhunter]

You may have bled it and ripped the fins off it straight away, but more importantly, did you gut it straight away? I tend to gut and cut the head off them within minutes of hitting the deck if I intend keeping them for the table, and they are an awesome feed. Roll the cut up fillets in flour, then cook them on the bbq with the aid of a bit of oil, until they start to golden up. There is barely a fish in the sea that will beat em in my books.

[Freakazoid]

Redhunter, must agree with you there! Bout a month ago I ate one fresh off the boat and it just reminded me how damn tastey a bit of fresh flake is :D

Nice catch Cuda!

[biggar]

nice gummy mate!

[Cuda]

You may have bled it and ripped the fins off it straight away, but more importantly, did you gut it straight away? I tend to gut and cut the head off them within minutes of hitting the deck if I intend keeping them for the table, and they are an awesome feed. Roll the cut up fillets in flour, then cook them on the bbq with the aid of a bit of oil, until they start to golden up. There is barely a fish in the sea that will beat em in my books.

Thanks mate..
Yeah, as I said, bled, finned, filleted right away and put in the esky with ice bricks on top of the fillets.
Will try some of the recipes from here next time.
Cheers

[slinga]

You may have bled it and ripped the fins off it straight away, but more importantly, did you gut it straight away? I tend to gut and cut the head off them within minutes of hitting the deck if I intend keeping them for the table, and they are an awesome feed. Roll the cut up fillets in flour, then cook them on the bbq with the aid of a bit of oil, until they start to golden up. There is barely a fish in the sea that will beat em in my books.

+1

[abzz]

Nice gummy Cuda, I personally don't rate gummy that high..but myb that's just because I can't cook lol