Inverloch day out, QB weekend

[mingle]

Couta are good eating, but you're right - lots of bones.

On the plus side, the bones are BIG and easy to remove.

Boning a raw fillet in next to impossible, so I find the best way to deal with them is to gut and fin them (skin '[em if you don't like the dark-coloured skin in your fish), cut them (whole) into short lengths (say 12cm), then place them in a steamer and steam them for about 15 minutes.

The meat will tend to shrink and the ends of the bones will poke out. It's then a relatively simple matter to go through the chunks and remove all of the bones.

You'll then have a pile of boneless couta flakes. You can then make fishcakes, or mix the flakes with a bit of mayonnaise and have them with salad, or whatever. Certainly too good to use just as bait.

Cheers,

Mike.

As a follow up.
I have read pretty mixed reviews on whether couta are any good to eat so I fried one up. While the flavour is OK they are boney bastards, even in a fillet. So they are either bait or back they go from now on.

[barra mick]

As a follow up.
I have read pretty mixed reviews on whether couta are any good to eat so I fried one up. While the flavour is OK they are boney bastards, even in a fillet. So they are either bait or back they go from now on.

great read there

a few years ago on trip in the nt I had couta cause wehad nothing else...it was fine

when I didn't need it to survive it was terrible

bm

[Blueyed1]

Couta are good eating, but you're right - lots of bones.

On the plus side, the bones are BIG and easy to remove.

Boning a raw fillet in next to impossible, so I find the best way to deal with them is to gut and fin them (skin '[em if you don't like the dark-coloured skin in your fish), cut them (whole) into short lengths (say 12cm), then place them in a steamer and steam them for about 15 minutes.

The meat will tend to shrink and the ends of the bones will poke out. It's then a relatively simple matter to go through the chunks and remove all of the bones.

You'll then have a pile of boneless couta flakes. You can then make fishcakes, or mix the flakes with a bit of mayonnaise and have them with salad, or whatever. Certainly too good to use just as bait.

Cheers,

Mike.

As a follow up.
I have read pretty mixed reviews on whether couta are any good to eat so I fried one up. While the flavour is OK they are boney bastards, even in a fillet. So they are either bait or back they go from now on.

Great advice there! I'll try steaming them, boning them and then a fry in olive oil with all purpose seasoning....Should be yum!

Joe

[Sinsemilla]

As a follow up.
I have read pretty mixed reviews on whether couta are any good to eat so I fried one up. While the flavour is OK they are boney bastards, even in a fillet. So they are either bait or back they go from now on.

great read there

a few years ago on trip in the nt I had couta cause wehad nothing else...it was fine

when I didn't need it to survive it was terrible

bm

Haha "When I didn't need it to survive it was terrible"

Its just like cheese and tomato sandwiches.. They taste the best after being on the water for hours!