Frozen Spanish Filets...

Howdy everybody. Since we are all shut down without much to write about, I decided to share my experience this weekend with some frozen spanish mackerel.

I had taken the filets, took off the skin and removed the bones and red meat. I dropped them in a quart ziplock bag like I do my fileted crappie and filled it up with tap water, carefully squeezing out the air and in the freezer they went. Again, just like I do with crappie. This was an experiment to see how it turned out.

We thawed out a couple of bags, seasoned with Tony's, rolled in corn meal and baptized them in hot oil until they floated to the top. I use "baptize" in the true sense of "immerse," 'cause that's how us baptists do things. :o

Hushpuppies, country fried potatoes, fried buisquits, and green tomato pickles topped off the presentation.

I couldn't tell the spanish from fresh, except that the filets were a little softer until the oil firmed them back up.

Great eating of fish caught last fall. Just thought I would pass that along, FWIW.

Two simple requests: first, lets get this covid mess over with, and second, lets get the pier back open with some fish around to catch, preferably king mackerel.

Rich

I've had no problems with frozen Spanish filets. We vacuum seal all of our filets. Bluefish is one of the only fish that didn't thaw well for me, but it easily could have been user error.

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Originally Posted by Mattb

I've had no problems with frozen Spanish filets. We vacuum seal all of our filets. Bluefish is one of the only fish that didn't thaw well for me, but it easily could have been user error.

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I doubt it's user error on the bluefish. It's one of the few fish that just doesn't freeze well. That's something my grandfather refused to admit... I like fresh bluefish, and some may make faces at me when I say this, but I like them better than spanish. If there's a good way to freeze blues, I haven't heard of it. According to articles I've read it has to do with the oils and fats in the flesh that continue to break down when frozen.

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Originally Posted by Mattb

I've had no problems with frozen Spanish filets. We vacuum seal all of our filets. Bluefish is one of the only fish that didn't thaw well for me, but it easily could have been user error.

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I tried the freezing in water specifically to compare with what I vacuum seal, since I do that too. I couldn't tell any difference between how well they tasted or kept, only that when frozen in water they take longer to thaw out and the fish perhaps absorbed some of the water...thus the "soft" feel. Lots of us on this forum travel far to fish the pier. Either method, vacuum sealed or frozen in water, is far better than just stuck in a ziplock bag and frozen. Those fish don't fare well for long in the freezer, imo.

Spanish fillets and Walleye fillets from a Lake Erie trip on my menu for dinner today. Wanted to compare the two at the same time.

Yeah, Spanish frozen the same way as you Rich has been good for a year for me as well. Bluefish don't hold up well and neither do large blue runners. Large fresh blue runners are really good if you have never tried them, but don't freeze them.

Do you guys typically remove the skin first? I had a heck of a time with skinning the filets in the past, the skin was just so thin. Tried sharp knife, tried dull knife. Ended up just leaving skin on many of the filets for blackening/grilling later.

Tips appreciated.

I 'score' the skin on mackerel and pull it off (like skinning catfish).

I learned to skin Spanish fillets from Pier#r. What you do is cut the fillet off both sides, put the skin side down, trim out the ribs, use a sharp, flexible fillet knife like a Rapala and cut the skin from the meat from the lateral line out to the side---it takes a couple of cuts per fillet. The way the muscle attaches to the meat causes you to cut the skin when you try to skin them from the tail up or the head down. From the center out, no problem. Also, this has the advantage of leaving the red, strong-tasting lateral line meat attached to the skin. Practice, practice, practice. Catch lots of Spanish so you won't lose your touch.

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Originally Posted by Pier#r

I 'score' the skin on mackerel and pull it off (like skinning catfish).

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Oddly enough, I have no trouble filleting a catfish.