Thread: Eating Bluefish

Anyone have any experience eating them? The joke I always heard was "prepare a marinade using italian dressing or your favorite recipe, add spices and herbs to taste, then throw the bluefish in the trash and drink the marinade". We always catch a few but have always released them. I've heard they are too oily to fry, too bloody, etc. I fileted one once just to get a look at the flesh but ended up using it as cut bait.

This is from the MAN himself:

Bluefish Mid Atlantic Style

I had tried some myself, marinated in Sprite, removed dark meat, and pan fried. It was good, but I want to try #r's recipe.

At this point, I've been gone from the sea for so long I would be glad to catch and eat an LY.

Bluefish is OK if fresh, as in same day. Have only tried it fried and its not bad. I have never tried freezing Blues; not good enough to take up freezer space IMHO.

They're every bit as good as flounder, if ya aint got no flounder!

Seriously, when blues were all that was available, I've cleaned em up and fried em fresh and they weren't bad at all. A really good tartar sauce and a little lemon juice makes em very good.

There are a lot of differences between different fish and we all have our favorites, but IMHO the eating quality of lots of well prepared fish tends to be at least somewhat proportional to the persons level of hunger.

I'm quite fond of FRESH bluefish with all the dark flesh cut out. It does have some flavor, and I like it fried. My wife likes it, too, and she's picky.

Thanks everyone. Going to go with same day cooking and gonna try em deep fried, pan fried, and that killer mid-atlantic recipe, and let the family vote. Will be down all next week and we've always caught a few blues so hopefully I'll get to run this kitchen experiment

When the Blues are hitting on the pier, I make sure to inform anyone who doesn't want them, that my cooler is easily accessible.

I'm a fan of coating the fillets with Mayo, then dredging in seasoned corn meal and deep frying.
Second the Tartar sauce and lemon.
I have to dish up before my kids do or I won't get to more than smell them.

In the movie "Hannibal" our gourmet chef flies off into the sunset with a box of food from the people that give us the recipe below. The lemon, onions and vinegar should work well with the bluefish.

Recipes - Baked Bluefish Fillets with Lemon and Onions - Main Courses - Dean & DeLuca


Baked Bluefish Fillets with Lemon and Onions
Lemon is a perfect foil for the richness of the Bluefish

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds thick, skinless Bluefish fillets, cut into 4 pieces
2 medium onions, halved through the root and sliced thin
2 bay leaves
3/4 teaspoon minced fresh oregano leaves plus sprigs for garnish
2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
24 paper-thin lemon slices
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof skillet just large enough to hold the Bluefish over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Stir in the onions, bay leaves, and oregano leaves, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute longer.
2. Lay the Bluefish fillets on top of the onions, arrange the lemon slices on the Bluefish, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake the Bluefish until it is just cooked through (it will be white throughout, test it with a paring knife), about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Place the onions on a serving plate, top with the Bluefish fillets, garnish with oregano sprigs, and serve hot.

Bluefish is for people who want to know that they're eating fish, not for those who feel that milder is better when it comes to seafood. Its strong hearty Flavor, oily texture, and beautiful silvery appearance are distinctive. The key to great Bluefish is freshness; it's at its absolute best when just caught. After a day or two out of the sea, it begins to be unattractive even to Fish-lovers. Use the freshest fish you can find for this utterly simple, utterly delicious dish, in which the lemon is a perfect foil for the richness of the Bluefish. Serves 4

[QUOTE=T-wagon;63392]

Sounds awesome. Fresh bluefish is one of my favorites, bar none. When I was a teenager and my family did most of our fishing at the rigs, I would do my best every trip to make sure we had one or two big bluefish, because that evening, forget snapper, cobia, whatever -- I wanted that fresh blue. To me, the bloodline of a well-iced same day blue is a rich, succulent treasure. If anyone at the table didn't want their dark meat, I'd always snap it up. But even more than the rest of the blue, that bloodline has to be super fresh. If it is more than a few hours old, you can forget it, and I'd certainly not freeze it. When handled right, it has an umami taste that almost reminds me of venison heart.

Always ate our bluefish grilled with butter, salt, pepper, and lemon juice or else did the following recipe:

Butter or oil a skillet and brown some onion. Grease a baking dish, put in blue fish fillets, and top with the onion. Smear mayo on top of the fish and onions. Liberally top with grated parmesan cheese. Bake just until the fish is done.

Don't use it in gumbo