Thread: HELP! My pompano sucked again

I like my fish whole when I can, after that I prefer them steaked before fillets.
Pomps are great for cooking whole and it's my firm belief that just like a bone-in steak there is flavor imparted during cooking.

Anyways, like the others have said, never had a too fishy tasting/smelling Pomp.
You sure you took good care of the fish, on ice and cooked within a day or two?

My favorite way...
Whole pomps, gutted, washed and dried.
Sea salt, garlic powder, lime juice and olive oil, generously covered inside & out.
Wrap in aluminum foil and grill on BBQ over high heat for 10-15min per side depending on size of fish.
Skin peels off and the meat flakes right off the bones.

Oh, Chile! Those are beautiful. I am absolutely in favor of bone-in meat and fish. But, my sweet and lovely wife cannot make herself eat fish with the bone in. Her loss. And as I am the primary cook, my loss also; What's a guy to do? Not much for cooking shows or food photos, but those plates look simply wonderful, IMHO. We have booked a house on Veterans Rd. for a week in Oct., and if the creeks don't rise, and the house sitter shows up, we will be cooking those and croakers and whiting and who knows what else in only a few short months! Practiced mono to flouro knots yesterday; flouro dropper loops and Duncan knots. Do I sound primed?

Originally Posted by Swamp Donkey

Well, as the title states, my last attempt at pompano sucked. My girlfriend and I are huge fish eaters and eat fish 2-3 times per week. I just cannot figure out how to prevent pompano from getting really FISHY. We almost couldnt eat it because of the taste (and we eat kings regularly) I have blackened it and it was ok, but have grilled it twice (as suggested with S&P, EVOO, lime) skin-on and it is terrible. Please tell me the secret to cooking these little guys!

It could be that you really don't care for the taste of fish skin. Pompano is the only fish I have cooked whole, I couldn't stand the taste and wound up throwing it away after a couple of bites. Filet it like other fish and I'd bet that you notice an improvement.

Is your Olive Oil rancid?

Did you eat the skin?
I never eat the skin on Pomp cooked this way, it peels off too easily.
It might be good if cooked like many fish, where the skin is cooked till crisp & crunchy, and then finished in the oven.

Works best with a thick fillet, 1" or thicker, great with Salmon, Trout, Seabass
Preheat oven to 400'
Skin on fillet, cut into serving size pieces, e.g. 3"x5"
Heat oil in skillet until hot, but not smoking.
Salt and/or other spices.
Place fish skin down for five minutes, do not move it till full 5 minutes, then use spatula to release and turn it over.
(some put a tab of butter under the skin as they put it down)
(if cooking multiple pieces of fish, they must have plenty of room between them or they will not crisp)
Place skillet in oven to finish, 2-5 minutes depending on thickness of fillet.

One of my favorite sushi handrolls is Spicy Crunchy Salmon Skin, especially when they trim the skin with about a 1/4" of flank or belly meat on it.

You sure you caught pompano and not hard tail right?

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I don't target pompano, but have heard others rave about them. The same held true for flounder, so this spring when I caught a decent pomp an a nice flounder, I cleaned both right away. I'm fussy about the way my fish are handled and cleaned, so since I'd never eaten either one, a great opportunity presented itself.
my wife fried both the pomp and flounder filets for super. I was amazed at the taste of the flounder, but could barely eat the pompano due to its strong fishy flavor. I was glad to see this post to find out I was not the only one who experienced strong fishy pompano.

Just to state the obvious, you should never fry pompano. This fish is too rich to be cooked in oil.

Originally Posted by Haywire

Just to state the obvious, you should never fry pompano. This fish is too rich to be cooked in oil.

That would be like deep frying butter!

Sammy made a good point (I thought), sometimes is a mis ID...

I have been through this several times over the years. I think the issue is the skin/red meat flavoring the fillet. The fish were on ice within 30 seconds of exiting the gulf and were filleted within an hour or 2. Glad to know that I'm not the only one that has had this experience with pompano skin. Guess I will stick with the fillet-skin-pan sear method that has produced decent results in the past.
P.s.: they were pompano, not hard tails and I didn't eat the skin or bloodline. The white meat just had a very fishy flavor. Much worse than king or AJ.

Definitely pompano. Could have limited (2-4) fishermen every day last week in a couple of hours. Kept a few and released a TON of 12-16" pompano. Kept some stud whiting, flounder and specks.