Thread: Jacks

A friend of mine caught one saturday and smoked it on smoker and said it was better than redfish

Originally Posted by randy36535

A friend of mine caught one Saturday, smoked it and said it was better than Redfish

Which fish, a Jack or Black?

Originally Posted by Rockinchef88

Pretty much to an extent. Some fish only require minimal preparation. Others require a little bit more to be suitable for most fish eaters. But some people like myself enjoy those fish the way they are. I like king mackerel the way it is but some people have to marinate or soak their king for them to consider it edible.

You nailed it.

Once a few years ago I tried to eat a gafftop and it was terrible. A few weeks ago, my boss brought some fried gafftop in to work. I tried a piece and it was actually pretty darn good. He said the secret was trimming out the tiny red stripes in the meat. Goes to show you that the only difference between a trash fish and a tasty fish might be a little extra effort at the cleaning table or in the kitchen.

Monday evening I fried fish: 4 spadefish fillets, 2 bluefish fillets and 4 fillets from a big hardtails. On the blues and hardtails, I cut out most of the blood line.
Simply coated them in corn starch and dropped in hot grease.
All tasted fine, spadefish were the mildest, blues and hardtails had a little stronger flavor but were still good eats.
If I get into a run of big hardtails and don't have anything else in the cooler, they will be getting filleted.

Well I guess jack crevelle is next on my bucket list of fish to eat before my time is up ;-)

Chef & Pierless nailed it.
Much of it is preperation and presentation.
Typical American palates can be extremely discriminating.
Thirty years ago hardly anybody ate triggerfish or amberjack, now you can't hardly keep one.

Originally Posted by Pier#r

Well I guess jack crevelle is next on my bucket list of fish to eat before my time is up ;-)

Chef & Pierless nailed it.
Much of it is preperation and presentation.
Typical American palates can be extremely discriminating.
Thirty years ago hardly anybody ate triggerfish or amberjack, now you can't hardly keep one.

Who let the cat out of the bag re Triggers? Back in the day, tourists and some semi-locals didn't want anything to do with those "ugly things".

he caught a Jack

I have read, do not know, that the meat in a jack varies and one should selectively clean them to get the lighter pink, finer textured flesh. I figure to try that out later when I come down.

FWIW

Alright, I admit it, I tried a remora once, and it was actually not that bad, don't remember how we cooked it, I think we just fried it...............

When I used to fish the Outer Banks Piers, trigger fish were easy to come by but nobody wanted to clean them since they have such a tough skin.
I was happy to take them off their hands.
They are a lot like sheepshead.
A real solid clean white meat but not as much rib cage as a sheepshead.