# Something I learned today..



## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

Carp is delicious, the rumors are not true. We did carp three ways Jerk, brown sugar and kosher salt, and just kosher salt. Grilled over cherry wood charcoal for about an hour. It was all great, the brown sugar/salt was the best though. We filleted the fish and ate around the smaller bones still in the fillets. It was very similar to salmon in texture, but not in taste. It tasted kinda like swordfish to me and had a similar appearance as well. Very firm and MILD, yes I said MILD! It was awesome and we are going to go catch a mess more and have a huge cookout and trick people into trying carp. I will say this though, my friend and are are both professionally trained chefs so that might have something to do with the quality of the meal.

Something about eating fish that was alive 45 mins ago..so good!


----------



## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

Ill take your word for it.


----------



## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

They are a bit pricey in Germany. !0.00 a pound !!!


----------



## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

Funny thing you mentioned that. There was a company here in the US that tried to offer canned carp, but went broke, apparently, people just CAN NOT get past the myth of that "mud vein" crap. BUT in "blind' taste testing, surprisingly MORE persons liked the canned CARP over salmon or tuna. Will admit FRIED carp is "so- so". BAKED carp is very good ! And as have said in Europe strips of the infamous dark fleshed "mud veins' are flash fried and served at a cost of about $25 for a PAIR of them. Ridiculously expensive !


----------



## spfldbassguy (Mar 23, 2009)

Mark me down as another one that'll take your word for it.


----------



## josh13 (Aug 16, 2011)

lol i think i might have to try it i have ate catfish out of the gmr (hamilton) and im still alive


----------



## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

I also would fall into that category...."I'll take your word for it"!
As long as I can catch Walleye and Crappie to eat....Carp are safe!


----------



## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

Buncha women here, afraid to try something once! 

Just kidding guys, don't get your panties in a bunch.


----------



## FISNFOOL (May 12, 2009)

The store around here sell smoked carp for $4.50 a lb.

I have cooked it many ways and agree with the swordfish taste.

The Brown Sugar/ salt marinade is about the best. It is also the same marinade I use for smoking them with mesquite.


----------



## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

To each, their own. If it has fins and SWIMS, am game.


----------



## fishymcgoo (Jul 20, 2005)

I've eaten rattlesnake, so nothing is off the table. I have tried a couple recipes I have found online for carp and I just can't get that "gamey" taste out. I catch so many of them through the year, by mistake, that it seems like I should be able to get a recipe down. If anybody wants to give me a little more detail on how to cook em, I will try it.


----------



## zachxbass (Jun 23, 2011)

I'd try it... maybe we should all get together and have a carp tasting contest.

I'm not picky and can't see it being as gross as people make it out to be, now that 10lb koi i caught, i would probably not eat.


----------



## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

Like other fish, the younger fish probabily taste better.


----------



## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

there are quite a few Carp recipes online. If the Asian "Jumping" Carp invasion continues, you better get used to eating it. They are in the Ohio river right now. 
I had one filleted and ready to hit the grease earlier in the summer but I caught enough White Bass for the fish fry so did not try it. 
I'm going to have to do it, Post some recipes and marinades that work. 
LMJ


----------



## fish on! (Oct 15, 2009)

I've had carp, prepared by someone who knew what they were doing, and it was VERY good, I've also had perch prepared by someone without a clue, and it was nas-tay! (Carp also tastes better if you don't know it's carp you're eating)


----------



## eatwhatyoukeep (May 2, 2005)

Lowell H Turner said:


> Funny thing you mentioned that. There was a company here in the US that tried to offer canned carp, but went broke, apparently, people just CAN NOT get past the myth of that "mud vein" crap. BUT in "blind' taste testing, surprisingly MORE persons liked the canned CARP over salmon or tuna. Will admit FRIED carp is "so- so". BAKED carp is very good ! And as have said in Europe strips of the infamous dark fleshed "mud veins' are flash fried and served at a cost of about $25 for a PAIR of them. Ridiculously expensive !


They should have called it by a different name to protect the innocent.


----------



## dmills4124 (Apr 9, 2008)

Sammerguy what body of water did you catch your carp at?
One of my first jobs was working at the RED BARN on manchester rd that backed up to long lake. Every summer there was an older afro-american man in his late 80's who would come to our back door and get some plastic bags of chicken parts(fat, tails and trimmed skin) that we had trimmed from the the chicken when we prepped it for the days frying. He would put some rocks in the plastic bags so they would sink and poke hole in the bags which he threw into the channel behind the barn. He left them there for a couple of days before comming back to fish again. This old guy could barely walk but he would set up his lawn chair and a couple of poles with the chicken tails on the hooks. Of course he had the customary dingbell on the end of his pole as a strike indicater because he would dose off asleep most of the time he was sitting out there fishing. When he did catch something he would watch and wait till it was hooked real good then he got up and ran(more like a fast walk for anyone else) up the bank till he had the fish out of the water. I have no idea why he didnt just use the reel.
We saw he was catching big carp about 2ft long and putting them in one of our frenchfry boxes. We ask him what he did with the carp figuiring he was fertilizing his roses or something with them. He told us he cooked them and ate them and all of his friends and neighbors loved them. After we finished laughing he told us he would bring some the next day when he came to fish again.
His carp tasted like canned salmon and so much that we thought he had opened a can and given that to us to taste. Thats when he gave us the recipe that I have remembered all this time.
Here its; 
Filet the fish and take out as many of the large bones as you can. 
Soak the filets in buttermilk overnight or for as long as 24 hours to get the game taste out of the meat. 
Next you pressure cook the filets for 20 to 30 min afterr it comes to its proper pressure. Use whatever additional spices you like. 
The pressure cooker makes the bones as soft as the salmon bones you get from a canned of salmon. The taste was fantastic. I have never eaten the carp from any of the NE Ohio lakes other than the few tastes from his sample. Most of the carp I have eaten was from the clear cold water in the Salt river in AZ and the Sequaro lake out there. I never would have thought that carp would become a delicacy in high end rest.
Thats my story and I'm sticken with it.
later ya'll
d/m


----------



## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

We caught them from fourmile creek. We prepared some more last night that we fried and they weren't nearly as good as grilled. They were still tasty, just a lot more oily. I really want to try the canned carp as that seems to be by far the most popular preparation, so thanks for the recipe! With the price of food going up I am trying to find good sources of protein that are more affordable than pork or chicken. I love salmon salad and patties so I think that canning a mess and using them throughout the winter might be a good idea.

Its just so easy to get them, we caught 22 lbs of fish in 2 hours and got 6-7 lbs of meat off of them. I will admit that perch or bluegill are way better for frying, but carp is a good fish for grilling or baking.


----------



## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

Eat what you keep, there in lies the problem, you can`t legally sell it commercially and call it anything else but "carp", unfortuneately. The bias against carp is just that strong, even though most persons unaware of what type of fish they are eatting seem to PREFERE it ! Ironic...


----------



## fish fry (Sep 24, 2011)

I have a great recipe for carp. First preheat oven to 425 next nail carp to board, next put carp and board in oven for 45 minutes,then remove carp and throw away and eat the board!


----------



## zooks (Feb 4, 2011)

fish fry said:


> I have a great recipe for carp. First preheat oven to 425 next nail carp to board, next put carp and board in oven for 45 minutes,then remove carp and throw away and eat the board!


That sounds almost like the recipe one of my cooks has for chittlins - put in a big pot and boil 'em for about 1/2 hour, throw the water out, and refill with fresh water; repeat the boiling process three times. After the third time, throw the water out - then throw the chittlin's out.

What about sheephead? I talked to an old man fishing off the Mentor Lighthouse on Erie who told me he loved sheephead and that they didn't deserve the bad rap they have. He liked his with cocktail sauce. In that area, sheephead were generally recognized as garbage-fish. Sound like the carp story ???????????


----------



## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

I really think that most of it is that people believe what someone they trust told them, and with good cause. I however don't trust anyone who hasn't tried something first. This stems from a friend telling me that calf liver was gross, when I tried it I loved it. Turns out he had never eaten it, just telling me what his friend had told him.


----------

