Fish Preparation
Submitted by Alan James on Thu, 2009-11-26 20:04
What's the best way to prepare a 10kg+ dhuie for eating (shallow frying). Do you fillet or cut into cutlets? Fillet and then cutlet? Fillet and then cut the fillet in half, thickness wise?
Grey Band, puka and bass would be similarly shaped.
What do you do?
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Ryan Thipthorp (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
prep!
With my bigger fillets I thin out when i'm cooking a "fillet", shallow fry in frying pan. If i'm doing fish nuggets, I'll cube up & deep fry etc
big john
Posts: 8786
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Reds etc
With my bottom fish Alan, I fillet them and cut out the ribcage at the same time.
Fillet goes into the freezer with the skin on OR if I'm eating fresh, into the fridge till I'm ready to prep for cooking.
Prep for cooking includes skinning, then I cut out the strip along the backbone that includes the bones and the red bloodline on the skin side of the fillet. Basically I end up with the fillet skinned and then cut in half longwise.
The bottom section is usually cut into portions, ready for shallow frying. The top section, if its a large fish is filleted again, filleting the fillet if you like. I like a fillet about 15mm thick for frying.
WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.
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Alan James
Posts: 2299
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Skin On
I think that's the first time I've heard of leaving the skin on and then freezing. Obviously you wouldn't be doing it if you didn't think the end result was better. What do you put it down to?
big john
Posts: 8786
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Protect
IMO it protects one side of the fillet from freezer burn and stops it from drying out in the freezer, thus extending the life of the fillet.
After thawing and skinning, the skinned side is definitely the pick of the flesh, and if you've skinned it nicely with a sharp knife it looks the goods as well.
It's also nice to look in the freezer and find a school of reds at home.
J/K, all within limits of course.
WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.
Jigs available online in my web store!
Alan James
Posts: 2299
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Envious
I'd be very happy to catch any red that needs the fillet filleting.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18330
Date Joined: 11/03/08
i fillet the fish first and
i fillet the fish first and when im ready to cook i them portion the larger fillet into 15mm thick pieces so it doesnt take too long to cook in butter in a pan and also eliminates the flesh from drying out,. its amazing how far 1 fillet can go
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
nodforce
Posts: 34
Date Joined: 17/10/09
Fillet
Fillet for sure but keep the fillets even size and yeh 15mm or so , quite thin
hlokk
Posts: 4293
Date Joined: 04/04/08
When you get big slabs of
When you get big slabs of fish, you can cut them at an angle to get even pieces exactly the thickness you want. Kinda like this: \\\\\\
I've only caught smaller dhuies though, and I just slice the fillet in in half to thin them. Havent ever really bothered with cutlets, I guess I dont catch big enough fish to warrant it :. Also, I usually like cooking my fish in some lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning, so just put a glass lid on the pan. Can cook through bigger fillets more evenly by steaming them up a bit like that. Depends how you like cooking them of course.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8706
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Ice
I leave my fish on ice until the next day to allow it to set before filletting.I cut the sides off,skin then cut down the lateral/pin bone line.Then I slice them in o 12mm thick fillets starting from the middle cutting towards the tail.If there is a thick chunk left I will cut nearly all the way through it then fold it over so it lays flat giving me another good size fillet