Posted By: dmunsie
Eating Carp - 06/06/17 07:14 PM
Just for the record, I know several dfw anglers who fish for Carp using expensive Euro gear (like myself) and like myself...do eat fish! And yes...we do EAT carp once in a while. They taste frickin great when they are prepared correctly...and here's the main point.....when taken from good quality water locations and when they are around 4-8lbs max in size. And that's where it gets fun, because man..it's hard to find and catch carp in that size range. lol..
Here's a few tips if you want to try Carp some time:
Do not harvest them from any part of the Trinity river. I don't care if you're fishing north or south, just skip it.
Stick to harvesting carp from the main reservoirs. The water quality is superior and you will simply get a better quality fish.
Smaller the better. Release anything over 10lbs, just don't even think about it. Yes..it's actually hard to catch the smaller sized carp. But you'll be rewarded with a better tasting fish and will be worth the wait.
Note: When cleaning Carp, remove the darker red meat areas, if they are present.
Because their meat can be a tad more oily than other fish, I recommend placing Carp on the grill! Scale em, gut em, fillet them but leave the skin on one side. Grill skin side down, baste with lemon, lime, jalapeno, butter, teriyaki, mesquite, bbq, etc, etc. When eating them (pick chunks out with a fork) be careful because there are plenty of bones. I do NOT recommend this style of eating carp for children, just don't do it.
If you want to go the deep fry route, which can be very good as well. Fillet the meat and then score the fillets to break up the small bones a bit, don't cut all the way through the meat, you just want to make several cuts so the batter and oil goes through the meat which will help soften/dissolve the bones so you can eat them without having to worry so much about the bones. Still...eat slowly. Older kids can eat these, but be careful.
Optionally...for a brighter taste...before cooking using either method, after filleting the fish soak the fillets in 7-up, beer, buttermilk, etc, for a bit, maybe a couple of hours or so. I do this for catfish once in a while as well.
There are a couple of locations on the Carp fillet which are 100% boneless. If you want to clean carp and only eat the 100% boneless parts of the fish, here's a decent video which shows you the sections of the fillet that are boneless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQyR8gfGT0A
Here's a few tips if you want to try Carp some time:
Do not harvest them from any part of the Trinity river. I don't care if you're fishing north or south, just skip it.
Stick to harvesting carp from the main reservoirs. The water quality is superior and you will simply get a better quality fish.
Smaller the better. Release anything over 10lbs, just don't even think about it. Yes..it's actually hard to catch the smaller sized carp. But you'll be rewarded with a better tasting fish and will be worth the wait.
Note: When cleaning Carp, remove the darker red meat areas, if they are present.
Because their meat can be a tad more oily than other fish, I recommend placing Carp on the grill! Scale em, gut em, fillet them but leave the skin on one side. Grill skin side down, baste with lemon, lime, jalapeno, butter, teriyaki, mesquite, bbq, etc, etc. When eating them (pick chunks out with a fork) be careful because there are plenty of bones. I do NOT recommend this style of eating carp for children, just don't do it.
If you want to go the deep fry route, which can be very good as well. Fillet the meat and then score the fillets to break up the small bones a bit, don't cut all the way through the meat, you just want to make several cuts so the batter and oil goes through the meat which will help soften/dissolve the bones so you can eat them without having to worry so much about the bones. Still...eat slowly. Older kids can eat these, but be careful.
Optionally...for a brighter taste...before cooking using either method, after filleting the fish soak the fillets in 7-up, beer, buttermilk, etc, for a bit, maybe a couple of hours or so. I do this for catfish once in a while as well.
There are a couple of locations on the Carp fillet which are 100% boneless. If you want to clean carp and only eat the 100% boneless parts of the fish, here's a decent video which shows you the sections of the fillet that are boneless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQyR8gfGT0A
