Cleaning a sturgeon?

[WaterDog]

I'm curious as to how the rest of you clean your sturgeon? I skin my fish then cut out the fillets, no gutting. The way I do it takes me about 20-30 minutes per fish depending on size but I get 95% of the meat.

How do you clean yours?

[ol tuna skipper]

Same way. Hang by tail. fillet out meat then lay on cutting board and skin the fillet. Tried skinning first then fillet but it didn't work as well for me. I have never gutted a sturgeon.

[SureSet]

I fillet first, then skin. 20-30 minutes sounds about the same. The fillets come off fast, the skinning is a pain. If you fillet first, you can do the skinning in the house, which is allot nicer in the winter than skinning it outside.

SureSet

[Son of an Okie]

Slice off all the scutes first, then filet like a rockfish. With the scutes gone the filet will lay flat on the counter, and the skinnin' is easy. Most of my time is spent cutting out all the red meat from the filets.

[rags]

Any good barbecue recipes for Sturgeon? I have some nice filets from last weekend I would like to cook up this week.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Rags,

I've got some great ones, bring em' over! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I like them cut into 1" cubes, sprinkled with garlic salt. Cover the grill with foil and heat up some olive oil. While the oils getting hot marinade the sprinkled cubes in teryaki sauce and then grill till it just starts to flake with a fork. Yum yum!

If ya like fried fish try this...

Cut 1" strips and pat them dry with paper towles. Get yourself some mushroom batter and adda package of Hidden Valler Ranch dressing mix. Mix the dry ingredients together first then add the water.
Preheat the oil to 350 and fry up the tasty strips. Don't over cook them. They should be golden, not too dark. This is delicious!

I've also cut 1" cubes and dipped them in a few beeten eggs with a little milk, dipped them in rolled Ritz crackers and fried them. Man it just dosen't get any better than that!

Now I've also cooked the filettes in foil packets with mayonaise and tobasco. You might think this would be really hot but it isn't too bad. When the fish flakes with a fork serve it up with a little lemon and a dill dip that I make with mayonase, dill, milk and garlic.

I have to stop this now, you are making me hungry.

Hope this helps,

Mr. Fisherman

[Jennie@ifish]

Yum yum!
Mr. Fishermen, will you come to the ifish party? Chef Fishermen?
[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[rags]

A big THANK YOU Mr. Fisherman for the recipes. I can't wait to try them. Thanks again!
John

[fishbait]

A friend of mine told me to soak my sturgeon in whole milk for 24 hrs before eating or freezing, it tenderizes it. I have tried it and I like the results except when I smoke it, then I no longer soak it in milk.

[Kerry]

Here is the way I do a Sturgeon. Hang it by the tail and then cut the spines off in one big strip from tail to head and the same with the sides cut them off in one big strip. Then get it started and the skin can be pulled off with a pair of pliers. Cut the meat off [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Killertraylor]

This is actually a really great post! Anyone who has done one themself and then watched the guys at the Sportsman Cannery in Ilwaco fillet a whole sturgeon in less than 3 minutes wonders how the hell they do it. I try to do mine the same way they do - cut all the fins and scuts off first with a butcher knife. Then cut the fillets off each side and use the fillet knife to cut the stomach lining and other crap off the inside of the fillet. Then, cut the skin off and carve ALL that red stuff out.

My favorite BBQ recipe: Take whole fillet, rub with lemon juice (optional) and then sprinkle one side with celery salt and the other with Garlic salt (Or your favorite seasoning). Put one side down, directly on the grill for about 6 minutes, flip it over and after 3 minutes, open up the grill and smear blue cheese dressing all over the top of the fillet. Close up the grill for another 3-5 minutes until the blue cheese dressing is light brown and bubbly! I cooked 6 fillets for 60 people last summer at a huge office party and I haven't stopped hearing about it since - everyone loves it this way!

[WaterDog]

Cool, how to clean em and cook em all in the same post! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I've tried to fillet first then skin and it seemed harder than the other way around. I've never seen anyone else do it so I've just developed my own method. Cut around the head, cut around the tail, cut off top scuts and fin in one strip, then skin each side from head to tail. Then working from the top down I cut the fillets out. I'd like to see the Pro's do it though.

I usually smoke my sturgeon but I'm going to try the suggestions here. Sounds to good to pass up. Thanks guys! [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Anyone else?

[Pilar]

Hey Waterdog, Kerry does it the same way I do. Hang the fish by the tail and peel them like a banana. Remove the top row of scutes and a 3/4" wide stip of hide. Start with the dorsal fin near the tail and go all the way down the back. Then remove each of the rows of scutes and 3/4" strip of skin on either side of the belly. Again start at the fin near the tail and go all the way to the head.
You have outlined the tasty parts except for a little area near the tail. Cut from the bare spot where the dorsal fin used to be and outline the rest of the filet on each side. Then grab the skin with vice grips and tear it off. You may have to help a little with a knife as some meat will tear off too. Peel it all the way to the head on each side.

Now just filet off the slab on each side. The reason I do it this way is to avoid contaminating the filet with skin slime or gut bag. I too have seen the guys in Ilwaco filet sturgeon and the filet swimming around in skin slime is not appealing.

Great tips on recipes. Thanks.

[AngleThis]

You have it right. You do not want to puncture the gut bag. Sturgeon have very unique physiologies, and livers that can fileter out anything, including toxic and radioactive elements and compounds. They are the only species where the meat remains relatively free from polution regardless of what sespool it feeds in. Did you know that there is so much toxin in a sturgeon's liver (thanks to Hanford and industrial dumping), that eating one will probably kill you?

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

Here's a question for you guys. I've caught sturgeon before and saw my buddy clean them, but here's something I wanted to run by you guys.

Can you not clean these fish like a catfish? I know, laughter down to a minimum please. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Take a nail and drive it through the head on a tree (or board). Cut the pointy scales off with a quick run of the blade. Take barb wire cutters and cut the fins off. Use your knife and cut the skin all the way around the neck area. Then peel the skin down using those barbwire cutters by pulling down.

Maybe no one has known about this method, never tried it, or a combo of both, but why wouldn't this work? It would make getting to the meat a lot easier.