How to handle Shark meat?

Orca · 08-29-2002, 10:20 AM

I have read some in the past about how to handle sharks. I understand that you need to immediately gut the fish and then I will get it on some ice. Is this all there is to it?

Also, which sharks are the best eating? Can I make a toilet seat cover out of the skin (just kidding, but is there any use for the hide)?

Uglygreen · 08-29-2002, 10:37 AM

Appearently the fins will make your wife/girlfriend/partner/etc... horny when fed to them in the form of a soup (according to Aisan tradition).... Guess I should go back to work now - before I get into trouble, just a rumor I heard once.

UG.

Uglygreen · 08-29-2002, 10:47 AM

Wildlife campaigners drive shark's fin soup off menus
By Geoffrey Lean in Singapore
13 January 2002
Shark's fin soup, one of the world's most highly prized delicacies, is coming off the menu all over South-East Asia as a result of moral pressure from conservationists.

Traders say consumption of the soup has dropped by more than a half in parts of the region since a campaign against it was launched last year. Celebrities have abjured the traditional practice of serving it at their weddings, airlines have stopped offering it to premium-class passengers and Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws, has backed the bid to save the fish he did so much to demonise.

Traders, who initially dismissed the campaign as "toothless'', have responded by taking the American charity behind the campaign to court. Fifteen restaurateurs who serve shark's fin soup in Bangkok are suing WildAid, based in San Francisco, for US$2.5m (�1.74m) after sales in the city slumped by 70 per cent.

Fishermen slice the fins for the soup � which can cost $100 a bowl � off the sharks they catch before returning them to the ocean to die in order to save space on their boats for more of the highly priced appendages.

WildAid says that trade in the fins has more than doubled over the past 15 years as rising prosperity in China and South-East Asia creates more consumers. It claims the fins add no taste and little nutrition to the soup and are just used to add texture to the glutinous brew which is traditionally served at weddings and business dinners, as an indicator of social status.

The conservationists say the practice is cruel and is endangering sharks, an important source of food for many Third World coastal communities. Peter Knight, director of WildAid, says scores of millions of sharks are killed each year. "It is sadly ironic that, in countries such as Kenya and Brazil, people are losing their subsistence food to supply one of the world's most expensive culinary items,'' he adds.

Peter Benchley says: "In the 25 years since Jaws was first released, sharks have experienced an unprecedented and uncontrolled attack. They are much more the victims than the villains.''

WildAid has also raised a storm by claiming it has found high levels of toxic mercury in seven out of 10 shark fins bought at random in Bangkok.

Fashions are rapidly changing as film stars and the daughter of the President of Taiwan have announced that they will not serve the soup at their weddings.

Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International have taken it off their menus. The US and Australia have banned cutting the fins off sharks in their waters.

The traders are fighting back, saying that the claims of cruelty over-exploitation and mercury contamination are false.

Chum King · 08-29-2002, 12:23 PM

More than gutting is usually recommended. Sharks use their blood stream to help them eliminate body wastes and regulate salt levels in their system, and have a high concentration of urea in the blood that is filtered out through the gills. You will need to make sure to bleed your shark completely or the urea is likely to taint the flesh.

Deepslayer · 08-29-2002, 01:45 PM

Orca there was a very good description of the care and feeding of blue shark on sturgn's "halibut August 2 & 3" post. It's on the third page date 8-9-2002.
Sahrks deposit urea inside their body cavity and you should cut the lower half of the belly out and flush the interior with water (sea water is okay) real well.
I think the best tasting shark is Mako and thresher. Although all of the common ones are very good. Even dog fish is served as fish and chips in some places! I ahve heard white shark is excellent, but I have never tasted it.
,Ed

wak'm&stak'm · 08-29-2002, 02:17 PM

We tried a new thethod the other day. First you get going about 28mph and just wait. When your head bounces off the windshield you know you have dinner. The propeller seems to do an excellent jod of bleeding, gutting and tenderizing. Unfortunately he sank like a rock...maybe next time.

corrirod · 08-29-2002, 02:36 PM

Hey Wak, Puffin had the same problem last Saturday! Carked a shark with the outboard! There were several that we ran over but fortunately didn't get caught on the motor. The damn things just pop up in front of you and they are everywhere out there.

Uglygreen · 08-29-2002, 02:36 PM

And... what the he11 is a thethod? <g>

Hamachi · 08-29-2002, 03:33 PM

Orca, of the pelagic sharks caught on the Pacific coast, mako and threshers are quite tasty with mako being the better tasting. The shark should be bled, then H&G with the trunk being put on ice asap.

They can be cut much like a tuna... into 4 loins and each steaked out.

Blue sharks are not edible, no matter WHAT you do to it.

Salmonator · 08-29-2002, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hamachi:
Blue sharks are not edible, no matter WHAT you do to it.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">You might have trouble convincing Sturgn of that! [img]graemlins/icon_argue.gif[/img]

Orca · 08-29-2002, 04:49 PM

Thanks for the help.

I will catch and bonk, then cut the gills to bleed, then remove guts and all soft meat around the belly at what sounds like about the lateral line, then ice.

Looks like I have one thumbs up for Blue's and one definite thumbs down for Blue's. Seems like I see a number of Blue's caught by others and so I assume they may be in the largest numbers out there. Any other takes on whether Blue's are edible?

sturgn · 08-29-2002, 05:01 PM

I can tell you from some very recent experience that if Blues are taken care of fast and prepared properly they are very good eating, I have giving alot of it to friends to try and have had no one not like yet. I am plannning a trip out to load up on shark for the winter and the blues will be the target.. As soon as I boat the sharks I cut the gills and hang em off the boat, then start at the rear set of fins and gut forward along the lateral line and remove the enitire lower section of the shark, then clean all out of the inside including the blood along the backbone(is that liver??) cut off fins and head and Ice whats left.

[ 08-29-2002, 06:02 PM: Message edited by: sturgn ]

Capt. Rich · 08-29-2002, 05:50 PM

Sharks can be good eating if treated correctly. Bleeding a shark is important as they do not have kidneys. They use their skin and gills to dispose of urea. That is why a shark has to constantly keep moving. Gutting, gilling and leaving them in the water after bleeding them is also recommended to increase the dissipation of the urea in the flesh. Some fishermen will skin the shark and leave it in the water. A common technique to speed the removal of the urea taste is to soak the shark meat overnight in milk. Sounds wierd but it works. The best shark to eat is thresher. It is often passed off as swordfish in resturants. Also many scallops are actually shark or skate wings.

fishwhenican · 08-29-2002, 06:44 PM

I tried Skate wings once they tasted like crap,yea I know growing up on a farm. I think cow
manure did taste better, when I got knocked down into it by a cow protecting her calf.

Deepslayer · 08-29-2002, 07:20 PM

Blue shark is very edible if taken care of properly! I have barbcued plenty of it with no complaints!
,Ed

Threemuch · 08-30-2002, 08:12 AM

Blue shark can be eaten. So can horse mackerel, but I wouldn't keep one. The tips here are good ones for keeping any shark for the table.

The barby is not a good place to measure the culinary merits of a fish. Would you eat it raw? Not even the Japanese eat raw shark. Would you eat it steamed? Not me. Blue shark is edible. It certainly won't hurt you. Good? That's another question.

Would I trade for it with halibut? Salmon? Albacore? Lingcod? Rockfish? Nope. We sure do get spoiled by the edibility of the fish we have here.

craigc · 08-30-2002, 12:30 PM

For those of you willing to try eating the blue shark, this is the way I'll process a blue shark; if I'm lucky enough to get one on the deck..

1] after I killing the thing[ by clubbing it over the head], I'll gut it and wash it out thoroughly..

2] fillet both sides, cutting from inside outwards through the skin.. [ a nice thing about sharks is the lack of bones, but their skin is made of the same thing their teeth are ]

3] cut the fillets in 2 inch steaks

4] soak the steaks in a clean 5 gallon can, fill with water... leave the end of the hose in the bottom of the can and the water turned ON to have a slight flow.. [This will allow the urea to be leached out of the meat ]

5] after 2 hours of soaking, pull out the steaks, let them drip dry...

6] then treat them like fish... for me, I'll soak them in teriyaki sauce with hot pepper flakes... Grill on the BBQ. What isn't put in the freezer will be brined and smoked with my cherry wood.

We haven't caught any sharks this season, but Lou Shinen has speared one. and it ended up breaking off his spear tip on his 3/8 SS spear rod... Personal safety definitely needs to be thought of when you boat a live shark. They can thrash faster than you can jump out of their way. IMHO

dock rat · 08-30-2002, 06:21 PM

Although I have never tried the following method I know people that have with good results. Years ago while sailing in the Canadian Gulf Islands,I picked up a small paperback cookbook that dealt entirely with preparation and cooking of dogfish shark.

As mentioned in the above posts, cleaning and getting on ice immediately was essential. The key in the authors mind was the onshore preparation prior to cooking. He said it was very important to soak the fillets in an acidic solution. He said to place the fillets in a shallow dish and add just enough cold water to cover. To this add 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice or 1 tablespoon of cider vinigar for each pound of fish. This will neutralize any urea in the flesh without affecting the true flavor of the fish. He recommended that you leave the fish in this marinade overnight and further stated that by increasing the concentration of the acid you won't gain anything time wise. Hope this helps.