What to do with Tuna?

corkyking · 05-21-2003, 09:28 PM

I remember going tuna fishing as a kid but haven't since.
Of course, as a kid, I wasn't too concerned about what to do with them after I caught them.
Last year I bought a fish from a comm fisherman and had fresh tuna for about 3 meals with guests.

If I had 20 or 30 tuna I'd be hard pressed to know what to do with them other than can them.
That's a lot of canned fish.

I want to go tuna fishing one day soon.
What other ways do you prepare/preserve them?

As always thanx,

05-21-2003, 09:38 PM

Try it smoked

fish assassin · 05-22-2003, 05:05 AM

Vacuum pack, freeze and take out about Xmas time to put in the smoker. Makes
about the best (and cheapest) Xmas presents you can find. Everybody will love
you for it and they'll talk about the cool xmas present for years to come!
They will also start looking forward to your presents every year! :grin: :grin: :grin:

The key is to NOT be too generous with the TUNA leading up to Xmas! If you
give 'em a bunch during TUNA season, it's not such a treat at Yule Time!

-assAssin-

Albacore Tuna Captain · 05-22-2003, 07:59 AM

Thirty tuna are not enough for yourself and family! I can at least forty fish each year and I'm almost out by July. I like to can them because it makes such a neat gift. Family love the canned tuna because it is like nothing you can buy in the store. My sister in law won't leave me alone. Begs for more tuna all the time. Once you get hooked on Albie fishing, you won't be able to quit! Thirty fish!?? No way!

Mello-Yello · 05-22-2003, 08:23 AM

ATC, I realize it's all dependent on size of fish...but how many pint jars are we talking about to can 40 fish???

We're in the process of 'closing' on a new home, and it just so happens they've left me with over 3 doz. 1pint canning jars....a 'starter kit' so to speak. I have a pressure cooker already, I just want to make sure I have enough jars for when the day comes....hopefully, sooner than later!!

M-Y

Popeye · 05-22-2003, 08:30 AM

MY....we average 8-9 pints per fish

Threemuch · 05-22-2003, 08:31 AM

I have about 150 half pint jars of tuna left. My stock by the end of season is about 300. My wife eats it three or four times a week, plus a couple for me, so we go through it.

Smoked, canned, grilled, raw, seared, pepper crusted, it's such good eats, I have never had a problem with too much.

Well, maybe once, when we boated 47 for two anglers in CA. I probably gave 15 or so away right at the cleaning station to interested passers by. In the round of course, I'm a nice guy, but I don't cark for strangers! Pretty funny conversations.

"What are those?"
"Albacore tuna"
"Are they good?"
"Oh yeah, their pretty tasty"
"Where'd you catch em?"
"In the ocean"
"How far out?"
"40 miles"
"Oh, that's too far for my sled"
"Yep"
"You want one?"
"Really?"
"Sure, pick one"
"Thanks. How do I clean it?"
"Watch me."

And then I show em the box cutter technique, which takes me about 3-5 minutes per fish. A couple minutes later, someone else comes up and the process repeats.

KB

CAPT KUJO · 05-22-2003, 08:36 AM

Try partial smoking for 1 hour before you can it! CAnned smoked tuna! mmmm-good

CAPT KUJO

Pilar · 05-22-2003, 08:44 AM

Kurt, pretty funny stuff. Jen and I did the same thing last year on 7/7. When we got to 20 or so fish in the boat I told her that sometime later that day we would be saying 'What were we thinking?' And just think the limit is 25 per fisher per day.

We continued to slaughter the hapless tuna until we reached the point of no room in the boat for more.

When we returned to Depoe we attracted quite a crowd. They said pretty much the same things ...

"Damn, those are the first silver bullets I've seen this year."

and

"What charter did you guys go out on?'

I pointed to the little blue boat on the trailer parked in front of the cleaning station.

"No way!"

'Hey Jen, pull a couple of more fish out of the boat, I'm running out.'

"Hey man could you sell me a fish?"

'Nope!' as I bent down to grab a fish any fish.

'Please take one for free though'

Yeah baby, that's one more TUNA! I wont have to cark.

The memories are priceless. I am looking forward to the wholesale infection of the pups by the TUNA! bug. Muh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha :grin: .

They have no idea what is in store for them.

Pilar · 05-22-2003, 08:48 AM

KJ, a little 'Puffin' trick for you. Smoke some Kosher salt when you run a partial load of fish in the smoker. Put the salt an inch deep in a glass dish on the top rack for the whole time the fish is in the smoker.

Then just use the 'smoked' salt for adding to the canned fish, 1/2 teaspoon per pint jar. It tastes just like you smoked it and no hassles with smoking the filets for an hour before canning.

Big Jon does this and also adds 1/2 a jalapeno per jar for even more flavor crystals.

Mello-Yello · 05-22-2003, 08:52 AM

Hmmmm Kurt...If you start out with 300, and have 150 left...my math says you presently have a slight excess of tuna on the shelf....need any help with it???

My Dad is a garage sale fanatic...I mean every Saturday, rain or shine....I should have him looking for pint jars for me. Fortunately, our new place has an incredible amount of storage downstairs...I'd say enough to store....300 jars!! Woohoo!!

Hmmmm, this has me thinking. I'm sure there are folks out there, say maybe apartment dwellers that are big on tuna, but small on storage space. I could be the official iFish Tuna Storage Unit. Anytime you need some shipped home, I'll box up a dozen and eat one.

Rip'N'Lips · 05-22-2003, 09:05 AM

This may be a dumb question, but has anyone tried it as sushi???

I am a huge tuna fan, but due to my extreme sea sickness probably will not go out... If any of you would be interested in a trade let me know.

I make a mean smoked salmon, and can clean fish pretty well. When you have a glutton of fish, let me know and I would be more than happy to help clean/cork in exchange for some fish...

Rip'N'Lips

cdj356 · 05-22-2003, 09:09 AM

I cant wait, have open seats for july6th did you say?

seasquid · 05-22-2003, 09:51 AM

I need a good smoked tuna recipe -- I know somebody has one....

Too much tuna, yeah, right! I eat so much I'm starting to quiver.

ss

DriftR · 05-22-2003, 09:54 AM

Have kids in college living in apartments and you won't have any trouble with keeping tuna on hand. Another bit of advice. DO NOT TELL ANYBODY in your neighborhood that yes, you fish for albies. Worse case scenario you can ever have. Beggars line up at the door and people get up early to watch when you leave and they will cancel family vacations so that they will not miss you when you try and sneak into your house late, late at night after a successful day of albacore fishing. Kids scream, women swoon, men sigh and the neighborhood cats get in line and it turns into a Kodak moment. Remember to turn off your headlights when you come home. I might try bringing home some carp and shad one of these days just to keep everybody honest.

Popeye · 05-22-2003, 10:13 AM

I hear it's good smoked....I'm still looking for some waterproof zig zags tho :grin:

Mark Mc · 05-22-2003, 10:49 AM

Hey Rip'n'lips: "are you kidding?" As if catching albies wasn't good enough...chomping into that first batch of raw tuna, fresh caught that day, is the pinnacle of the experience for me. From a fish that has been handled with kid gloves (including gutted on the boat & cavity packed with ice), a carefully trimmed loin, thin sliced & then combined with the standard wasabi, pickled ginger, & soy sauce....your favorite beer, and preferably with one or more people who appreciate the same so you can trade moans & groans as you recall how long ago August 2002 was. Is this still rated PG?

Threemuch · 05-22-2003, 12:14 PM

Popeye-
If you get them waterproof zig zags, I can turn you on to a small butane torch that works pretty well to light em. You gotta roll em just right though to get a clean burn.
KB

Myles · 05-22-2003, 01:19 PM

I'm looking at buying a canner/pressure cooker, what should I look for??
I was told some things can't be stacked while canning.

myles

TundraIII · 05-22-2003, 01:39 PM

Pilar is right on about the 1/2 jalepeno pepper. Dont knock it till ya try it. My absolute favorite snack. Crack open a jar, mix with a little mayo, and grab a bag of club crackers. Add a frosty beer and I'm a grinning fool....

Threemuch · 05-22-2003, 01:44 PM

I have the presto 22 quart.

Presto 22 Quart canner

You can buy gaskets at Ace Hardware locally. I have had it 7 years, 2 gaskets have been the only failures. It doubles as my stovetop crab steamer.

KB

japeter2 · 05-22-2003, 02:16 PM

Just email me at jspeters@attbi.com if you have a problem figuring out what to do with it. I will give you my address and take care of it all for you.

Pilar · 05-22-2003, 02:31 PM

The presto 22 qt canner is on sale at Bimart. I just bought a second unit so I can go into factory ship mode when we score big. Now all I need is a new propane burner.

Jars (Wide mouth Pints) are on sale too for $7.50 a dozen, same store. Don't wait till you have a cooler full of TUNA! too heavy to lift to get what you need. It is much harder to find in August during the canning season. Even new lids are hard to find then.

05-22-2003, 02:42 PM

Quote:

You gotta roll em just right though to get a clean burn.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">If you do the bellies you don't have to worry about them burning, you have to worry about keeping your eyebrows. :shocked:

OceanBlue · 05-22-2003, 11:05 PM

Last season was incredibly magical for me. Besides the slaughter on the water 7/7, we had several more days that were priceless.

Grilling a tuna loin right there at the cleaning station. Inviting total strangers to partake. Watching as a 7 year old girl gorged herself to the point where she literally couldn't swallow her last bite... then laughing hysterically when she asked her dad when they could go tuna fishing.

Sharing our incredible fortune with others, including a bunch from Hermiston that we recruited to help clean. Those boys will be back, and not for a single coho or halibut next season.

Of course, this is all about being back at the dock. The actual catching and carking is fun beyond imagination. Keep Disneyland - gimme tuna fishing!

Oh, and SUSHI? You BETCHA! See Pilar's recommendation on seared Salmon http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb....;f=24;t=001337

Can it, grill it, make tuna tacos, eat it raw, smoke it! I don't think there's anything you can do to albacore to screw it up, except not bleeding or icing properly or cooking it too long.

Wahooooo! 31 days to TUNA!

corkyking · 05-24-2003, 12:16 AM

Pilar
I was just going to lurk tonight but after reading your suggestion about the smoked salt I had to log on and comment that that is one of the best ideas I have heard in a long time out of a bunch of good ideas on this bb.

Thanx! :grin:

Pilar · 05-27-2003, 12:02 PM

Sensei San, another initiation ritual is to repeatedly mis-gaff a fish causing it to go on tearing runs and wearing out the newbie fisherman.

I prefer to freeze the filet for a day or two before eating it to take care of parasites. But I have been known to go into neanderthal mode and eat it quivering raw at the carking station.

Arrrrrr matey!

Fish_N_Russ · 05-27-2003, 01:53 PM

wow tuna 3-4 times a week.......I dont even like Pizza 3-4 times a week lol

Lovestafish · 05-27-2003, 11:01 PM

Last season a buddy of mine BBQ'ed some tuna he bought off the docks at Newport - he used the cedar board trick & it was some of the most delicious eating I've ever had. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

Sensei-san · 05-27-2003, 11:15 PM

Kurtis...

You forgot the best part of the story of carking tuna at the dock. I was carking tuna exactly as you said and one of the people who went with me was a newbie and I got him to eat the scraps and the heart. Told him the initiation of the SF Tuna Club rookies was to have them to eat a beating heart.

After that the passersby came by and we were eating the scraps and it totally grossed them out.

I can see Pilar doing that at the docks. Just need a butcher knife and an eye patch.....