"William Wixon" wrote in message
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"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
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Blues are great fun. When a school is feeding -- and they are *always*
feeding -- the action can be wild and wooly.


friend posted this link to another group.

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.ph...u=QBMRj&ref=nf

she posted a pic of her brother's toe, got bit bad.
i think that's his response in the "responses" area.

Ouch. As those people say, bluefish are like piranhas when they're in a
frenzy. I've been fishing for them since I was about six years old, and
I've heard some tough old commercial fishermen say they would not want to
fall into a school of them when they've been chummed up into a fever
pitch. Seriously, you might not come out alive.

Lifeguards will tell you that here on the mid-Atlantic coast, most cases
of "shark" bite in the surf actually are bluefish bites.


aren't bluefish strong tasting?

A very good question. I happen to be writing an article about that.

Let's distinguish "rich" tasting fish -- tuna, swordfish, mackerel,
wahoo, bluefish -- from stinky fish -- anything old, and a badly handled
bluefish. Bluefish has a rich flavor but it also has a strange
physiology, with one of the most active digestive systems of any
vertebrate. Five minutes after they die, they start to digest their own
flesh. Within an hour it's unfit to eat. That's the stinking mess that
most shore people think of when they think about eating bluefish.

But handled right, they are excellent eating. (I hear that piranhas are,
too. g) You have to gut them within five minutes of their demise, and
pack the cavity with ice. Then pack the whole fish in ice. If you're
after blues and you intend to keep one or two to eat, have a cooler
handy, full of shaved or cracked ice, and a sharp knife for gutting. If
you get the guts on the painted part of a boat, wash it off immediately,
or it will strip the paint. No kidding.

If you can't eat them within 24 hours, freeze them. If you freeze them,
they lose their taste and they're good for nothing but fish cakes or
chowder. If you get them fresh, broil with something acid: tomato sauce,
lemon juice, tarragon vinegar, or, my favorite, barbeque sauce. If you
really love fish, as I do, you don't need any of that stuff. Just broil
them or cook them on a grill. They have plenty of fat, so there's no need
to add oil or butter.

...when you barbecue them do you blacken the skin?

First off, you have to remove the skin, unless you *really* like strong
fish flavor. (I actually like it, but most people don't.) The red
lateral streak and the fat are all right under the skin, and I remove
both before cooking them for other people. To hold the fish together on a
charcoal grill, without the skin, I use a wire fish basket.

But I do blacken them just a bit when I grill them over charcoal. I like
that flavor. The key, though, is to have a really fresh blue that was
handled right. If you have to buy them in a fish market, they are never
handled right. And they're likely to stink when you cook them. You have
to catch them yourself, or hang out around people who are catching them.
You'll be surprised -- most people are glad to give one or two of them up
to someone who wants them. If they know blues, they know that they can't
freeze them, anyway, if they want the best flavor.

--
Ed Huntress



thanks for your thorough interesting reply ed, fascinating. made me
want to go out and try to catch a bluefish. your description sounds
great, yummy. mmm, makes me want to try some grilled bluefish.
what you wrote about bluefish reminded me, i visited japan in '86,
these guys were grilling fish on a small charcoal grill thingy. they were
dried fish, the way i remember it maybe about 4 or maybe 6 inches long. i
remember them being kinda blue colored even though they were dried.
they'd grill them till the edges were black. first bite would make you
cough and take your breath away they were SO fishy smelling/tasting. they
were basically AWFUL but i got the impression it was manly to eat 'em so i
persisted. was a fun interesting experience. they're real big on fish
over there.

b.w.

They do have an open attitude toward fish flavors. I recall sitting in a bar
in Fukui, in a traditional area of western Japan, and munching on the
fish-flavored snacks at the bar. My first thought was that they even put
fish in their pretzels, until I asked what they were. "Dried eel spines,"
was the reply.

--
Ed Huntress